"CLAMOR: The search for the ‘disappeared’ of the South American dictatorships" - Book presentation by Jan Rocha (Hybrid event)
Tuesday 2 May 2023, 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Venue
Bowland North Seminar Room 23Open to
All Lancaster University (non-partner) students, Alumni, Applicants, External Organisations, Families and young people, Postgraduates, Prospective International Students, Prospective Postgraduate Students, Prospective Undergraduate Students, Public, Staff, UndergraduatesRegistration
Registration not required - just turn upEvent Details
Journalist Jan Rocha will speak about the writing of her book, the work of CLAMOR, and her work as a correspondent in Brazil for the BBC and The Guardian. Sue Branford from the Latin America Bureau (LAB) will introduce the cross-border solidarity work and independent journalism of LAB.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the dictatorships in the South American countries of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil attempted to hide the atrocities they committed – enforced disappearances, torture, assassinations – from the international community. They terrorized populations into silence, censored the media, threatened and murdered journalists, and forcibly disappeared, incarcerated or killed their opponents. But they failed. Thanks to the courageous work of survivors, journalists, human rights organisations, exiles, and family members, the atrocities were documented and denounced. The group CLAMOR, based in Brazil, was among the first to investigate, publicize and denounce state terrorism in the Southern Cone dictatorships; including the secret cross-border Operation Condor which targeted exiles in their country of refuge.
Journalist Jan Rocha was one of the founding members of CLAMOR. Her book CLAMOR: The Search for the disappeared of the South American dictatorships [https://practicalactionpublishing.com/book/2679/clamor], now published in English by Practical Action with the Latin America Bureau (LAB), provides an eyewitness account of the struggle to find out what had happened to the disappeared, especially the hundreds of babies and children who had gone missing during the years of terror. Members of the Argentinian juntas were later condemned for the "systematic plan to steal babies and children" and a parallel can be drawn with the indictment of President Putin by the ICC for the abduction of Ukrainian children. Both situations involved the use of children as political tools.
You are warmly invited to this event which will be taking place both in-person at Bowland North SR23 and online via Microsoft Teams.
To attend online: Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 328 954 348 854
Passcode: dPEqBx
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Speakers
Jan Rocha
Jan Rocha is a British-born journalist who has lived in Brazil for over 50 years, where she was correspondent for the BBC World Service and the Guardian. She has written books on the Yanomami indigenous people, on the Landless Workers Movement and on Clamor, the human rights organisation she co-founded in 1978 to denounce the atrocities of the extreme right-wing dictatorships in South America and help the refugees fleeing from them.
Sue Branford
Sue Branford is a free-lance journalist, specialized in Latin America, particularly Brazil. She spent ten years in Brazil and then returned to work for the BBC World Service as a Latin America analyst. She has published five books, the latest being "Amazon Besieged - by Dams, Soya, Agribusiness and Land-Grabbing", co-authored with Mauricio Torres.
Contact Details
| Name | Dr Cornelia Gräbner |