Articles by Renate Lunn

Boy walks past anti-repression graffiti, Buenos Aires

Five Lessons Bush Learned from Argentina’s Dirty War and Five Lessons for the Rest of Us

Renate Lunn December 8, 2005 Renate Lunn

Boy walks past anti-repression graffiti, Buenos Aires
It began as a far-reaching war against a vague enemy. Any questions about the war were considered unpatriotic and dissenters risked being violently repressed by the government. The government helped the economic elite profit at the expense of the poor. When the regime was losing its grip on power, it turned to a conventional military war that became a disaster. This synopsis describes the Dirty War of 1976-1983 in Argentina…and the current US "War on Terror." 

The Dirty War in Argentina is a complex story that can be viewed through a variety of lenses. During the six months I recently spent in Argentina, I found that the more I learned about the Dirty War, the more I was learning about the "War on Terror."  To say that the current state of repression in the US is exactly like the Dirty War would be an insult to the 30,000 people who were disappeared and tortured in Argentina. The similarities between the two "wars," however, can indicate in what direction the US may be headed and how progressives can steer the country in another direction.