SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Collective action
Civil society (ordinary people) confronting authority to bring
about social change
By people who do not have access to mainstream sources of
power
Not a single event / demonstration
Goal is to create CHANGE and to put issue in public eye; on the
agenda
TWO CASE STUDIES:
1. Landless Workers Movement , Brazil
2.Las Madres y Abuelas, Argentina
1. LANDLESS WORKERS MOVEMENT (MST)
Rural workers fighting for land reform and social equality in rural areas, Brazil
Strategy: Occupy latifundios
Since 1984:
2500 land occupations, 370,000 families
Currently:
900 encampments holding 150,000 families
MILITARY DICTATORSHIP 1964 - 1985
Coup led by Armed Forces, backed by US
New Constitution; repressed free speech and political opposition
censored media, tortured and disappeared (murdered) dissidents
Nationalism, economic development and anti-Communism were main
themes of dictatorship
Created a model adopted by
other dictatorships in LA (Chile,
Argentina): military’s actions are
justified in the name of “National
Security”
AFTERMATH OF
DICTATORSHIP
Concentration of power (= LAND in countryside)
50 % of land owned by 1 % of population
Modernization of agriculture
Mass exodus to cities from rural areas
Of salaried farmworkers, shareholders, renters
In various states of Brazil, rural workers began to organize
to reclaim their rights to work the land
Became part of push for democracy across the country
“Land for those who work it”
“Without land reform there is no democracy”
BRAZILIAN CONSTITUTION
challenges notion of “private property” rights
Article 184: All land should serve a social function. The constitution requires the
Brazilian government "to expropriate for the purpose of agrarian reform, rural property
that is not performing its social function."
Article 186 the social function means : (1) rational and adequate use; (2) adequate
use of available natural resources and preservation of the environment; (3)
compliance with the provisions which regulate labor relations; and (4) exploitation
which favors the well-being of the owners and workers."
MST occupies unproductive, unused rural land that it does not believe is meeting its
social function to remind the federal government of its constitutional responsibility.
Then a legal process starts to expropriate the land and grant title to the landless
workers. The landowners usually try to evict the families.
2. LAS MADRES, ARGENTINA
DIRTY WAR
Lasting legacy on Argentine society
Silent; secret; unknown for many years
Began before the military dictatorship by junta
Under National Reorganization Process:
Kidnapping, torture, murder were legal
For purpose of restraining subversives
Ideological war:
• asked citizens to give up individual rights to “cleanse” the country of
subversives and achieve peace for “God and country”
• steady propaganda campaign: enemy is unknown; enemy is among you
350 detention centers
Size: 30 – 1500 prisoners
Abducted day or night; family members beaten; children kidnapped
Local police assisted
Used psychology of fear
OPERATION CHARLY
1977-1984; covert
Junta shared methods of repression and torture with governments/groups in
Central America
Encouraged by US
IN DETENTION….
Blindfolded
Nicknames
Tortured
Sexually abused
Burned with cattle prods
Hitler’s speeches broadcast
Many died and were buried in mass graves
Many were drugged, transported in planes, and dropped over ocean alive
Many disappeared: no records
LOS DESAPARECIDOS
30,000 in Argentina in 7 yrs
Not including those released
Families desperately searched
400 babies born in captivity
88 found true identities (as of 2008)
MADRES Y ABUELAS DE LA PLAZA DE MAYO
Began in hope that children would be released
Met in secret; learned of enormity of situation
Meet in Plaza de Mayo on Thursdays
FALKLANDS/MALVINAS
Battle with British for control; lost to British in 1982
Final test of the dictatorship
Raúl Alfonsin came to power in December 1983
3 days after election, passed Decree #158:
Legal proceedings against 9 military officials of 3 of 4 military juntas
(4th junta had passed a self-amnesty law)
ALFONSIN
1983 Created CONADEP: National Commission on
the Disappearance of Persons
Investigate human rights violations during
dictatorship
Released report 1984 (Nunca Más):
458 assassinations; 600 disappeared
Trial of junta
Life imprisonment of 9 members of junta
Alfonsin also felt pressure to pacify military
1. 1986 Ley de Punto Final (Full Stop Law)
Mandated end of investigation & prosecution for
those facing charges for political violence under
dictatorship up to 1983
2. 1987 Ley de Obedencia Debida (Law of Due
Obedience)
officers cannot be punished for political violence
during dictatorship because they were following
orders
CARLOS MÉNEM 1989
Pardoned officers who had been indicted
Human rights groups sought justice, testimony from victims,
loopholes in law
Mid-level officers began confessing to atrocities
Pressure from Madres & civil society for “truth trials”
Courts had right to subpoena and investigate but not to convict
International pressure
1999 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights settled with Argentina to
guarantee “right to truth by obtaining clarification of what happened to
disappeared persons”
Full Stop Law and Law of Due Obedience did not pertain to baby
theft
Ménem created National Commission for Right to Identify 1992
Some military generals (e.g. Videla)were found guilty of kidnapping
babies
Spent 1 month in jail; released to house arrest for health reasons
Other countries (Italy, Spain) called for extradition of military junta
members so they could be tried abroad
President Fernando de la Rúa signed Decree 1581
Argentina refused to allow Argentines to stand trial in other countries
Full Stop and Due Obedience Laws were found unconstitutional by
Supreme Court 2005
2006 cases were reopened
Those previously pardoned could not be retried
1 early case led to calling dictatorship’s actions “genocide”
Earlier pardons were therefore unconstitutional
2007 Argentine federal court struck down Ménem’s pardons and
reinstated human rights abuse allegations
CIVIL SOCIETY HAS BEEN RALLYING
FACTOR IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE
Change has been made due to their fight and pressure
Proyecto Desaparecidos (Project Disappeared)
Several human rights organizations “with the purpose of recovering and maintaining
memory, understanding what happened in Argentina during the dirty war and fighting
against impunity”
Monuments to remember the dead
Monument of the Victims of State Terrorism
Began in 1999 with 1 stone
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