Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Argentina's long history of human rights movements began in the early twentieth century with activists linked to leftist political movements. Socialist lawyers defended working-class leaders who led protests and demonstrations, while anarchists and syndicalists demanded the release of anarchists Simón Radowitsky, Sacco and Vanzetti, and the “Bragado prisoners,” among others. The Pro-Prisoners Committee in the 1920s and the 1930s, the Red Socorro and its successor, the Argentine League for the Rights of Man, were inspired by communists and the more ecumenical Permanent Assembly for Human Rights.In the late 1970s organizations such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo were born in the core of civil society without any direct links to political parties. To understand the emergence of the latter, the starting point is the military coup of March 24, 1976, which overthrew the weakened Peronist government of Isabel Martínez, Juan Domingo Perón's widow. A military Junta, formed by members of the three armed forces, placed itself in power, shutting down Congress, suspending political life, dissolving political parties and leftist organizations by decree, intervening in trade unions, and declaring a state of emergency. It named its own government Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, setting as its goals the “annihilation of subversion” as well as the economic, ... log in or subscribe to read full text