|
Abstract
The following case study examines the complex interplay, conflicts, and compatibilities of "gendered" and "national" demands within the revolutionary setting of El Salvador. Students will be encouraged through the dialogue presented in the text and the subsequent discussions in class to grapple with the life defining questions
with which women revolutionaries are regularly confronted. The case centers around one young woman's desires as a revolutionary. As the title implies, she is torn between her family, her budding feminism, and her nation. As a young revolutionary who watches the war escalate around her, she too wishes to deepen her commitment through guerrilla combat. This option is discouraged by her family and would take a great deal of emotional stamina. She is also intrigued by the work of a feminist activist who explicitly supports the revolution while working to keep women's interests at the forefront. Another option presented in the text, but certainly not the only ones students may come up with, is to remain "loyal" to her nation by continuing as a health care worker. This is encouraged as she is laying the ground work for the "new El Salvador." As case studies tend to engage students pedagogically about real questions, thus entertaining options not necessarily spelled out, it is my hope that students will come away from this case feeling confident that feminism and national liberation are not tension free compatriots, nor are they antithetical. Students should be able to tease through the intricacies of a revolutionary program which includes women (and/or feminism,) leading to what I envision as lively debate about this very rich topic.
Back to top
Historical Background
El Salvador is a small nation in Central America with a population of only 4.8 million people. It is a nation infamous for the inequality of its land distribution. Since independence in 1821 tensions persisted due to the oligarchy's (the so-called "fourteen families") control over the majority of cultivable land. Peasants' land and indigenous-held villages were systematically expropriated by the oligarchy who also exercised great political control. By 1912 the National Guard was established and often based in close proximity to major farms. The Guard became accountable to land owners, not the military, blurring the distinctions of power in El Salvador.
In 1929 the onset of the Great Depression and stock market crash had serious repercussions in El Salvador. Because El Salvador's economy was dependent upon the export of coffee, its Gross National Product was greatly reduced as the United States' buying power was severely hampered. Thus living conditions grew progressively worse and various sectors of the population, including workers, peasants, indigenous people, students, and teachers began to organize. In 1928 the Salvadoran Communist Party (PC) was formed. El Salvador entered into a period of crisis late in 1931 with the beginning of military rule. In 1932 Farabundo Martí led an historic insurrection in both San Salvador and the western regions of the country. The government and military's response was severe: entire villages were razed and liquidated, causing deaths in the tens of thousands, particularly to El Salvador's indigenous population. During the cold-war the "threat" of communism consumed the Western world, leading to an intensification of military-bureaucratic rule; the United States had an internationally sanctioned rationale to support military governments in exchange for a commitment to ending any form of organizing. This policy continued through the Reagan/Bush era where anti-communist rhetoric was accompanied with $1.5 million per day in U.S. aid to El Salvador.
After witnessing the revolutionary triumphs in Cuba (1959) and Nicaragua (1979), in October of 1980 the five parties of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
(FMLN) joined together to form a united political-military organization. The Reagan administration had three objectives with its policy toward Central America: "to depose the revolutionary government of Nicaragua, to establish a permanent military base in Honduras, and to defeat the Salvadorean FMLN militarily -- all of which was done, of course, with the justification of promoting democracy in these countries"
(Baró and Cardenal in Montgomery, 1995: 5).
The war in El Salvador persisted for twelve years resulting in 80,000 deaths, 8,000 disappeared, and close to one million refugees. In 1992, the ruling National Republican Alliance (ARENA) government, known by some as the party of the death squads, agreed to negotiate an end to the bloody civil war.1 This case is about one woman's struggle to wage a battle for justice on many fronts in El Salvador.
Setting
The year is 1987 and the war in El Salvador has been raging officially for the past seven years. Irma is a nineteen year old woman who lives in the north eastern part of the country in a district called
Chalatenango. The massive military budget and training provided by the US to the Salvadoran military was intended to squelch an opposition movement of workers, human rights activists, students, peasants, refugees, and guerrillas, by any means necessary. Bombing of rural villages was central to this campaign; bombs of course do not make distinctions between guerrillas and civilians.
The FMLN was the umbrella organization of five political-military organizations during the war. The Popular Forces of Liberation (FPL) was the largest of these organizations, and the one active in
Chalatenago. In fact, Chalatenango was what the guerrillas called a "zone of control," meaning the military and government had lost control of this area of the country to the guerrillas.
Irma is the youngest of five children. She has two older siblings, a sister and a brother (Mercedes and Ramon) who are combatants in the FPL, both fighting in
Chalatenango. Her sister Maria was disappeared, that is captured never to be seen since (either dead or alive) presumably for organizing with a student organization which demanded that the government reopen the University of El Salvador. Her other sister Nora immigrated to the United States illegally and sends money home from her job working as a domestic. Irma lives with her mother and aunt Rebeca whose husband was killed in an air raid some years back. Her mother and aunt are both practicing Catholics and receive much support from other women and community members who have lost their loved ones in this bloody war. Irma's father left her family when she was too young to remember. Irma also has a boyfriend, or compañero, named Luis who is a combatant with the FPL. Irma is in the FPL as well. She does logistical work, primarily tending to wounded combatants.
Irma: Last night I laid on my floor mat and stared at the ceiling of our home. I could hear mother and aunt Rebeca sleeping as I laid there, wide awake. Whenever I feel this anxiety I think of Maria. I don't know where she is; I don't know whether she is even alive, but I know she would have answers for me. I get so angry when I think about Maria. How could another human being be so cruel as to take the life away from a young woman who was finally given the chance to educate herself. Most people in our country can't attend the university because it's too expensive. Maria had worked and saved money without any of us knowing for her whole life. Only a month after she arrived in San Salvador to go to the University, the government shut it down. They said it was a front for the guerrillas. The students were very angry. Maria was angry. They marched in the streets of San Salvador with banners and bullhorns, and now she's gone. For four years we have prayed for her every night, praying that she is alive any place in this big world. I hate a system that makes its people so poor that they must join an army that captures and kills its own people. Maria was captured by another poor Salvadoran, probably no older than us. I want it to end. I want the cycle of injustice and poverty to end.
Maria, what do you think I should do? I have been working with the FPL for a year now. I started just cooking and taking messages from village to village. You know, what they call logistical work. After a while the leaders saw that I really cared about what I was doing and that I learned fast so I was asked to do medical work. I learned how to take care of the wounded guerrillas when they come back from battle; I bandage their wounds, and set their fractures. Some people are so wounded we can't do anything for them. And a lot of times we just don't have enough supplies. I like taking care of the guerrillas, but I want to do more. I want to fight.
Maria, I am sick of hearing the bombs and mortars drop. I want Nora to be able to return from the States. I want to not hear of any more villages being bombed, or compañeros being captured. I can't work to free our precious country by bandaging the wounded. I need to fight back. I need to show the military that we can't be dominated. I need to show them that this poverty is not just. There is enough land in El Salvador to make us all comfortable and I want to show the government, the military, that just like Chalatenango fell to the guerrillas, so too will San Salvador2. I want to be there and help start building a new country. A country where everyone is free. But Maria, you know what? Yesterday I was in the camp during lunch and ate with Luis, Ramon, and Mercedes and they didn't like the idea of me becoming a combatant at all.
Luis: I can't believe you want to fight! Oh Irma, I am so embarrassed. I don't want you telling anyone about this or people will think I have been a bad compañero. People will say I am bad for even letting you think about this. Irma, I love you. You can't fight. It's just too dangerous for a woman! I love you too much to let you! I want what is best for you, and knowing that you could be threatened by those monsters just tears me up inside. What if something happened to you? What would I do? I won't let you, it's too humiliating, too dangerous!
Back to top
And Maria, you would like to think our own family would be more supportive, but they weren't...
Ramon: Irma, you don't need to fight. You're acting as if your work doesn't matter. But that is just not true. What would happen to the wounded if you weren't there to take care of us? You know that the guerrillas need more help medically, not less! We are a poor army, and as we fight against poverty, we fight for health care. Irma, you're helping to build a new El Salvador, a new nation where health care is available to the poor who wouldn't otherwise have it! Your work ensures that the guerrillas are as healthy as we can be. And you know if there were no guerrillas then Chalatenango would have been flattened by the military, by the Yankees, like so many other parts of our precious homeland. Irma, your country needs you to tend to the wounds, not fight with a gun. Besides, we need to win this war first then we will address the problems of women. If more women were fighting out there it would distract the men; just think of you and Luis in the same platoon! You'd never be able to focus on your work. There are plenty of men willing to fight, but not as many who have the skills to take care of the guerrillas the way you do. Your work is special Irma, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Mercedes: Irma, you're being silly. We love what you do for us. Plus, if you go fight then mother will have to worry about losing all of her children besides Nora. You shouldn't even think of putting her through that. I don't know who you've been talking too, but you are too young to do this. You know you have your responsibility to us as a family and to Luis as his future wife. But more importantly, you are committed to your people, your nation. If you continue to do medical work soon you will be able to train other women to do this work that keeps the guerrillas alive, and thus the country from being taken over by the Yankees. You talk as if your work does not matter; but you are so wrong Irma. Health care is crucial not just to getting us through the war but to constructing a new society where the needs of everyone, regardless of gender or class are attended to. And you Irma, you are laying the foundation of that new society with every bandage you wrap, every limb you set, and every wound you tend. Your people need you Irma, and so does your family.
So Maria, I left the camp and just walked. There was nothing for me to do because there were no wounded. They have new girls to cook now so I didn't have to worry about that, and some young boys just joined so they were running the messages all over the place. So I just kept walking and decided to go talk to Gladis. I wish you could have met Gladis, you would have really liked her. Gladis is the commander of a platoon in the village just over from here. Her husband is actually below her in rank!
Gladis: Irma it is true what your siblings say. The guerrillas do need more medical help. We do need to be tended to. It is true that your country needs you. It is true that health care for our people is very important. But they are wrong about a few things. Doing medical work is not safe; there are no guarantees that you will survive longer than your brother and sister. You are part of the FPL, and the government and military want you dead, period. They don't care if you are shooting or bandaging; you are with el pueblo. They are also wrong to imply that you are safer when you don't even have a weapon with which to protect yourself. They love you. So does Luis. And your mother does as well. It comforts her that you are close to home. But she would be more comforted if her country were free and she could have all of her children back, including Nora, and Maria.
This war has been long and bloody. We have all lost more relatives than we can count. We have seen more violations to human bodies and souls than any human should ever be subjected to. But we have decided to create a different place, a new country where no mother will ever have to watch her children die at the hands of a soldier, or from lack of food. No man will ever have to watch his wife be raped or his daughter beaten by another Salvadoran. No woman will ever wonder if her husband will return from battle. We will all have food, places to live, and we will be able to read and write! We don't need more than that; Salvadorans aren't greedy, we simply want peace with justice.
We have much to do and we need people who are brave like yourself to do it. If you want to learn to fight, your brother or sister should teach you. Go to them and tell them to teach you. They may say no over and over again, but you must persist. All women aren't ready to fight so if you are able to get them to let you fight with their platoon it is likely that more women will follow in your footsteps. If women like you are discouraged or prevented from fighting then the FMLN will be weakened; we will lose you to the feminists! You will be a leader some day Irma and your people need you. But you need your family to support you. Be patient and we will all triumph. War is dangerous; we all know that, but the triumph will make the losses, even our own deaths, worth the bloody battle. El Salvador will be free!
So Maria, I felt a little scared about fighting but I went running back to the camp to tell Ramon that I wanted him and Luis to teach me to fight. I learned to do first aid so quickly, anyone could. And if I learned that, of course I could learn to fight. I didn't see Luis, but he heard me tell Ramon this and he got very mad. He told me he would leave me if I became a combatant. It broke my heart Maria because we always talk about having a family together once El Salvador is free. And Ramon wasn't much better. He can't leave me of course, since I am his sister. He just kept saying I was helping so much as it was that I didn't need to risk my life like this. He said he'd talk to Mercedes and see what she thought, but he thought it was a very bad idea.
Irma: As I lay on this mat trying to sleep, all I can think about is Luis. I know I can change his mind. I love him. And he loves me. He will see that me fighting is what our country needs; it is what our people need. He will realize that when we win we will be able to have our own family.
Whenever I feel like this, feel like the war is just going to devour my insides before we can free our country, I think about how lucky I am to have my family. I have Maria watching over me, and Nora sending us money. And I have a brother and sister that love me very much. And all of us have mother, the most loving woman in the world. Having aunt Rebeca here is like having two mothers sometimes. They are both so strong and do so much for their family and the community. Mother always says that this town is family. Everyone has lost loved ones so we need to stick together as one family and not let them divide us any more than they already have. Just like we share food and knowledge, we need to share love and family.
Oh Maria you would have been so interested in this meeting I went to today! A woman named Camila came all the way out here from the city to talk to the women. We talked about so much it was amazing! She works with an organization called the National Coordinating Committee of Salvadoran Women (CONAMUS). She said that her organization is the first organization to call itself feminist. Gladis mentioned feminists the other day and I was too embarrassed to ask her what she was talking about. Do you know what that is? She said it's sort of like what the FPL is trying to do for the country, fighting to guarantee that poor people will have access to things that right now only the rich have -- like land, and food, and education. But Camila said that feminism makes sure that it's not just poor men, like the fathers and husbands but also women that deserve to have access to opportunities. But she came mostly to talk to us women about family planning. Their organization only has an office in San Salvador but they send women to come talk to us in other parts of the country to share the very important information that they have.
Back to top
Camila: CONAMUS is a new and very important organization. We started only a year ago and it has been very difficult. Many men and women, many compañeros have told us that our work is dividing up the resources, that we are distracting women from their real struggle to free the nation. We disagree because we think the struggle for women is part of the struggle to free the nation. This war is not being fought to free only men from poverty and injustice, right? So we have much work to do; we must talk with our families, our compañeros, strangers, villagers, our compañeros, and we must be willing to fight against the machista that they were all taught. It gets frustrating, but it is the only way people will change. It gets hard and many women want to quit, leave the country, but we can't, El Salvador must be free, and that includes women!
As feminists we believe that El Salvador's problems are not only the result of unequal land distribution and inequalities in wealth, but inequalities between the sexes as well. We know that all poor people have very few, if any options in this society. Poor people can't get credit, buy land, become educated, get health care, or oftentimes even eat. This is all worse for women; even if the wealth was distributed equally tomorrow, women would still have little access to land, and credit, and education. Many of the decisions that effect our lives must be mediated through the men in our lives; our compañeros, our fathers, our brothers. CONAMUS wants this to change; both during this war and in the society we will build afterwards. Women are just as important as men and our needs can not wait until afterwards. Who knows when this war will end? And if we don't start talking to the men now our female children may not ever see what it means to be truly free.
One of the things that CONAMUS is talking to women about is family planning. We want to teach you about your bodies and other health issues so that you can start to take control over your own life. It is very important that women have a say in how many children they have, how close together they are born, how often we get pregnant, and of course, how often we make love. The first thing women need to control are our bodies, and that is what I came to talk to you about today. You don't need to tell me any details about your private lives because I know it can be embarrassing but I have brought information and condoms to help give women some control over your bodies. I know that many of you are in the FPL. That is wonderful; we need you to fight. We need you to win so we can build a new El Salvador! We need strong and brave women like all of you showing other compañeras that there is a place in this revolution for women. We all serve as role models to each other. When you go back to your positions I hope you feel empowered to challenge the people in your lives that may be holding you back simply because you are a woman. One of the first ways you can challenge things is by deciding if and when you want to get pregnant and not simply leaving it to fate. I want to explain how you and your compañero use these condoms so that if you don't want to get pregnant now, you don't have to...
Maria, you wouldn't believe the stuff she told us! It was amazing. It was like she knew I was having troubles with Ramon, Luis, and Mercedes. She spoke to me Maria, I swear, she spoke to me. When she was finishing and I asked her about feminism and CONAMUS and she left me a leaflet. She also said that right now if I wanted to work with them I should go to San Salvador and spend time in the organization and with the other women to really understand what I am working for. She said there is much to learn before I try and organize other women. She said they would teach me about feminism so I could teach others and in the interim I could talk to women about health care and controlling our own bodies and lives.
Maria, she invited me to come to San Salvador!
Maria, what should I do? Where do I go? Send me a message Maria. I want to be free. I want women to be free. I want El Salvador to be free. How can I make that all happen? Oh Maria, please send me a sign. Should I go back to the FPL and make Luis, Ramon, and Mercedes see that I deserve to fight? That the country needs me and other women to fight? I don't want to lose Luis in that struggle but I can't go on watching the bombs fall and not fight back!
Should I go to San Salvador with Camila and learn more about feminism? Am I ready to live in a city? Do I want to be away from my precious family and say goodbye to my compañero, and some day father of my children?
Are Ramon and Mercedes right? Is my doing health care work establishing a system that allows all people access to health care? Am I doing important ground work that will help our people, our beloved El Salvador after we take power? Am I going to cause more problems for the FPL and distract the struggle just because I am selfish and want to learn new things? Maria, tell me what to do.
Notes
1 See "A Theory of Third World Social Revolutions: Iran, Nicaragua, and El Salvador Compared," by John Foran, in
Critical Sociology, University of Oregon, Eugene: 1992; A Brief History of Central America by Hector Perez-Brignoli, University of California Press, Berkeley: 1989; Group meeting with Pati Silva, San Salvador: 1994;
Central America Since Independence, ed by Leslie Bethell, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1991;
Hear My Testimony ed by Lynn Stephen, South End Press, Boston: 1994; Revolution in El Salvador by Tommie Sue Montgomery, Westview Press, Boulder: 1994. [return to text]
2 San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador. [return to text]
Back to top
Teaching Notes
Objectives
One objective would be to put El Salvador on the sociological (and Feminist Studies and Latin American Studies) maps.
Second, I hope this case demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between gendered/feminist demands and national/revolutionary demands. Specifically, I want students to understand the complex relationship women have to/with/in revolutions.
Key Issues
As I have stated above, I think the most important issue is for students to understand the intersection of feminist demands within a revolutionary context or movement. Or, as the role play may indicate, what happens to women and their demands if they are not incorporated into the revolutionary program.
Relevant courses
Specific course could include: "Sociology of Revolution," "Women Struggles in Africa, Asia, and Latin America," "Development and Social Change in Latin America," and "Intro to LAIS." More broadly, I see it fitting into Latin American Studies, Women's Studies, and Sociology courses which address women and/or social change. I don't think this discussion should be restricted to courses specific to revolution -or- Latin America.
Depending on the course, I think this case could broaden discussions that are too often treated as secondary. That is, in a sociology of revolutions course I think it is imperative that students are forced to think through the implications of not just women as revolutionary actors, but feminism as a revolutionary platform. Similarly, in Women's Studies course it is equally important to move beyond Eurocentric notions of feminism. This is often done by not only focussing on the "Third World" but redefining what some would not consider "strategic" demands of feminism. I also could see this case being used in social movement courses, if nothing else, to broaden the definitions of social movements which tend to exclude or segment themselves from revolutionary movements. Needless to say, women would (should) be central to any discussion of social and/or revolutionary movements.
Study Questions
I would like the students to think about several things prior to this case:
-
What is their vision or understanding of revolution - or - a revolutionary movement?
-
Do they see a specific space for women within this movement? Why/Not?
-
Is feminism antithetical to national liberation?
-
Could/do gendered demands break national coalitions?
-
Should there be a sequential method of achieving status for disenfranchised groups so as not to alienate less "radical" sectors of society? (IE: nation, women, gays/lesbians...)
Questions while teaching
-
What is the situation in El Salvador? What is the war about?
-
What is the position of Irma's siblings? Do they make sense? On what
grounds?
-
What is the position of Irma's
compañero? Does he seem supportive of her? In what sense?
-
How does Gladis complicate the position of Irma's siblings? Do the positions conflict or
complement each other?
-
If Irma was to join CONAMUS with Camila would she be abandoning the revolution? Why/Not?
Role Play options
I would suggest role playing this case in the following way: the instructor would facilitate the discussion by playing the role of Irma. Students should be selected ahead of time to play the different characters with special attention to those students who are analytically astute. That is, I would avoid simply soliciting volunteers or the role play may be less effective. The role play would be a discussion where each student was able to present their position to Irma, and even respond to each other and Irma's questions within a time frame allotted by the instructor. Fifteen - twenty minutes would probably work. The role of the instructor would be to insure that the main questions which Irma poses to Maria at the end of the case are brought to the floor in the role play. Upon conclusion of the presentations, the rest of the class should help the instructor for about five minutes solidify her decision as Irma.
-
Should Irma go back to the FPL and convince her siblings and Luis that she should fight?
-
Should she go to San Salvador and learn about and fight for feminism?
-
Is the health care work she is doing now the ground work for the medical programs that will be established after the revolution?
Role play preparation
While reading the case, students are encouraged to think about the following study questions:
-
How would you characterize Irma's dilemma?
-
What is the position of Luis? Is it justifiable? Why/Why not?
-
What is the position of Ramon? Is it justifiable? Why/Why not?
-
What is the position of Mercedes? Is it justifiable? Why/Why not?
-
What is the position of Gladis? Is it justifiable? Why/Why not?
-
What is the position of Camila? Is it justifiable? Why/Why not?
** You should also think about the significance of Irma's family to her? What does family mean in a community such as hers, especially during a war?
** What is the role of feminism in Irma's decision? Is it clarifying or complicating things?
** Do you see any other options that she hasn't explored in her dialogue with her sister Maria?
The Role Play
This is a fictitious situation based on reality. Though you may not intellectually agree with the position that you are being asked to play it is crucial that you get into the head of the person you will be playing. I will play Irma, and thus am very open to the input of all you who are very influential players in my life.
The role play requires five groups, one to represent each of the characters with whom Irma consults. Each group should have a 1-2 minute remark prepared which represents their character's position towards Irma's dilemma. I will hear from everyone then the floor will be open for about 20 minutes to discuss the options. I will pose questions back to you and you should be prepared to further persuade me to your position, based on the information provided in the case. We will end the case with 10 minutes of debriefing; that is, what worked and what could have been better.
The five groups will be:
Luis (Irma's compañero):
Ramon (Irma's brother):
Mercedes (Irma's sister):
Gladis (The guerrilla commander):
Camila (From
CONAMUS):
|
