Searching for Life: The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina

by Rita Arditti

FROM THE BOOK :"I want to touch you and kiss you.""You are my mother's sister and only one year older; you must have something of my mother in you."―A found child after being returned to her family

Searching for Life traces the courageous plight of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group of women who challenged the ruthless dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Acting as both detectives and human rights advocates in an effort to find and recover their grandchildren, the Grandmothers identified fifty-seven of an estimated 500 children who had been kidnapped or born in detention centers. The Grandmothers' work also led to the creation of the National Genetic Data Bank, the only bank of its kind in the world, and to Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the "right to identity," that is now incorporated in the new adoption legislation in Argentina. Rita Arditti has conducted extensive interviews with twenty Grandmothers and twenty-five others connected with their work; her book is a testament to the courage, persistence, and strength of these "traditional" older women.

The importance of the Grandmothers' work has effectively transcended the Argentine situation. Their tenacious pursuit of justice defies the culture of impunity and the historical amnesia that pervades Argentina and much of the rest of the world today. In addition to reconciling the "living disappeared" with their families of origin, these Grandmothers restored a chapter of history that, too, had been abducted and concealed from its rightful heirs.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Rita Arditti was a feminist, human rights activist, environmentalist and biologist. Her work explored the connections between these subjects, such as her book The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina . The co-founder of New Words Bookstore and the Women's Community Cancer Project, she was active in the women's movement and editor of the anthologies Test-Tube Women and Science and Liberation . Born in Argentina, she moved to the United States in 1965. After fighting the disease for 30 years, Arditti died from breast cancer at age 75 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recent history of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. This covers their origins during the Junta Terror years of mid 70’s thru to the late 90’s. The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo are famous for their passive resistance and their search for their disappeared children, mostly teens and young adults. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo concentrate their efforts on the search for their grandchildren, the toddlers and infants of the people the police, military and Junta had kidnapped and murdered. Children that have been passed around like war booty among the very people that tortured and murdered their parents. This was confronting to read, but I loved the dedication and resourcefulness that these everyday Argentinian women have displayed in their never ending search for their grandchildren and their efforts to restore them to their rightful surviving families.

[Paul Campagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was both educational and inspiring. I was fairly ignorant about the whole story behind the Disappeared before reading this book, so it was a nice view into Argentine political history. And then just reading about how fearless and relentless the Grandmothers really left an impact on me.

Be forewarned before you start this book - the first chapter is full of detailed descriptions of the torture the Disappeared underwent. I was worried that the whole book would be like this, and I didn't know if I could handle 200 pages of stomach churning, but after the first paragraph, the focus moved from describing the torture.

I mentioned how inspiring the Grandmothers were - here are some quotes from the book that stuck out:
- pg. 54, one of the founding grandmothers talking about how they had to meet on the sly during the military's reign. They were traveling on a city bus and the police pulled the buses over. ""As soon as we got out of the buses we ripped every piece of paper we had in our purses, anything that could be used to incriminate us. The street turned completely white!"
- pg. 61, another of the grandmothers upon receiving threats that she too would be disappeared: "But after what happened to us, after they took away the best that we had, our children, I had to disregard those threats."
- pg. 85, another of the grandmothers after a lawyer advised her to wait before taking action following the disappearance of her three children: "I felt I had only two options, to kill myself or to get out and search for my children."
- pg. 89, one of the grandmothers, upon hearing how her daughter-in-law was insulted for having a Jewish husband while being detained / tortured: "When I heard that I felt like a wall started to grow inside me. I felt strong and hard like a brick wall and decided that they would never be able to demolish this wall. That I was ready to fight these savages until the day I die."
- pg. 91, one of the grandmothers speaking of her own resiliency, "Some times I don't feel like fighting anymore. I am seventy years old, I get tired. I only want to stay home. But when I think of them I gather strength. It is the least I can do."
- pg. 163, the author writes of the grandmothers' work to break the silence about the government's crimes: "The grandmothers challenge silence and denial by bearing witness to the crimes of the dictatorship: they defy the numbing and the active forgetting that the culture of impunity fosters."

Reading the quotes from the Grandmothers again gives me the same chills I got the first time I read them.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to anyone who will be traveling to Argentina. It was a well written account of the Disappeared in Argentina and the political things which went on. It's hard to believe this happened in the 1970s and not 50 years before. The first chapter dealing with the torture that went on was hard to get through, but after that the book was filled with interesting information about what happened to these poor people and what the families are still struggling with.

[Linnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrifying read. Describes the motivations of the government, and details the conditions of the prisons and the treatment of the disappeared. Clearly outlines the horrors experienced both by the victims, and their families. Every chapter had me on tenderhooks, horrified to hear what happened next but I could not stop reading. The book discusses the fight for collective memory. Reading this book adds to the preservation of the memory. Extremely important to read.

[Rolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing people's history of Argentina's "dirty war", the period when the military dictatorship disappeared thousands of people for opposing it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book--the introduction to the book provides a useful overview to Argentina's dirty war.