Hey Jeremy,
well, there are lot of reason why the people does not talk about this subject any more...one it´s is becouse now, we have others things in the head, if you understund what i mean.
Other reason is that the generation who live that time have now between 40 and 50, and many many i mean MANY, of those, wasn´t realizing what was really going on...i ask to my parents too many times about this subject ( i have 23 years old)..and well, yes she told some stories...but in general they was not seeing any crime...of course everybody was knowing that something was going on, becouse you were in the University one day talking with some guy you meet, and the other day he completly disapear from the earth...of course something was going on, but most of the people didnt knwet it exactly what was going on....most of the poeple realize of all this dirty things after the military abandon the goverment...think that all the News were controlled by the Militarys....this was not an open war...this was an underground civil war.
Anyway, the most common discussion about this subject, are between the poeple who think that this was a "masacre" and the people who think that this was necessary.
There is poeple that think that the militarys have avoid in Argentina what now is happening in Colombia, no one have any dude that this was completly ilagal and there were a lot of excess...but the subject is that...it is defensible the military actions, thinking that now mybe we would be like Colombia or worst?
Of course i think no. But there are a lot of poeple that think the opposite.
There is no justification for this acts, and if you wanna discuss about this subject the best thing yo can do is talk to an older person (around 50), the youngest poeple is not very intrested in this subject.
P.S: And the Casa Rosada is not Half unpainted, it is half unrestored, the clear color is the original, and they are restoreing.
Jaja, i pass in front of the Casa Rosada every day, and i always ask my self "For wich fucking reason they dont finish to restore it?"...
[submitted on 20 Mar 03]
Matias
Jeremy, you are right. You could live in Buenos Aires and never hear about the "desaparecidos". It's a subject nobody wants to talk about... and everyone wants to forget as if had never ocurred. Thousands of people were killed by the Junta Militar during the "Dirty War", among them, people that today would be needed to rule the country. A whole generation of "thinking" people was dissapeared. Why did happen? Who planned? Why was so "normal"? I still don't know.
I was born in 1975. I used to live in Olivos, just in front of the President's Residence. And, by the age of 6, I remember attending mass on Sundays at the Huerto de los Olivos church very near from home. In some occasions, when we arrived to the church we could find a long red carpet running from the entrance hall up to the high altar. That was an indication that Mr Videla, the "President" was also attending the mass. He was "so religious". And everything seemed to be "so normal"... Meanwhile, people were throwed away from airplanes to the Rio de la Plata by Air Force officials. But nobody talked about that. Just the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, those "crazy" women... "don't they have something better to do?". Everything seemed to be in order...
[submitted on 20 Mar 03]
I was raised in Buenos Aires during the Dirty War (I´m 33 now). I can tell you two things about that period. One, at the time nobody knew much about what was going on. I had a happy-go-lucky childhood and always felt safe. I vaguely remember one or two episodes where the police had raided apartment buildings, presumably hunting for a terrorist.
The other thing is that the subject of the Dirty War was beaten to death during the 80s, during Alfonsín's presidency. It is not a hot topic anymore, perhaps that is why you won't find too many people are interested in it. For at least five years (when I was in high school) virtually every newspaper and magazine published countless stories and pictures about the atrocities committed by the military. I suggest that you get yourself a copy of Nunca Más (or go to nuncamas.org) if you are interested.
I can see many similarities between those times and the present here in the U.S. In particular, how people choose to live in comfortable denial. My girlfriend, raised in San Diego, was not exposed to Spanish or taught much about Mexico in school, despite living twenty miles from the border. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were never mentioned in her history classes. I have been here for six years and I have never found anyone interested in having a serious debate about the A-bomb.
[submitted on 21 Mar 03]
I was born in 1985, during the "primavera alfonsinista" (alfonsinist spring, the initial period of democracy when Alfonsín was president and everyone supported him and there was a feeling that a different country could be made), so everything I know from the Dirty War was learnt at school or heard from my parents. As Diego said, the subject of teh desaparecidos, the kidnapping and the Dirty War was beaten to death from 1983 till 1988 approx. Thousand of movies were made concernig that topic -the most known "La Historia Oficial", which won the oscar for best foreign movie in 1986-, a book was published -Nunca Más- and lots of things more. It is said that Argentinians haven´t had a true "catharsis" about this period of our history, and that that is one of the reasons because it is an unspoken topic. It may be true in some cases, but is important to remember that together with Greece, Argentina is the only country which has pursued a judiciary process against the military Juntas that ruled all over the world. Of course our dear president Menem issued the "indulto" -he forgave them-, and Videla, Massera and others were freed. But nevertheless I think this attitude of not speaking about military regimes is common all around the world. If you go to Spain, no-one will ever speak about Franco´s dictatorship. I personally don´t agree with this attitude, because I think that a tragic time of our history such as the Dirty War should be discussed with a certain regularity, but I also understand that particularly now, there are other things that need our attention more immediately, and that our views should be generally look forward to the future. Obviously there are people who don´t want to speak because they feel ashamed for the attitude they took during those times, condensed in the horrible words "por algo será" (it´s surely because of something), that was said when one was commented about the dissapearance of someone. Young people don´t speak about it -and this I know it because of my friends- because they think it´s something that is part of history, and that only concerns to people who lived during those times, not them.
[submitted on 23 Mar 03]
well, there are lot of reason why the people does not talk about this subject any more...one it´s is becouse now, we have others things in the head, if you understund what i mean.
Other reason is that the generation who live that time have now between 40 and 50, and many many i mean MANY, of those, wasn´t realizing what was really going on...i ask to my parents too many times about this subject ( i have 23 years old)..and well, yes she told some stories...but in general they was not seeing any crime...of course everybody was knowing that something was going on, becouse you were in the University one day talking with some guy you meet, and the other day he completly disapear from the earth...of course something was going on, but most of the people didnt knwet it exactly what was going on....most of the poeple realize of all this dirty things after the military abandon the goverment...think that all the News were controlled by the Militarys....this was not an open war...this was an underground civil war.
Anyway, the most common discussion about this subject, are between the poeple who think that this was a "masacre" and the people who think that this was necessary.
There is poeple that think that the militarys have avoid in Argentina what now is happening in Colombia, no one have any dude that this was completly ilagal and there were a lot of excess...but the subject is that...it is defensible the military actions, thinking that now mybe we would be like Colombia or worst?
Of course i think no. But there are a lot of poeple that think the opposite.
There is no justification for this acts, and if you wanna discuss about this subject the best thing yo can do is talk to an older person (around 50), the youngest poeple is not very intrested in this subject.
P.S: And the Casa Rosada is not Half unpainted, it is half unrestored, the clear color is the original, and they are restoreing.
Jaja, i pass in front of the Casa Rosada every day, and i always ask my self "For wich fucking reason they dont finish to restore it?"... [submitted on 20 Mar 03]
I was born in 1975. I used to live in Olivos, just in front of the President's Residence. And, by the age of 6, I remember attending mass on Sundays at the Huerto de los Olivos church very near from home. In some occasions, when we arrived to the church we could find a long red carpet running from the entrance hall up to the high altar. That was an indication that Mr Videla, the "President" was also attending the mass. He was "so religious". And everything seemed to be "so normal"... Meanwhile, people were throwed away from airplanes to the Rio de la Plata by Air Force officials. But nobody talked about that. Just the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, those "crazy" women... "don't they have something better to do?". Everything seemed to be in order... [submitted on 20 Mar 03]
The other thing is that the subject of the Dirty War was beaten to death during the 80s, during Alfonsín's presidency. It is not a hot topic anymore, perhaps that is why you won't find too many people are interested in it. For at least five years (when I was in high school) virtually every newspaper and magazine published countless stories and pictures about the atrocities committed by the military. I suggest that you get yourself a copy of Nunca Más (or go to nuncamas.org) if you are interested.
I can see many similarities between those times and the present here in the U.S. In particular, how people choose to live in comfortable denial. My girlfriend, raised in San Diego, was not exposed to Spanish or taught much about Mexico in school, despite living twenty miles from the border. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were never mentioned in her history classes. I have been here for six years and I have never found anyone interested in having a serious debate about the A-bomb. [submitted on 21 Mar 03]