ugly memories
There have been two important but awkward anniversaries in Argentina lately.
The first was the March 24th anniversary of the ’76 coup in which the military seized power. People go to work on the 24th – I’m not sure whether it’s a declared holiday of any type – but everybody knows it’s a special day. There’s an annual gathering in the Plaza de Mayo on the night of the 24th which this year attracted tens of thousands most of whom seemed to be there to protest the war in Iraq.
Unfortunately Unglued.org staff didn’t bring a camera to the evening rally, but I did bring one to the Supreme Court earlier in the day to witness a scene you wouldn’t see in the USA – a 50-year-old woman spray-painting a message criticizing the president in the middle of the road, ignored not only by passers-by but also by the rows of police officers guarding the supposed bastion of the Rule of Law less than 50 feet away.
The second anniversary is observed today – an official holiday marking Argentina’s initiation of the 1982 Falklands War – here known as the Malvinas War because people aren’t keen on accepting the British name for the islands 500 kilometers off the Patagonia coast.
It’s a holiday that nobody seems to know how to observe. On one hand, most Argentines now seem to accept that it was an ill-considered war. The nation didn’t have much chance of winning a war against Great Britain; the military dictator Galtieri was drunk when he ordered the attack. Argentina was defeated by mid-June and Galtieri resigned four days later.
On the other hand, people feel that the Malvinas really should belong to Argentina, and most of those who were around at the time know they celebrated the war’s outbreak.
Argentina’s decision to attack was so popular that 100,000 people jammed the Plaza de Mayo on April 11, 1982, to celebrate their military’s initial success at overrunning the scantily defended islands. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize, came out in support of the attack. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who daily risked imprisonment by gathering in front of the Casa Rosada to call attention to the disappearance of their sons and daughters, appeared with signs like “the disappeared are Argentina’s, and so are the Malvinas.”
Two months later everybody wanted to forget the war as fast as possible.
As a US citizen, I’m used to less uncomfortable holidays. The holiday planners in the United States intelligently created Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day so that we don’t need a new “Armistice Day” every time there is a new war, and conveniently allowing losses to be blurred in with the victories. As a result, the popular media aren’t forced to go through an annual digestion of our less successful actions.
What would it be like if we had a “Vietnam Day,” a “Bay of Pigs Day” or a “Pinochet installed by the US Day”?
It still surprises me that anybody would celebrate the outbreak of war, but clearly this is innocence on my part – I read the news from the US these days. And people have celebrated wars throughout history, displaying an incredible ability to forget that wars mean death and maiming. Maybe it’s really true that a nation has to lose a war every twenty years or so to remember what it’s like. Like my mom used to say that a kid had to be killed sledding downs the streets of my hilly hometown every generation to remind other kids to keep their sleds in the backyard.
I wonder, though: what did we learn in history class if not that war is hell?
The first was the March 24th anniversary of the ’76 coup in which the military seized power. People go to work on the 24th – I’m not sure whether it’s a declared holiday of any type – but everybody knows it’s a special day. There’s an annual gathering in the Plaza de Mayo on the night of the 24th which this year attracted tens of thousands most of whom seemed to be there to protest the war in Iraq.
Unfortunately Unglued.org staff didn’t bring a camera to the evening rally, but I did bring one to the Supreme Court earlier in the day to witness a scene you wouldn’t see in the USA – a 50-year-old woman spray-painting a message criticizing the president in the middle of the road, ignored not only by passers-by but also by the rows of police officers guarding the supposed bastion of the Rule of Law less than 50 feet away.
The second anniversary is observed today – an official holiday marking Argentina’s initiation of the 1982 Falklands War – here known as the Malvinas War because people aren’t keen on accepting the British name for the islands 500 kilometers off the Patagonia coast.
It’s a holiday that nobody seems to know how to observe. On one hand, most Argentines now seem to accept that it was an ill-considered war. The nation didn’t have much chance of winning a war against Great Britain; the military dictator Galtieri was drunk when he ordered the attack. Argentina was defeated by mid-June and Galtieri resigned four days later.
On the other hand, people feel that the Malvinas really should belong to Argentina, and most of those who were around at the time know they celebrated the war’s outbreak.
Argentina’s decision to attack was so popular that 100,000 people jammed the Plaza de Mayo on April 11, 1982, to celebrate their military’s initial success at overrunning the scantily defended islands. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize, came out in support of the attack. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who daily risked imprisonment by gathering in front of the Casa Rosada to call attention to the disappearance of their sons and daughters, appeared with signs like “the disappeared are Argentina’s, and so are the Malvinas.”
Two months later everybody wanted to forget the war as fast as possible.
As a US citizen, I’m used to less uncomfortable holidays. The holiday planners in the United States intelligently created Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day so that we don’t need a new “Armistice Day” every time there is a new war, and conveniently allowing losses to be blurred in with the victories. As a result, the popular media aren’t forced to go through an annual digestion of our less successful actions.
What would it be like if we had a “Vietnam Day,” a “Bay of Pigs Day” or a “Pinochet installed by the US Day”?
It still surprises me that anybody would celebrate the outbreak of war, but clearly this is innocence on my part – I read the news from the US these days. And people have celebrated wars throughout history, displaying an incredible ability to forget that wars mean death and maiming. Maybe it’s really true that a nation has to lose a war every twenty years or so to remember what it’s like. Like my mom used to say that a kid had to be killed sledding downs the streets of my hilly hometown every generation to remind other kids to keep their sleds in the backyard.
I wonder, though: what did we learn in history class if not that war is hell?
previously there was Still no choices
afterwards you have The view from Colonia
comments
Monick
I like this one Jeremy
[submitted on 02 Apr 03]
trevor
I've been reading about the Spanish American War recently in Howard Zinn's book, and it seems remarkably similar to the current war in Iraq--we invade Cuba to "free them" from Spanish control, only to replace Spain's control with our own. I certainly didn't learn things like that in Mr. Powell's history classes, and it seems like the US effectively sweeps a great deal of history under the table despite the writings of people like Zinn. I hope that people start paying more attention to these less publicized voices! Good job spreading them with your website, J!
[submitted on 03 Apr 03]
RC
The only thing I really remember about Mr. Powell is that I thought he was Mr. Alwin when he showed up as the coach of my 4th grade mini ball team. He gave me 8 points out of 25 on the notes I took in his health class, too. I'm positive that Sheila Jambekar blew the curve.
[submitted on 04 Apr 03]