Raul Bassi
On March 24, 1976, when the Argentine armed forces staged a coup, those of us who were politically active expected hard times. But what followed was a horrific sequence of events that could never have been imagined, the results of which are still felt today.
Thirty-thousand people joined the league of the desaparecidos (the "disappeared"), hundreds of thousands more were arrested and tortured. Thousands left their country. Hundreds of children were given to those who had tortured and murdered their parents; to this day only 200 have been returned to their relatives. Many of our friends and comrades endured torture, denying information to the criminals and saving us.
Our struggle had begun in 1969 — the time of Vietnam, Paris, Prague and Che Guevara's last battle. These events inspired thousands of activists worldwide and Argentina was not an exception. The Cordobazo the (famous uprising in the city of Cordoba in May 1969) changed the political landscape in Argentina. Workers and students confronted the police in the streets and our rocks and sticks defeated their repression. The people took control of the city. Only the actions of the army were able to restore "order".
The military dictatorship was weakened and a de facto democracy was installed in the city. The factories, universities, suburbs, high schools and churches were the sites of intense meetings and conferences, where actions and strikes were organised. Urban guerilla movements appeared, new militant leaderships developed in the trade union movement and new organisations sprung up in the universities and the barrios (poor suburbs where the workers lived). The process extended across Argentina and three years later the dictatorship was defeated, forced to call democratic elections.
The dominant class brought back former president Juan Peron as an alternative to the growing influence of the left. He died the following year and the movement reappeared stronger. In response, the Peronist government formed the infamous "3 As". This fascist gang of police and security services members started a campaign of political assassinations. Hundreds of trade union, student and human-rights activists died.
The guerrilla groups argued that the attacks could only be stopped by strengthening their apparatus. But the workers made the factories the centre of the resistance. US imperialism, wary of the strength of the working class, pushed for more control over the masses. The warning signals had come in 1973 when the US organised coups in Chile and Uruguay, and began pushing for "solutions" in Argentina. This was why March 24 occurred.
The dictatorship aimed to finish off what the 3 As had started. Factories, universities and barrios were the sites of attacks never seen before in Argentina. Hundreds of activists were arrested, tortured and murdered. Concentration camps were created in every major city. The armed forces used all their might to smash the resistance. What they were trying to do was kill a dream by wiping out a generation of dreamers — those who believed that another world was possible.
Three decades later, Argentineans continue to suffer the political, economic and social consequences of that coup. There is still no justice for the "disappeared" nor their families. The executioners are free and the businessmen are richer, while almost 50% of the population live under the poverty line. Imperialism was able to consolidate its domination on Latin America through brute force and terrorism.
Wherever we are, we must remember those who were killed, the reason for their sacrifice and their ideas. We will never forget you and we will do our best to build the socialist world that we dreamed of together.
Companeros, hasta la victoria siempre!
[Raul Bassi, a member of Australia's Socialist Alliance, was born in Argentina and lived through the coup and subsequent military dictatorship.]
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, April 5, 2006.
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