By Carlos Aznárez on March 25, 2017
Six hundred thousand or more? There are no set of eyes that could have counted exactly how many women, men, young people, adolescents and children marched Friday through the streets of Buenos Aires and throughout the country to condemn the military dictatorship of 1976 and incidentally signal in the strongest expression that the current government of Macri is one of their heirs.
We were many, with lots of imagination in posters carried by different people expressing emotional tribute to the revolutionaries of the 70’s, to the 30 thousand who disappeared, to the epic rebels and insurgents who decided to storm the sky and suffered one of the greatest genocides of our history. They were there along with all of us marching, the youth who worked on literacy campaigns in poor neighborhoods and were kidnapped, the workers of Ford and Mercedes Benz who were also kidnapped, the sugar cane workers from Tucuman and Salta, the teachers, the priests like father Carlos Mugica and Pallottine; all of them killed by henchmen of the Triple A or the repressive military and police. Also present in the long march that took hours of walking were the insurgents of the FAP, FAR, Descamisados, Montoneros, ERP, FAL, OCPO, PCML and so many other revolutionary organizations who were also arrested, tortured and murdered. But also marching where the Mothers, Grandmothers, HIJOS (children of the disappeared) who throughout the past 40 years have maintained the flame of their memory.
Also, thanks to some signs displayed by youth, we felt closer to Rodolfo Walsh, Haroldo Conti, Daniel Santoro, Raymundo Gleyzer, Pirí Lugones, and all the journalists assassinated by the dictatorship.
What they could not kill is the memory. Neither the military from yesterday, nor the “democrats” who succeeded them, not even this President who tries by all means to do just that. It was very impressive to see columns mostly of youth, happy side by side, with incisive slogans and militancy in their challenge to the ruling government of Macri. Also displayed were large banners directed at the former Army Chief Milani that characterized him as an agent of genocide.
The historic Plaza de Mayo received everybody during the practically 8 hours of protest and all voices were heard, first the Human Rights Organizations, followed by organizations the majority of whom were Kirchner followers and then a number of left organizations as well.
At the end of an unforgettable day, was the satisfaction that we are more than what we think, and if we unite beyond the slogans we will begin to build a germ of unstoppable people power and if we think clearly we should try little by little. We must always be on the street as it is now, with strength, with desire, with joy, and without forgetting what we’ve done, without forgiving and without reconciliation. We must turn our back on all the proposals that hint of resignation and in these ways we will pick up the legacy of the 30 thousand and show them that what they did was not in vain.
It is for all of us to rise up to the challenge.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translated by Resumen Latinoamericano, North American Bureau