As the system of human rights expanded, new generations of rights were established. The first rights, first and second-generation rights, focused on political, economic and cultural rights, while the third generation of rights focused on collectivist rights, such as women’s or indigenous rights. One example of a third generation rights group, CEDAW, a UN convention, focuses on protecting women from violence through defining rights and collecting reports from countries involved. By generating reports, CEDAW collects information on violence against women in particular areas and discusses solutions reduce it. States adhere to these standards because of pressure from other states or shaming from NGOs, without much consequence for violations, much …show more content…
In the 1970s, as many as 30,000 Argentines disappeared, leaving families of the disappeared desperate for answers (Bosco, 2004). Mothers of the disappeared formed the Madres de Plaza de Mayo in 1977 to seek the truth about the whereabouts of their loved ones. To make their story known, the Madres marched through plazas, using public witnessing and victim testimony, to have their vision of the events known, Witnessing of these marches put the problem of disappearances in Argentina on the international radar and challenged the government in place and their story of events. Even after the removal of government officials involved in the disappearances, the Madres functions as an activist movement still preforming in the public arena today. Within the Madres, two separate groups exist, the Asociación and the Línea Fundadora, which disagree on how the past suffering should be remembered in politics and landscapes and their demonstrations. At first, the Línea Fundadora formed due to disapproval of the centralized structure of the original Madres, the Asociación but more recently, the main conflict is memory (Bosco, …show more content…
Victims desperately tried to seek the truth but disagreed on the best way to find it or remember the past. Within the Madres, the Línea Fundadora believed in a less confrontational, more global human rights approach in response to uncertainty about the disappeared. On the other hand, the Asociación wanted to keep fighting for social change and not accept the answers provided by the new government. They openly criticized the Línea Fundadora of accepting compensation for their losses from the government, claiming that the Madres formed on the basis of bringing their children back alive, something still has not done (Bosco, 2004). In this way, the Asociación resent the governments use of victims as a fulcrum, where initially violence brings political consent and then the new government attempts to heal suffering for political consent to a new government. The Asociación take a more radical approach, in a way mistrusting the new government at hand as well. Additionally, the two Madres groups differ on their view of landscapes of memory. The Línea Fundadora push for areas of human rights violations to become memorials to the past, while the Asociación oppose preservation of these
“The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage.” In America, Americans are blessed to have the right to freedom. Unlike other unfortunate countries, their freedom is limited. In many Latin American countries, the government’s leader has all power of the Country. Citizens have no rights to freedom, they are trapped in a cruel country where innocent people are killed each day. Civilians fear to speak out to the regime of leader; However, there were a few courageous citizens enough to speak out against the government. For example, “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela and the historical fictionalized account, “In The Time Of The Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez reveal individual 's role in overcoming oppression.
Alfredo Corchado — is the author of the book named " Midnight in Mexico:A Reporter's Journey through a Country's Descent into Darkness”. We are, probably, all interested in finding out the facts, news, and gossips about Mexico. This country was always associated with something mysterious. For me personally, the title of the book seemed to be very gripping, I was interested in revealing the secrets of life in Mexico, thus I decided to read this book. I was really curious, what can Alfredo Corchado tell me about the life in this country, the country, where the constant massacre is the picture, people used to see. In his book, the author tells the reader about the real situations, which took place in Mexico, reveals the secrets of the people’s lives and tells the story from the “inside”. He describes the way he lives his life, and does his work. The " Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey through a Country's Descent into Darkness” is a memoir. Author tries to transform his own experience into the story line. Corchado shows the reader the darkest episodes of Mexican society, while relying on his own experience.
Miguel Melendez’s book, “We Took the Streets” provides the reader with an insightful account into the activities of the Young Lords movement established in the latter years of the 1960s and remained active up until the early seventies. The book’s, which is essentially Melendez’s memoir, a recollection of the events, activities, and achievements of the Young Lords. The author effectively presents to the reader a fascinating account of the formation of the Young Lords which was a group of college students from Puerto Rico who came together in a bid to fight for some of the basic rights. As Melendez sums it up, “You either claim your history or lose authority over your future” (Melendez 23). The quote is in itself indicative of the book’s overall
They’ve set a shining example of how the will to make a difference can have drastic and incredible results effective or not to the immediate situation at hand, it encourages the surrounding people to question the value of their freedom. After the dictatorship fell, the trial of the murderers was on T.V. for a month, and they admitted to killing the Mirabal sisters and Rufino by strangulation. Although they died however, their sacrifice had not gone unnoticed. The memory of their sacrifice is honored today, by a national holiday and monuments, and through these closure is found, but their story is not lost. “Las Mariposas” leave an important legacy that enforces the ever existing
In Sonia Manzano’s book “The R(evolution) of Evelyn Serrano”. We got to read about the protest and
Ideally, their sympathy would drive more people to support the nonviolent movement because the victims fight against injustice by nonviolent means. In addition, Hector Tobar described Longoria knowing that “the enemy deals in ideology. Ideology is one of his most effective weapons, perhaps the most effective” (Tobar 220). It shows that suppressive governments are more afraid of their citizens ideological resistance than violent rebellion.
The Andes had a legacy of resistance that was unseen in other Spanish occupied place during the colonial period. There were rebellions of various kinds as a continued resistance to conquest. In the “Letters of Insurrection”, an anthology of letters written amongst the indigenous Andean people, between January and March 1781 in what is now known as Bolivia, a statement is made about the power of community-based rebellion. The Letters of Insurrection displays effects of colonization and how the “lesser-known” revolutionaries that lived in reducción towns played a role in weakening colonial powers and creating a place of identification for indigenous people.
Throughout centuries man has witnessed some of this worlds greatest tragedies; the destruction caused by the bubonic plague, the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the Rwandan Genocide. However, none of these can compare to the devastation caused by world dictators. The lives taken at the hands of these tyrannical rulers is unbelievably distressing, and ex-Dominican president, Rafael Trujillo is no exception. Throughout his thirty year reign over the Dominican Republic he is thought to be responsible for the lives of over 50,000 innocent people, none of these devastating losses, however, compare to the tragedy of the Mirabal sisters; three honourable women who did nothing but have a voice. The level of political misconduct and unjustified action was unbelievable and lead the sisters to drastic measures, Patria saying "We cannot allow our children to grow up in this corrupt and tyrannical regime, we have to fight against it, and I am willing to give up everything, including my life if necessary.". In their efforts to try and overthrow the totalitarian they found themselves trapped in a situation where the lives of them and their families were constantly at risk, and in the end it was through their tragical ...
During the Argentine dictatorship known as the Dirty War (1976-1983), thousands of people were systematically abducted by the government in order to eliminate all opposition to the regime. These "disappearances," which the dictatorship never admitted to committing, happened across class and age lines, but most of the kidnapped were young students and blue-collar workers. Despite the fact that associations and meetings of any kind were forbidden, a group of housewife mothers decided to protest the disappearance of their children. They began to gather every Thursday afternoon at the same time in the main square in Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo, walking alone or in pairs to avoid being arrested for disorderly conduct and wearing white kerchiefs on their heads to be easily identifiable. By showcasing their grief in public, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo turned their motherhood into a performance, and their bodies into political tools, to hold the government accountable. A 1985 Oscar-nominated documentary by Lourdes Portillo and Susana Muñoz, named after the group, not only recorded the Madres' performance of their collective identity, but was also instrumental in providing a broader audience for said performance.
Life in Mexico was, before the Revolution, defined by the figure of the patron that held all of power in a certain area. Juan Preciado, who was born in an urban city outside of Comala, “came to Comala because [he] had been told that [his] father, a man named Pedro Paramo lived there” (1). He initially was unaware of the general dislike that his father was subjected to in that area of Mexico. Pedro was regarded as “[l]iving bile” (1) by the people that still inhabited Comala, a classification that Juan did not expect. This reveals that it was not known by those outside of the patron’s dominion of the cruel abuse that they levied upon their people. Pedro Paramo held...
To begin with the story “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela was written to depict an event that was happening in the world at the time. In which was the time when Argentina overthrew the government in 1976. The new government was strict and killed thirteen to fifteen thousand innocent without even giving them the chance because the government feared that the poor would eventually try to overthrow the government. With that in mind, the main character in our story Juan begins with a conflicting that he is facing internally. Juan was worried about whether or not the letter he sent to Marina would make it to her house safely or would they become a victim to the government. So he decides to become one of the working men for the censors so that he would get his letter back
Between the years of 1976 to 1983, the period known as the ‘Dirty War’ was in full force in Argentina. During this period, thousands of people mysteriously went missing, and are referred to now as the ‘Disappeared’. It is believed that many of the disappeared were taken by agents of the Argentine government, and perhaps tortured and killed before their bodies were disposed of in unmarked graves or rural areas. Whenever the female captives were pregnant, their children were stolen away right after giving birth, while they themselves remained detained. It is estimated that 500 young children and infants were given to families with close ties to the military to be raised. Within this essay I would like to touch on the brief history of the Dirty war and why the military felt it was necessary to take and kill thousands of Argentina’s, and also the devastating affects the disappeared, and stolen children are having on living relatives of those taken or killed. It is hard to imagine something like this happening in North America relatively recently. To wakeup and have members of your family missing, with no explanation, or to one day be told your parents are not biologically related is something Argentina’s had to deal with, and are continuing to face even today.
La Movida Madrileña, meaning “The Action of Madrid”, was an unplanned countercultural movement from 1977 to 1985 in Spain. It began when Dictator Francisco Franco died and Spain erupted with pent-up energy. It was a movement that valued style over substance. The cultural revolution was evident in the music, subculture, fashion, alcohol, drugs, and sexual experimentation. La Movida took place primarily in Madrid, although some other cities such as Barcelona and Vigo had their own Movidas. Popular nightlife slang of the time reflected the spirit of the movement: “¿Dónde está la movida?”— “Where’s the action?”
Around the time of the Massacre in Mexico, there were a number of books written based on the brutal killings. Three popular books that were written by Mexican writers and addressed the movement of Mexican students, during that era, were Massacre in Mexico (by Elena Poniatowska), ’68 (by Paco Ignacio Taibo II), and Palinuro of Mexico (by Fernando de Paso). Their literature presented a disturbing look into a student movement, which culminated in hundreds of student protestors being massacred on October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas/Tlatelolco of Mexico City. This event led Pablo Ignacio Taibo II to write in the preface of his book ’68, “There are no countries without fairy tales lurking in their shadows.” His book is a collection of fragments that records what took place during that infamous year. And when Taibo addresses countries having fairy tales, it has nothing to do with a happy ending. Instead, he points out how countries present a positive, false image to cover up the negativity that continues to exist.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report (2000) Human Rights and Human Development (New York) p.19 [online] Available from: [Accessed 2 March 2011]