Chile: The Year I was Born

A couple of years ago, I wrote briefly about Lola Arias' play My Life After (Mi vida despues) in which the Argentine characters discuss their parents and their involvement in the dictatorship. Now, Arias has turned to Chile with a piece called The Year I was Born (El Año en que nací), which also uses material like photos, letters and old clothing in the performance.

As the name suggests, the cast were all born during the Pinochet dictatorship.

"To be part of this show was a big decision for all of those involved and not always an easy one," explains Arias. "Those whose family history includes relatives who were killed or suffered badly under Pinochet stand side by side on stage with those whose family members worked for the regime. Some come from families who chose to stay and resist, and others from those who went into exile."
[...]
While Viviana Hernandez was researching her history for the show, she discovered that the father she had been told was dead is serving a prison sentence for his part in the murder of two opponents of the Pinochet regime.

Pinochet generation draw on real-life tensions to play out Chile's dark days (Guardian)

For more on Hernandez' amazing story, see: The Father I Never Knew

Peru: Drawing our memory

 

The Peruvian forensic anthropology institute EPAF and Vicente Cueto have initiated a projected called "Pintemos nuestra memoria" (Drawing our Memory), in which relatives of the disappeared in Peru are given the diagrams of the human body used by forensic anthropologists in their work and encourage to draw on them. Rather than using them for their original purpose of indicating wound sites, they can become a simple, portable form of commemoration for the missing person. 

Pintemos nuestra memoria

You can hear one of the participants in the project discussing his grandfather and his drawing in this video in Spanish with English subtitles:

Places of memory in Santiago: Memory museum

Where better to start a tour of memory places in Chile than at the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos? It's a large and striking site:

Alright, so in one sense it's a green, glass box but I don't mean that as a criticism at all. You walk down towards the entrance and it's impressive.

 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights features on an external wall:

The museum declares that it is "a school" and one positive thing I noticed while I was there was the many school groups. The first one I saw, the kids were quite young (pre-teens) and the teacher made them all sit on the floor and dictated a long lecture to them, telling them off when they asked her to repeat difficult words. They were perhaps too young, at least for that kind of visit. But there were groups of older teenagers who seemed very engaged.

There was also an external exhibition comparing the situation in many different countries:

Sadly you're not allowed to take photographs inside, which is a real shame, because the most striking feature for me is the huge wall of photographs of the disappeared reaching up across the entire space. There is also a point where you can stand and look out at it and locate individual names and faces.

On the ground floor various terminals show footage of the 1973 coup and its aftermath. As you move upstairs, different areas cover aspects like exiles and international solidarity, media coverage, and torture - including, chillingly, an electric shock device (made by General Electric - not suggesting they intended it to be used for that purpose!). There are also items made by prisoners and photographs of memorial sites throughout Chile.

The museum was quite busy when I was there on a Friday morning, which is really not always the case in Latin American museums. It was fascinating to see people engaging with the material. One guy was so absorbed in the video of the return to democracy and the "No" campaign (roughly the period covered in the recent film "No" starring Gael García Bernal), he was watching it when I started looking round the floor and still there when I had finished.

The memory museum is free to enter and it is a large, slick site which must have been extremely expensive to build. While this is laudable, when I discussed the museum with Steven in Santiago, he expressed the opinion that it could be a bit more forthright in asking for donations and I completely agree. Many visitors could afford to give something and it is not mentioned or even really obvious how to do this (there's a slot in the front desk, or you can buy a catalogue for CLP 10,000 and this includes a donation; there should be catalogues in the shop but I had to ask for one to be brought up for me). It's one thing making your museum accessible and it's another not even gently directing people to the opportunity to support it.

Anyway, I think Chile really sets a standard here to which it will be interesting to compare, for example, the Lugar de la Memoria in Peru. One thing to note is that this is explicitly not a space where you will get some sort of pseudo-neutrality or weighing up of the pro- and anti-Pinochet factions as equal. As it states in the catalogue,

the task of building a memory must be guided by a moral compass; we must build a reading of the collective trauma that goes above and beyond what is evident, a history of victims and criminals, guilty and innocent. The goal in the museum's construction of memory is to become a space that assists the culture of human rights and democratic values in becoming the share ethical basis of our present and future coexistence. Only in this way can we empower our claim of NEVER AGAIN.

Chile: 40 years on (3)

There are declassified documents on the US and Chile from the National Security Archive.

Chilean journalism research center CIPER criticizes the role of paper El Mercurio in supporting the Pinochet regime and failing to account for its actions afterwards. 

Steve Anderson provides a personal piece for the Santiago Times on how September 11, 1973, changed his life.  

The BBC has a slideshow of the commemorations and reports on the clashes between protesters and police. 

The lingering effect of Pinochet's policies and resulting inequality is discussed by IPS.

In an editorial for La Tercera, Robert Funk asks what happens after the commemorations are over. He argues that the 11th is for remembering, and the 12th is for opening your eyes and coming to terms with the past (Vergangenheitsbewältigung). It's a very good piece.

Chile: 40 years on (2)

This anniversary is a big one for Chile.

Sergio Carrasco of the Associated Press recalls covering the coup.

Most communications were cut off by then, but AP photographer Santiago Llanquin persuaded a telephone operator to open a line. We reached a hotel in Mendoza, Argentina, and somehow kept that line open for days. AP photographer Eduardo DiBaia rushed from Buenos Aires to set up a makeshift bureau in the hotel, defying censors and transmitting news and photos of the attacks to the outside world. 

Much has been made of US support for the coup (and rightly so), but you don't hear much about British Foreign Office backing for it. Grace Livingstone at the Guardian online sheds some light; pretty shocking to read about criticism of "black propaganda against the Chilean armed services"! Joyce Horman also writes about the murder of her husband for the website. There is also a slide show of images from "Chile from within", a photobook by Susan Meiselas which is being reissued in electronic format. A further guest piece is from human rights judge Baltasar Garzón.

"Time" interviews president Sebastian Piñera on the occasion of the 40th anniversary.

This was a very dark part of our history. We should not forget it. But when we remember it, the question is what is the goal? To reproduce the same anger? Everybody has some lessons to learn. The only thing that [the left] would say is that nothing that happened before September 11, 1973 justifies what happened in terms of human rights abuses afterwards, and I fully agree with them.

In comments to media, Piñera also criticised the complicity of the media, provoking a reaction from journalists. 

Presidential candidate Michelle Bachelet has been very involved in the commemorations - understandable, since she was a victim of torture herself and her father was killed. She visited the Villa Grimaldi detention centre in Santiago and called for a full investigation into human rights abuses. 

A lot of people have been tweeting the BBC story about Carmen Quintana, who was set on fire by soldiers and lived to tell the tale. 

"I feel that I am the voice of so many other Chileans who died," she says. 

  Of the Spanish-language media, there is too much to mention, but just to highlight Robert Funk's column for La Tercera on the lasting divisions within Chile.

Argentina: BBQ at the ESMA, anyone?

An odd scandal blew up in the first week of the year in Argentina. Justice minister Julio Alak was accused of taking part in an end-of-year barbecue on the site of the former ESMA clandestine detention centre. This was interpreted by some as a sign of disrespect for the victims disappeared at the site.

Alak has responded by denying that there was a barbecue, stating that there was an event organised by his ministry at which sandwiches were provided. He has also blamed the media for blowing the story out of proportion.

Madres' leader Hebe de Bonafini says that "anything" is allowed in the ESMA and has herself previously cooked there. On the other hand, the association of former disappeared people (AEDD) has criticised Alak and is organising a protest.

Pagina/12 has published an excellent article by Cecilia Sosa asking the questions which arise in this context:

What is a "space of memory"? What are the activities which it is possible to imagine in a site which is characterized by the unbearable? And further, is it possible to celebrate in a place of death?

Sosa recalls the work of Jens Andermann, who has identified three positions with respect to a place of memory like the ESMA: the "testimonial", which situates it as an unalterable place of witness to State Terrorism, the "museal", which focuses on the pedagogical function of the space, and the "performatic", which maintains that only by opening the space up to artistic and politic activities can it be taken back from death and the perpetrators.

Since the opening up of the ESMA in 2007, Sosa points out, the site has attempted to balance all three functions - human rights groups have offices there, there are guided tours, and there are concerts and lectures, among other things.

She concludes,

The future of the ex-ESMA has still not been discovered. The co-existence of distinct rituals suggests a different path to that taken by Auschwitz: a politics of pain which reveals its capacity for experimentation, where absences help to forge new links and where the past may live alongside a future to be invented. In this time to come, perhaps a barbecue for two thousand people or other types of celebration will not be so scandalous and will turn out to be a new way for people to be together in their loss. The table is laid. It's time to feed our guests. 

My gut reaction when I saw Tweets about the ESMA barbecue was "Really??". But reading this article reminded me of some of my usual understanding of memorials. I'm a great believer in using spaces of memory, not shutting them off from the rest of society. This was the problem with the Parque de la memoria when I was in Buenos Aires in 2004: far from the centre of the city and close to the (then-closed) ESMA, it was completely empty at the time I visited. Dead. What's the point of a park no one sits in, walks in, brings their kids to? It was also the problem with the Ojo que llora monument in Lima which, following vandalism, was shut behind a gate (I don't know if it's freely accessible right now, but the last I heard it wasn't).

No, I'm not suggesting a picnic in Auschwitz. I don't even know enough about Alak and the particular event he was attending to comment on whether or not it was "respectful enough" for the site. But I am still sure that I like to see places of memory woven into the fabric of the landscape and not preserved in aspic.

Apareció la foto del "asado" de Alak en la ex ESMA (Clarin)
Alak: "El asado en la ex ESMA es una absoluta mentira" (La Nacion)
Bonafini: en la ESMA "se puede hacer de todo" (Terra)
Crece el repudio al asado en la ESMA y convocan a una marcha (Clarin)
La mesa está servida (Pagina/12)

Argentina: Mi Vida Despues

I was just writing about Proyecto 1980/2000 and I read that one of its inspirations was the work of Argentine playwright Lolas Arias. I'd never heard of her - no doubt a gross oversight on my part - but here is a clip of Mi Vida Despues in which the young characters discuss their parents and their involvement in the dictatorship (with English subtitles).

Peru: Proyecto 1980/2000

Proyecto 1980/2000 is a theatre project dealing with the period of Peru's internal conflict. Directed by Sebastián Rubio and Claudia Tangoa, the piece uses various media including photos, video and music to discuss the era.

It tells the stories of five people growing up during this time: Sebastián Kouri, the son of Alberto Kouri (a former congressman implicated in the "Vladivideos" scandal); Manolo Jaime, the son of Matilde Pinchi (also connected to Vladimiro Montesinos); Carolina Huamán Oyague, the cousin of a victim of the massacre of La Cantuta; Amanda Hume, the daughter of the journalist Gilberto Hume and Lettor Acosta, the son of a military man who participated in the "dirty war" which took place in the interior of the country.

According to Rubio, "Proyecto 1980/2000 tries to form a bridge between the spectator and a history in which the country is fragmented, polarized by the (internal) conflict and corruption".


La Republica writes that the piece brings together different points of view on the internal conflict and the Fujimori era, making it an exercise of memory for people who are too young to actually, personally, remember some of it. It sounds fascinating and it's certainly unusual to unite the divergent viewpoints in this way.



De 1980 al 2000: un catártico paseo por la historia del Perú (La Republica)
Voces de la memoria: Proyecto 1980/2000. El tiempo que heredé (El teatro sabe, La mula)

See also the Facebook page and this Youtube video for more:

Thanks to José Ragas for drawing my attention to this.

Photo of the Day: Esculacho in Brazil

Esculacho (escrache, public protest against perpetrator of human rights abuses) in Brazil.


ONG faz protesto contra suposto torturador na zona sul do Rio (Folha)

Thanks to Transitional Justice in Brazil for pointing me to this article.

Argentina: Weapon of mass instruction

This memory/art project has been written about quite a lot, but I hadn't read about it until today, and I just think it's so great:

Raúl Lemesoff has modified a Ford Falcon, which, as I've mentioned before, is an icon of repression in Argentina. And just look at it!


It's been converted into a tank shape and absolutely covered with books, hence the name, "Weapon of Mass Instruction" (Arma De Instruccion Masiva). The books are all donations and are given away to anyone who wants them. What a quirky, positive idea!



Thanks to Richard Grabman of The Mex Files for drawing my attention to this initative on his Facebook page.

Argentina: Dia de la memoria

Argentina: 20 years since the Israeli embassy attack

It's 20 years today since the terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, when 29 people died, two years before the even more deadly AMIA attack (the official commemorations took place yesterday so as not to clash with the Jewish Sabbath). Iran has long been linked to the attack but the perpetrators remain at large and the government acknowledged yesterday that justice has not been done.

Justice minister Julio Alak summed up the state of events by saying "I'd like to talk about memory, truth and justice, but unfortunately, I can only talk about memory. Not about truth. Or about justice." He characterised the attack as "a wound which will never heal". He's quite right that focusing on memory without justice is completely unsatisfactory.

It's a disappointing situation and this is reflected in the media coverage of the anniversary events:

Dos décadas sin justicia (Pagina/12)
El Gobierno admite que no hubo justicia por el ataque a la Embajada (Clarin)
Call for justice marks 20th anniversary of Israeli embassy attack (Buenos Aires Herald)

(Image of the trees planted in memory of the victims from Wikipedia)

Peru: Remembering Barrios Altos

Peru's La Republica has a long article on the memory of the Barrios Altos massacre. One of its survivors, Tomás Livias Ortega, is an ice-cream seller and the article contains an image of an interesting initiative to keep the memory of the case alive. Anyone who has been to Peru will be familiar with the ice-cream sellers and their little carts.


El batallón de los heladeros (La Republica)

Chile: September, month of memory

Septiembre, mes de memoria from Corporación Villa Grimaldi on Vimeo.

Villa Grimaldi uploaded this video of commemorative events which took place at the park in September.

Peru: Un dia en la memoria

I'm always retweeting the images of Un dia en la memoria and now, thanks to Roberto Bustamente of blog El morsa, we can see a discussion of the project from its creator, Mauricio Delgado (in Spanish):

Fujimori nunca mas

Chile: Memoria Rebelde

I had to post this video linked to by Adriana Goñi Godoy on Twitter, from Chilean hip-hop artist Subverso. The version I've found has subtitles in either Spanish or English, but also just visually the clip is amazing...

Peru: Blog recommendation

Spanish speakers interested in Peruvian memory issues shouldn't miss Un dia en la memoria, which daily publishes illustrated pieces about some aspect of Peru's political violence that happened on that day. I'm not going to copy their images regularly, but here is an example below, and I encourage you to go and check it out for yourself.

Event in Ayacucho, Peru

The EPAF is holding a campaign in Putis, a name which long-term readers of the blog will remember (and others can click on the key word below to see related posts).

STOP OF HOPE
Opening for the development process in Putis

Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team- EPAF and non profit organization, Vecinos Peru, invite you to participate in our campaign “Paradero Esperanza” or (Stop of Hope). This campaign will begin on Sunday, August 8th in the Centro Poblado of Putis, Ayacucho. The mission of this campaign is to promote human development in the communities most affected by Peru’s internal conflict. It is intended to help break and overcome the victimization and stigmitization that has impacted those most affected. EPAF is aware of the potential that Putis has for growth and wants to strengthen this potential through sustainable development projects.

The first “Stop of Hope” will be in Putis. However, we aim to promote development projects in other communities also affected by the violence, and by doing so, will create a “route of hope” both containing visible and symbolic stops in each community where EPAF has done forensic work.

The “Stop for Hope” in Putis will open its doors on August 8th, with a symbolic ceremony that will begin with “El Pago a la Tierra” (or “Payment to the Earth”). This ceremony will pay homage to the earth in thanks for the discovery of the disappeared family members of Putis in 2008 and for the beginning of this new development stage. Later, the project will be ratified by the presence of local authorities, and finally the implementation of the first phase of the project through the establishment of a native potato seed bank. Native potatoes are highly desirable within both the national and international markets. The implementation of the native potato seed bank is extremely important in that it will improve the quality of the potatoes grown there which will increase their market value.

We hope that with your presence on Sunday, you may help us promote the circulation of this event and by doing so, also contribute to the recitizenship of the victims of Putis.

Sincerely,
Jesús Peña Romero
Proyectos Epaf
992229804
jesu_stereo@hotmail.com
pena@epafperu.org

Peru Round-up

1)
U.S. State Department offers reward for Shining Path leaders (Peruvian Times)
US offers up to $5 million for Peru's "Artemio" and "Jose" (Living in Peru)
Here are the official wanted pages for Artemio (real name Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala) and Jose (real name Victor Quispe Palomino).

2)
Guilt, repentance and innocence: Lori Berenson and her baby might be going back to prison (Peruvian Times)
The English-language media has largely moved on, but legal wranglings over Berenson's future continue.

3)
Tejen Chalina de la Solidaridad por las Victimas de la Violencia (CNDDHH)
"Ellas tejen para no olvidar a sus seres queridos" (La Republica, via APRODEH)

A group of indigenous women has been knitting a giant scarf as a visual symbol of their struggle for justice and memory of their relatives, who were lost in the political violence. I find the combination of the homely act of knitting with human rights activism quite striking, and somewhat analogous to the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, who have also spoken of their leaving the private space of the home to struggle in public.

4)
Finally, from Jo-Marie Burt,
Reflexiones, a 18 años de La Cantuta (Noticias Ser)