Why Peronism, and the Argentine Dirty War Are Relevant to History - Case Study Example

Why Juan Peron, Peronism, and the Argentine Dirty War are relevant to history The Argentina Dirty War is one of greatesttragedy in history. The war lasted between 1976- 1983 a period when Argentina military government killed about 30, 000 people. The killing was an effort to counter the claimed threat of the leftist social activism, a crime supported by the United States government. What caused the war are not clearly identified in history. To some levels, it can be termed a civil war –the junta orchestrating the violence indeed regarded as part of an existential conflict against internal communism and anarchy. However, this theory does not fully give the history of the war (Walsh and Daniella 13). Despite their violent aims of the leftist and Peronist groups, the non-state actors that supported the conservative junta never detailed organizational and military capacity necessary for severe action against the government. In this way the Dirty War was much more similar to a mass breakdown of civil society that sparked organized governmental violence against the Argentine population, and the Dirty War possibly shares more with the chaotic French or Chinese Cultural Revolutions than the more organized, bipolar conflict typically termed civil wars. The brutality of the war makes it more significant in history. Its torture and fear were characteristics defined the 20th-century state failure throughout Latin America (Sobel 23). Aspects of their importance of responsibility to protect and intervention gain much sense from this war. This paper focuses on the period 1976-1983 a period when Argentina experienced its dirty days. Such individuals like Peron and his second wife Evita are also to be focused on given their significant role in the birth of Peronism. Isabela Peron is also another key person during this period. She took over the presidency from Peron in 1974 but was overthrown and arrested in 1976 when the military government took over Argentina. Other key characters include Britain, Jorge Rafael Videla, the president between 1976 and 1981 and Raul Alfonsin, who became the civilian president in 1983 ((Walsh and Daniella 19). Juan Peron, Eva Peron, and Peronism For a proper understanding of the dirty and turbulent days in Argentina, one has to get an understanding of Peron and his wife and Peronism in Argentina. Juan Domingo Peron was an Argentinian military and politician. He was born on October 8th, 1895 and died on July 1st, 1974. He served in several positions in the government including being the minister of labor and the vice president of the Republic of Argentina. He was elected the president of Argentina three times serving from June 1946-September, 1955. After this, he was overthrown through a coup de tat. He was then sent to exile and returned to Argentina in 1970s and served as president as from October 1973 to July 1974, the time he died (Crassweller 25). During his first term (1946-1952) he received the support of his second wife Maria Eva Duarte (Evita). Eva was born in 1919 she served as the first lady of Argentina from 1946 until 1952 when she died. She was named a Spiritual Leader of the Nation by the Argentina Congress before she died. The following period from 1955 were marked by a military dictatorship and interruption by two civilian governments. Accordingly the Peronist party was outlawed, and Peron himself was exiled. However in 1974 when the left-wing Peronist Hector Campora was elected president Peron returned to Argentina. Soon he was elected the president for a third time. While his wife Isabela Peron became the vice president and could later succeed him upon his death in 1974. It is important to note that Juan Peron and Evita Peron are still considered icons by the Peron for their efforts in poverty elimination and dignity to labor. However, detractors regard them, demagogues and dictators. Perons named their movement Peronism. Peronism also known as Justicialism is a political movement in Argentina that is based on the legacy of the Juan Domingo Peron and his second wife, Evita. The party drew its name for the Spanish name social justice. Peronism works on three pillars also called the three flags. These include social justice, economic independence, and political sovereignty. These are the issues that Peron advocated for together with his wife while he was the president. Peronism rejects extreme Communism and capitalism. Accordingly, it espouses corporatism and thus aims to mediate the tension between the classes of the society. The state is also responsible for negotiating conflicts between managers and workers thus the dignity of labor that Evita advocated for. For the opponents, Peronism is an authoritarian ideology that is compared to fascist dictators. Referring himself to the embodiment nationality, Perons government often silenced dissent by accusing opponents of being unpatriotic (Crassweller 37). Accordingly, the corporatist character of Peronism received attacks from socialists who accused his administration of perpetuating capitalist exploitation and class division. Those who admired it, describe it as a movement that had the interests of the masses and more especially the most marginalized in the society. They also praised Peron for holding esteem for administration and anti-imperialist and non-alignment as well as socially progressive initiatives. Perons government also introduced universal social security and free education. Students were granted one week paid job prior to every major examination. Also, housing projects were established, and paid vacations made standard (Sobel 37). All workers were given free medical care and vacation trip expenses. Mothers were granted three paid months off prior to and after maternity leave. Workers recreation centers were constructed all over the country. Since 1946, Peronists have won 9 of 11 elections that they have participated in. Despite its revolutionary agenda, Peronism won because it appropriated the same political tools of clientelism and identity politics that dominated Argentina for a long time. While Peronism maintained the status quo, it was an offspring the same working class dissatisfied with what had spawned the Federalists and Radicals. Perons charisma and organizational traits were essential elements in his rise. His unprecedented disruption of the Argentine class-politics equilibrium had more to do with Argentinas worsening economic conditions than himself as a person (Crassweller 35). Background of the war By 1970, Argentina was a relatively wealthy country with a developed and relatively educated urban population, mostly free from the rural poverty that featured in its northern Latin American counterparts. Despite constant social instability is seemed important to have expected Argentinas relatively high usage to have moderated the situation. However, there were indicators that Argentine society in 1970 was on the edge of a precipice. The Peronist movement of the early years had altered the Argentine political balance, and the five military coups 1970 were high, but not unique, by Latin American standards. However, what made Argentina unique was its high economic and social inequality, which led to a class fight whose instability and violence were extreme. This conflict bred the conditions that made Argentine society gradually more unstable throughout the 20th century. The conflict also created economic conditions that favored social divisions to explode into the chaos and violence of the Dirty War (Verbitsky 24). The war (1976-1983) In 1976, Isabel Peron was overthrown by a military junta under the leadership of Jorge Rafael Videla. Videla became the president up to 1981. The government eliminated the political and trade union activity. It also dissolved the Congress and made amendments to the constitution as well as fired most government officials. During this rule, many citizens suspected of undermining the government disappeared mysteriously. The terror was officially called the Process of National Reorganization by the military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. It was a detailed campaign geared toward communists, and several of the people were captured for several months in official institutions, where they were repeatedly tortured before being killed, their bodies "disappeared" (Sobel 34). The war is significant in the Americas history because it brought out several aspects as far as international relations history and diplomacy is concerned. What had begun as an attempt to restore order, quickly turned into a war on Argentinas citizens? The reorganization became a period of wide-scale repression of the general public: including trade unionist, students, intellectual, writers, journalists, and the human right activist. Such methods of repression were used incarceration, torture, rape, Killing and Kidnapping. However, two main methods were specific to the dirty war. These were; Death flights – prisoners were executed by being thrown out of airplanes alive, and children were vehemently taken from their parents and given to juntas supporters (Crassweller 23). To the new regime, the elimination of subversion implied the guerrilla’s activities, and any form of behavior found anywhere be it in the school, family, and factory or even in the arts or culture. Setting new national framework required elimination of Peronists, the unions, parliamentary radicals, and leftists. To build the economy needed the clean-up of an industrial sector occupied by an undisciplined worker class and inefficient managers. The military took the role of hard-line rulers. Everybody fell to this rule: the journalists, the human right activities, the clergy and anybody who was critical to the junta. Moreover, associates of any of them, people that had been denounced for reasons of personal vengeance or by kidnap victims under torture. Victory for the military was gotten after three years of and several kidnappings, vanishing, bombs, and assassinations. This brought a mess for those suspected of being associated the guerrillas. By June 1978, all the guerrillas had been eliminated, and the military declared victory. By 1980, the last section of the terrorist groups had been silenced, and the vanishing come to an end (Sobel 27). Despite the fact that the military dictatorship carried the war on its domestic population, it is a foreign enemy who brought the regime to a close. In the early 1980s, it was clear to the world that the government handled the several kidnappings. Faced with the opposition over its human rights record and corruption allegations, the junta decided to allay domestic enemy starting a successful campaign to regain the Falkland Islands. The Falkland Islands had been the center of conflict between Britain, which administers them, and Argentina, which claims them, since 1820. The junta thought that it could reclaim these islands more easily and that England would not mind their loss. In this way, the government would regain its popularity and control over its people. However, the junta was wrong in its decision. 72 days after the attack on the Islands, the British army won the war, having captured 9,800 Argentine POWs. This unexpected victory for Britain was the last blow to the military regime in Argentina. In 1982, junta restored basic civil liberties and reversed its ban on political parties. The Dirty War came to an end when Raul Alfonsins civilian government took control of the country on December 10, 1983 (Wynia 41). The war informs the present day Americas on the importance of conflict and crisis management. The use of military dictatorship and more so military coups indeed cannot solve the world problems. It also brings out the importance of responsibility to protect and intervention. Indeed, the principle of non-interference cannot help maintain the international relation. This because greedy and careless politicians undermine the masses. Violation of human rights is another aspect that this war brings out. Many people were killed, raped, kidnaped, and others arrested. Majority died a very painful death especially the flight death. Many children were detached from their parents, and this is termed as psychological torture. The war also marked an economic depression in Argentina. The declining economy is so significant in global trade. Failure by the countries in the world to get the Argentina exports was a blow to the global economy. The war left behind a great legacy that the world will live to remember (Verbitsky 19). Films such as the official story, the secret in their eyes and NO are all rotating around the dark days in Argentina in the period 1976-1983. The cold war is also seen as a player in this war thus again the question of actors in the international system. The conflict between the capitalist and the communist in Argentina is an extension of the rivalry between the USA and USSR as from 1945. This serve to demonstrate that Latin America was used as a battle ground for the two super powers. The Second World War is also an influence in this war. Peron is seen to acquire the fascist traits of Mussolini, and he imposes some of these dictatorial policies in Argentina. In a nutshell, what happened in Argentina has its roots from the world wars that the world experienced as from 1914. In conclusion, the Argentina Dirty War is one of greatest tragedy in history. The war lasted between 1976- 1983 a period when Argentina military government killed 30 000 people. The war was engineered by the Peronism a movement named after Juan Peron and Evita Perons wife. Peron was a president in Argentina for three terms. The eruption of the war had its base in class inequalities experienced in the early1970s. However, the period 1976-1983 was the climax of the war. This period was characterized killings kidnappings, rape, curtailed freedom of the journalists and human right activist. There was arrest and detention of students, political opponents and clergy. The war is significant in the history of Americas as far as the price of democracy is concerned and the importance of responsibility to protect as well as the intervention policy in the globe. The legacy left behind by the war is not only a lesson that people are to learn on the importance of conflict management but also something that the world will live to remember. The above is so given the production of various films rotating around the Argentina dirty war. Work cited. Crassweller, Robert D. Perón and the Enigmas of Argentina. New York: Norton, 1987. Print. Finchelstein, Federico. The Ideological Origins of the Dirty War: Fascism, Populism, and Dictatorship in Twentieth Century Argentina. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print. Sobel, Lester A. Argentina & Peron, 1970-75. New York: Facts on File, 1975. Print. Verbitsky, Horacio. The Flight: Confessions of an Argentine Dirty Warrior. New York: New Press, 1996. Print. Walsh, Rodolfo J, and Daniella Gitlin. Operation Massacre. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2013. Print. Wynia, Gary W. Argentina: Illusions and Realities. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1986. Print. Read More