Week 12

This week’s reading was incredibly powerful to read. I have learned about the Madre’s before; their white bonnets seem to have become a symbol of resistance. The concept of the disappeared within Latin American politics is an interesting positionality. In the eyes of the state, individuals are reduced to bodies where no rights are guaranteed. Its such a devastating position as there is no sense of justice; the feeling is alien to me as I have always lived somewhere with a certain extent of due process. The Madres were successful because of their position as older women; the government could not kill mothers and grandmothers in the public sphere without large reproductions. This could be attributed to significant gender roles. As women were seen as fragile, homemakers, and child-bearers, there was an element of weakness associated with their murder. However, I believe this was true for the Madres because they had already gained global attention. The Argentinian government had no qualm with killing women, however, they didn’t want their foreign reputation to be dismal. Countries like the United States hold to the idea that certain people are off-limits from violence, such as women and children. Had they been young men protesting in the square, the government would have likely disposed of them immediately rather than allowing them to gather.
As I watched the Madres video, I was immediately hit by the overwhelming grief. The desperation of the people at this time for justice is quite evident. The disposal of thousands of people is quite destabilizing especially within small communities that experience massacres. The premeditated aspect of state-sponsored violence also showed the lengths of corruption. It was interesting as well to see the coverup methods that were used. Often the state tried to frame the disappeared or murdered as the destabilizing forces, ones that were a threat to the public because of their ideology. It was disheartening to learn about how the United States often supported these false narratives in order to continue support for regimes. These attempts extended violence from murder to also the death of credibility of dissident individuals. People existed in a liminal space where if they were to speak up they could either face death, discredit, or most likely both.
It’s also interesting to think about how many of these disappearances have never been acknowledged properly. There are still many families who have yet to find out what happened to their children, leaving them in permanent distrust of the state and each new leader who fails to give answers.