Buenos Aires: Madres de Plaza de Mayo

• Shortly after the disappearances began (1975/76) mothers would go to police stations and city offices to inquire about the status of their missing children. As these women began to encounter each other more frequently they organized themselves into the “Madres de Plaza de Mayo”.
• The original and ongoing goals for the Madres are “Truth, Memory, Justice”.
• The Madres march every Thursday, 3:30 – 4:00pm on the famous “Plaza de Mayo” in front of the presidential palace. Porteños (“the port people” or the citizens from Buenos Aires) pronounce “Mayo” as “My-zhoa”.
• The Madres have since split into two factions: the Madres de Plaza de Mayo- Linea Fundadora (“the founding line”) and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. For simplicity let’s call the first group “LF” and the other group “Madres 2”. I’m not sure when the split occurred. The groups divided over tactics and political orientation. LF remains more concerned with honoring their missing children without advancing a particular agenda. Madres #2 are a more explicitly political movement (and not surprisingly, leftist). Madres 2 also aligns itself with organizations such trade unions. Hence, on a given Thursday there tends to be more people marching with Madres 2. For example striking workers will march with Madres 2, giving the mothers a stronger show of support, and for the strikers the support of Madres provides some extra legitimacy.
• Both Madres and Madres LF wear headscarves embroidered with the names of their children. The scarves are intended to represent diapers (and I suppose in some cases might be real cloth diapers and perhaps even in a few cases may be actual diapers worn by their children). The "diapers as scarves" symbol is intended to reinforce the on-going care the mothers provide.
• At the conclusion of every march the mothers (both groups) are usually (perhaps even always, though I hate to be so absolute) approached by journalists (print and television). The mothers are asked their opinions about a range of current affairs. Dedication to their cause has given the Madres a certain moral authority status in Argentine, even worldwide, society.
• I was introduced to one of the mothers at the end of the march. When she heard I am a professor from the US, she asked me in a very animated fashion, “Why haven’t you kicked George Bush’s butt out of your country? He is the biggest terrorist of them all”. (I’m trusting the translation here, though I doubt it’s very far off her intent).
• Just before leaving the Plaza “Tati”, one of the Madres LF leaders gave me a warm embrace, a huge smile and thanks for marching with her group. This was one of the great honors of my life.