Raphael Lyon is a filmmaker and media activist working with the Independent Media Project, (www.indymedia.org). He is currently working on a film called "Eye of the Storm," documenting the crisis in Argentina and the role of independent media at the center of a revolution.

email: raphihell@yahoo.com


Caught between the today's clanging sounds of the cazerolazo, fumes of the piquateros burning tires - and the tear gas of nations police thoruoughly unhinged - is the articulate voice of a people who are determined to reconquer thier nation. A phoeinix even, rising from the fires. A note then, lest we forget, the heat of the fire.

Spanish lesson #1 "Los Desaparecidos"
The Missing.

Between 1976 and 1983 the military governement of the Republic of Argentina declared war on itself. Public space was no longer, and organizing of any kind was met with harsh results. Intimidation, torture and assasination hid in the shadows of everyday life. Anyone was suspect and everyone was guilty. Quiet conversations at a cafe between friends could easily mean a death sentence - to the conversationalists and everyone in their address book.This dirty war wrecked hundreds of thousands of lives, and claimed during its short regime of around 8 years, over 30,000. For blunt comparisons sake, only in terms of proportional loss of life, it would be as if the United States suffered a World Trade Center disaster every 38 days for eight full years.

For this reason, in Argentina you will not hear the word "assasination" in regards to the killing of a geneneration- you will hear "genocide." And 1983 was not a very long time ago. This is so true, and so obvious to Argentines, that it is rarely even mentioned to outsiders - the only hint can be find in the occasional pair of late seventies style dark sunglasses and a distinct nervousness around cameras. But this however, is the nightmare from which Argentina is walking. When people take to the streets today in Argentina, they know they are risking more than rubber bullets. When neighbors assemble on a street corner to talk politics it is not without the ghosts of the ones they lost over so much less. When the morgas arise from the barrios to play their drums, dance, and a sing social commentary they do so in direct defiance to regime that attempted to short circuit a traditional custom that goes back to when Argentina was first colonized. And when the people smile and sing with unhidden proud faces claiming the streets for their own, the parks for their own, Argentina for their own its because they are. It is a courage incomprehendible.

Spanish lesson #2 "Ya Presente"

They are here with us. They are not forgotten. They are with us now.


-RAPHAEL LYON