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What's Being Done On . . . Memory Projects?
www.memoriaabierta.org.ar/ Memoria Abierta is a coordinated action of human rights organizations in Argentina devoted to preserving the memory of the injustices and human rights abuses perpetrated by the State during the country's period of State terrorism, 1976-1983, also known as the "dirty-war." The dirty war was led by a military junta, which was responsible for the arrest, torture, forced disappearance, or killing of as many as 30,000 Argentineans. The coalition is composed of: the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH), the Center for Social and Legal Studies (CELS), the Argentine Historical and Social Memory Foundation, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo- Founding Line, and the Peace and Justice Service (SERPAJ). The coalition works to strengthen the Argentinean public's search for truth and justice focusing on four major projects: the Documentary Heritage Project, the Oral Archive, the Photographic Archive and the Topography of Memory; it also engages in other memory related projects and participates in proposals for the construction of a Museum of Memory. Below the following Interview is a list of programs Memoria Abierta. Interview: We would like to thank Patricia T. de Valdez, director of Memoria Abierta, for answering the following interview questions. Q: Please tell us a little about the founding of Memoria Abierta. How was the coalition formed? Memoria Abierta was created towards the end of 1999 as a "coordinated action" of human rights organizations dedicated to preserving and promoting the memory of what occurred during the period of State terrorism in Argentina. The organizations that form Memoria Abierta represent some of the original groups established during the escalation of State repression during the 1970s. Over the years, these groups amassed thousands of documents testifying to the experience of the military dictatorship and the struggle for truth and justice carried out by the human rights movement and other sectors of civil society. With the formation of Memoria Abierta, these organizations came together to systematize their valuable documentation to make these materials available for public use, contribute to the enrichment of democratic culture, prevent all forms of authoritarianism in future generations, and ensure that one day this work will be included in a future Museum of Memory. The period of 1999-2001 was an ambitious one of institutional consolidation, during which we experimented with our first programs, opened our offices, and began to produce the first testimonies for public consultation. The organizations that comprise Memoria Abierta form part of the Board of the institution, which is made up of two representatives from each organization and meets bi-weekly at Memoria Abierta to formulate program strategy and institutional priorities. Q: What have been your most successful programs? Memoria Abierta carries out its central activities through four main programs. Additionally, it has a presence in academic, cultural, and political fields through a series of crosscutting actions that involve the work of its professionals. In this respect, Memoria Abierta organizes and participates in seminars and congresses, initiates work directed to public sectors in charge of human rights and memory issues, and coordinates international activities. Memoria Abierta has four main programs: the Documentary Heritage Program works to collect preserve, and recover all of the written materials amassed over the years by the organizations that make up Memoria Abierta and to make them available for public use. To date, over 25,000 records have been archived in a catalogue that is available online through Memoria Abierta's website. The Photographic Archive brings together the photos of the human rights organizations that make up Memoria Abierta, in addition to press images and personal photo collections. Once digitized, the images are organized to facilitate access. The archive is testament not only to the events of recent Argentine history, but also to the struggle to promote human rights and to end all forms of authoritarianism. The Oral Archive produces filmed testimonies related to the memory of State terrorism in Argentina. The collection, which currently has over 1,000 hours of footage, contains the personal recollections and stories of individuals whose lives were impacted by the experience of the last dictatorship and the transition to democracy. The testimonies present a diverse vision of the actions taken by human rights organizations and other members of civil society, offering historical perspectives that are not always present in written documents. To implement a system of State terror in Argentina, hundreds of everyday buildings were used as centers of detention, torture, death and disappearance. Over time, resistance against the dictatorship and the struggle for truth and justice created or re-signified certain urban spaces as symbols of the defense of fundamental rights and the repudiation of authoritarianism. The Topography of Memory program systematizes existing information and documentation about these sites in a public database. Memoria Abierta also participates in proposals for the construction of a Museum of Memory; establishes educational agreements with a number of unions and governmental agencies through training courses and development of educational tools; promotes links with national and international archives; and carries out graphic exhibitions. Memoria Abierta also participates in the exchange of experiences with other countries through the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience; establishes agreements of cooperation with civil entities for the construction of thematic collections of oral sources; participates and films public activities related to human rights; is developing an information system to facilitate access to Memoria Abierta's documentary heritage; and organizes events, seminars and conferences on various issues at the heart of the work it carries out. Memoria Abierta makes all of its information available to the public through its Web page. Q: Your program, Dialogues for Democracy, strives to help visitors draw connections between the past and the present. How do you do that and in what ways does this effort contribute to the democratization of Argentina? The programs and activities of Memoria Abierta are essentially oriented to awareness of what happened in the recent past, especially during the period of the military dictatorship when the State utilized its structures to impose terror on society. To know the events and carry out dialogues on the context in which they took place, to listen to opinions and evaluate the "footprints" that have been left in our society, to debate with others the ways in which these marks are recognized in the urban space, in social behaviors, and in culture-all of these are collective exercises that allow citizens to incorporate the past into their own personal and social history. Memoria Abierta has developed the program "Dialogues for Democracy" using various sources and formats: group dialogues conducted during the exhibition, "images for memory," whereby visitors are accompanied by trained guides; in the visits to historic sites where clandestine detention centers functioned; in the workshops of reflection and dialogue organized to debate the characteristics of the future museum; in the design of our interactive educational CDs (such as the "De Memoria" collection) and complementary activities designed for teachers and students. Taking into account that our society does not have a tradition of positive dialogue, Memoria Abierta is flexible with the degrees of formality or spontaneity according to the context in which these dialogues take place. Q: Your Oral Archive includes testimonies of those who suffered at the hands of the military regime. Having gone through traumatic experiences, victims may often find it difficult to share their stories. Do you encounter such a problem at your interviews, and if so how do you address it? The individuals who have agreed to give their testimony to Memoria Abierta, including many activists accustomed to sharing their experiences with diverse publics, place themselves in a position of opening up some of the most vulnerable aspects of their own subjectivity. The interview is an exercise that implies uncovering painful and gut-wrenching wounds. For us, documenting and listening to these histories forms part of a human relationship, one that seeks to restore humanity in the place of an evil which sought to negate it. "Disappearances" is a central theme in the testimonies that we produce. Interviews with mothers, fathers, siblings and partners of disappeared individuals gain special relevance, especially at the start of the interview when the interviewee introduces him or herself and incorporates disappearance as part of their own identity: "I am Marķa, mother of., who was disappeared on." At the same time, we seek to break down the category of the disappeared as such and to restore-even through the words of others-fraternal and solidarity links, likes and dislikes, names, expectations, and even the (im)possible futures of a lost loved one. If one goal of testimony is the "restoration," in some sense, of a disappeared existence, we must think very carefully about how to do so. At a basic level we begin with the complexities involved in the relationship between the figure of the disappeared and mourning. What verbal tense should we use during the interview? For example, which question would be the most preferable: "What was Alejandro like?" "How do you remember Alejandro?" Or finally, "Tell us a little about Alejandro." The last of these possibilities imposes less conditions when formulating an answer. The interviewee has more of a capacity to answer in their own way, in the verbal tense that they feel most comfortable. The importance of this focus in the construction of a testimony is evidenced in the variety of responses and choices it elicits. At the same time, it allows us to maintain respect for the very different forms of personal mourning. Q: You are currently in the process of constructing a museum called, "A Space for Memory." What will the museum house? What kind of exhibits will it feature? Have you encountered any obstacles? What suggestions do you have for others embarking on such a project? In 2004, our President and the Mayor of the city of Buenos Aires announced that the land where the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) functioned, one of the most emblematic places of illegal repression, will become a space for memory. Since then, the different buildings have progressively been emptied. At the same time, work among survivors, human rights organizations, and national and local government employees has approached a consensus on the public use of the "Casino de Oficiales" (the place where people where tortured and placed after being kidnapped and later disappeared) and on the principal building where the museum might be placed can be visited today with the aid of signs indicating the uses of the different rooms during the dictatorship. The progress of work on the principal building is going much slower, although there exists a consensus whereby an exhibition related to historic events of State terrorism will be created making reference to the building's background. It is probable that other rooms will be used for a library, auditorium, and other needs of a museum. The principal obstacle to defining the future museum is the lack of a professional team to get involved in a systematic way with the principal stakeholders: people of culture, human rights organizations, and survivors. The function of such a team would be making proposals for using the spaces and giving continuity to a participative process regarding its design. Although it is difficult to formulate suggestions for others who propose similar undertakings, I think it is important to start from a broad and pluralistic conception of the voices that must be heard and excluded at the moment of designing a museum, and to search for efficient procedures to achieve this. At the same time, the establishment of clear rules should be put in place where each one of the participants in the process (the State, nongovernmental groups, professionals) know its role and function, and from there a working methodology should be established to meet the objective of opening a museum to shed light on a key period of history and to contribute towards strengthening the respect for the rule of law. Q: What is your role in the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience and what is your hope for what it can do in the future, both in the region and internationally? Memoria Abierta is a founding member of the International Coalition. As the Coalition has expanded since its inception in 1999, we have begun to experiment with possibilities for regional work and partnerships with other groups throughout Latin America that are building the capacity of sites marked by the experience of State terrorism and political violence. What is different from other regions of the world is that in Latin America the initiatives to preserve memory sites and use them as vehicles for knowing what happened and to promote a culture of tolerance and respect for human rights does not come from museums. This work in Latin America is normally promoted by human rights organizations and movements that battle against oblivion. For this reason, Memoria Abierta has taken up communication with organizations and groups with the experience of having worked in a collective manner when dictatorships dominated Latin America, and that extended links of solidarity among nongovernmental organizations to denounce human rights abuses. Our early endeavors in this arena have been very successful. Most recently, in June of this year (2006), Memoria Abierta hosted a regional workshop that brought together representatives from historic sites from the interior of Argentina, Chile, and Peru. During the workshop, regional leaders were introduced to the work of the Coalition and had the opportunity to participate in sessions dedicated to oral history, site preservation, and building the capacity of their individual sites. In the coming months, we hope to expand this work through training workshops at the sites themselves. These trainings will be designed in collaboration with each site and will be based on the needs identified at the regional workshop. Leaders will work with human rights representatives to help them gain access to additional clandestine detention centers and other historic sites related to acts of repression and resistance. Q: As Argentineans progress further and further away from the time of State terrorism and more distant from those who lived through it, in what ways do you see their attitudes changing? How do such changes influence your outreach efforts to young people? It is important to point out that the majority of Argentinean society manifests an appreciation for the influence of a state of laws. Nevertheless, this appreciation for democracy does not have a close relationship to the daily habits related to respect for the "rules of the game," which democracy requires. For this reason, Memoria Abierta devotes its efforts to the production of educational tools for youth. It is about the promotion of links between a hurtful past and abuse of fundamental rights and a present that is still full of unfulfilled promises (in terms of guaranteeing respect for the rights of the population). Through these connections between past and present, we believe it is possible to advance toward a future with respect for human rights and a commitment to a more just society. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. Programs: Dialogues for Democracy: As a member of the Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience, Memoria Abierta helps visitors connect the past and present by "using the histories of the sites to inspire new conversations and action on pressing contemporary issues." www.sitesofconscience.org/eng/memoria_programs.htm The Photographic Archive: The Photographic Archive is a collection of photographs taken by the public, international journalists, and the regime during the period. The archive is organized in a chronological index not only to tell the stories of the photographs, but to create a testament to the history of the period as well. These are not online, but Memoria Abierta hopes to create an electronic database. www.memoriaabierta.org.ar/eng/como_trabajamos2.html The Oral History Archive: The Oral History Archive records testimonies of those who lived through the period and includes personal stories and memories. There are currently 400 recorded interviews from the cities of Buenos Aires, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Mercedes and Lesdesma (Jujuy). Memoria Abierta hopes to expand the database continually by incorporating interviews from other regions in Argentina. www.memoriaabierta.org.ar/eng/como_trabajamos3.html The Documentary Heritage Project: The Documentary Heritage Project, a collaboration among four members of the coalition, is a documentary collection containing over 25,000 records related to State terrorism. This project has created a centralized common database of members, while keeping documents in their original location. www.memoriaabierta.org.ar/eng/como_trabajamos4.html The Topography of Memory Project: The Topography project has created a public map database of important urban buildings during the period of State terrorism. The project has mapped clandestine detention centers as well as other urban centers of State terrorism to preserve the country's landscape as a historical site of memory. This project can be accessed online. www.memoriaabierta.org.ar/eng/como_trabajamos5.html About "What's Being Done On . . . ?" For several months at a time, we highlight the activities of various organizations in different global regions, and links to important resources, that are focused on a particular theme or area of democracy work. Each new theme is announced via DemocracyNews, and the information from the previous installment is placed in the "What's Being Done On . . . ?" archives. We hope to receive and post information about the work you or others may be doing that is focused on these issues. Send information via e-mail to the or by fax to (202) 378-9889. |
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