The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo this week was difficult to stomach. I cannot imagine the fear and frustration that those mothers must have been experiencing. Moreover, that the government was so unrelenting in its stance. Understandably, because how could they admit to what they had done. It is heartbreaking, however, when all they wanted to know was “whether [their] sons [were] alive or dead” so that they could ease their wonderings. As the mothers gathered in the plaza, at first they were undisturbed until it was realized that they would damage the government’s profile if they continued on and from there they were blocked from the plaza. The text goes on to say that international media had picked up on the story by then and that the mothers tried to use it to their advantage, speaking whenever they could of the injustices done to them.

While the events that lead to these gatherings discourage me to no end, the demonstration that they created was nothing short of incredible. Despite any other differences they may have had they all came together, peacefully, only to gain any knowledge of their children’s whereabouts or wellbeing. Furthermore, these were not political women, not radical reformists but working-class women. There is much to be said on the strength of women, and especially that of mothers. Being a mother at that time must have been even more nerve-wracking than I imagine it is at any other given time. What I picked up from this reading was the resiliency of these women. In class it was even said that these mothers still continue to gather today. Still wanting answers and wanting to know what happened to their children.

To continue on sounding like a broken record, I had never heard of the events of this week’s readings. The terror in Peru, Sendero’s war or even of Fujimori. The amount of history that I don’t know of is quite daunting and I hope that even after this course has ended I will continue on learning about the history of these places.

It surprised me at first that many of The Shining Path were university students. Maybe I had a stereotype of what kind of people would be in a group like this but as I read on it made more sense. What I got from it was that the excitement drew them in. Some first attended gatherings advocating for more radical ideologies and from there on it snowballed. The Shining Path also appealed to the peasants of the region, giving action to their grievances. The movement grew in rural areas. Eventually, the group began turning on the peasants and what they had started off advocating for. They began to treat them as pawns in their war.

In Dawson’s section of the chapter there was the picture of a poster from the time of the dirty wars. It directly made out to contradict all of the negative things beings spread about the war, which is strange to say in general, because not many positive things can be said of wars. Many people were growing concerned over the extremely harsh methods (probably an understatement) that were being used in the war. As Dawson says, “The advertisement challenges this view, insisting that their actions were not just clean, but cleansing, that this was a just war. Both extreme left and right spoke in ritual ways about these acts, believing that they were somehow engaged in an exercise that would purify society.” Pointing out the obvious, “purify[ing] society” is a phrase that should never be taken lightly. The amount of violence that occurred during this time is unbelievable (again I feel as if I am understating here) and the fact that it happened only a few decades ago is even more so.

The radio was an incredibly important tool for politicians. It made it possible for people in remote areas to receive information and for politicians to influence the citizens. There was also more of a social aspect to the radio, as opposed to newspapers. Reading a newspapers is a very solitary activity, whereas many people could gather around a radio in order to hear news.

Eva Peron’s story was very intriguing to me. I could really see why the people felt so connected to her. She worked her way up to the upperclass despite the majority of the people in that class having a deep disdain for her. She made the working class feel as though their issues were heard and understood. Her final speech was a very strong and tense moment. The clip that we watched in class of the crowd growing increasingly agitated as she avoided agreeing to run for the vice-presidency gave another dimension to her final speech. The people were so intent on her running that they chanted and threatened a strike. In class, we discussed whether her denial to run seemed genuine, whether she was playing the crowd. I personally did not take away the notion that she was manipulating the crowd. What I saw was a woman who became overwhelmed by a pressing crowd demanding from her what she would be unable to deliver on even if she wanted to. Her health was declining rapidly and she died the next year. I wonder, however, how these events would have played out had she been in better health. Would she have run for vice-president? If she had, and been elected, would the people have continued to love her in much the same way?