Argentinazo: Facon Grande in Frankfurt
Osvaldo Bayer
[For once I find myself heading to propose an article Argentinazo animated by a spirit of idealism, in the manner of anarchist publications of the past . Published a few days ago the Argentine newspaper Pagina/12 and adapted by the editor of Carmilla is a memory from the Frankfurt Book Fair signed by the writer Osvaldo Bayer ] Alberto Prunetti.
Way for this book fair proudly called "the largest in the world." One of the merits, no doubt.
Books, books, books. I say to myself, here's what I find in the country that may have been the largest arms exporter in the world.
Once the mauser and the Iron Cross were symbols of noble manhood. And now the books, with characters and patterns that emerge from the covers and invite us to open them.
Booksellers speaking aloud, librarians cataloging letter after letter. Writers who smile in paradise, fantasy characters peeking out from every corner of the illusions in this airport.
Illusions. Suddenly I bang the shoulder injury. It is the German editor Dieter Schmidt. Without saying a word, I put a book in hand with an almost religious gesture. See the cover: the gaucho Facon Grande. The Patagonian.
I can not believe. Facon Grande to the Frankfurt Book Fair. History has done justice. The Gauchos shot by the Argentine Army had asked for a bit 'of dignity for workers in that bleak Patagonian President Hipolito Yrigoyen 1921. Dieter Schmidt
The publisher gave me the German edition of Patagonia rebelde. The caress. Eight years in exile here since cost me publish it in my country, Argentina. And now they have published in the country where I spent my exile. Fate. The human paradoxes. I am especially happy for Wilckens. Kurt Gustav Wilckens, the German anarchist who made justice to many farmers shot. That January morning in 1923, when he was waiting in the street Fitz Roy, in front of the barracks of the 1st Corps of Infantry, in the district of Palermo porteno. When the proud Lieutenant Colonel Varela came from home with polished boots. Face to face. It threw him against the message of the Avenger. The explosion of anger of the people. The bomb libertarian. The explosion woke Buenos Aires. For Wilckens, the anarchists of the workers' quarters sang that day, "Sons of the people." The German was not in a hurry. To the gun, in uniform, the center with six bullets. Those bullets with which he had shot hundreds of peons Patagonian now came back and paid the bill to the gun. Nothing goes unpunished.
Wilckens was murdered in prison by a mercenary. I remember when now more than thirty years ago I came to the German town of Bad Bramstedt, the place where he was born Wilckens and where I found her father's house. I was welcomed by his nephew, who greeted me as if I had waited all his life. He had always done research on the fate of Kurt Gustav Wilckens and now came a stranger from a far away country like Argentina to bring you news his uncle. I told Kurt that Gustav was murdered in prison and told him of his mission to avenge the 1500 Patagonian workers were shot without trial by the Argentine Army. I remember his excitement. At first I thought I had come to tell him but after Argentine fantasies, in the face of data that continue to put across, he realized that this was the truth. He opened for me the drawers of an old desk. There were family photos of children and adolescents of the Avenger, cards and letters.
In the Book Fair in Frankfurt long walk between aisles between thousands of books on display. I promise myself to go to Patagonia rebelde bring a copy of this edition of the German city's library native Wilckens. Who knows, maybe in some future mayor of this city call his office with the name of Kurt Gustav Wilckens, who offered his life to avenge so many workers.
I also think of those two strikers Patagonian insurgents, "the German" Otto, of which I never found out the name, and Pablo Schulz, himself of German origin. The "German" Otto - so his friends called him - before he died he shouted against the master shot Viñas Ibarra: "Do not kill that man. Even in the war in Europe killed unarmed prisoners. " And before he died he said to Walter Knoll, another German: "Say hello to the old country." I think
to them, their lives told in German, in this edition. Maybe someone will discover their stories and find the courage to visit the Patagonia and put a flower in mass graves, now identified.
They went away to die unjustly. Have asked for just a little more dignity.
I also had the satisfaction that the film Awka Liwen (Alba rebel) on the genocide committed by Roca against our indigenous people, were screened during the Frankfurt Book Fair. See the screen the faces of the children of the earth. Narrating the tragedy of the genocide committed by the officers in the Argentine pampas Rauch, Rosas and Roca. The deportation of these peoples from their ancestral lands and their stubbornness to live in spite of everything, with their music almost silent, with their echoes of distant horizons, with the work of their hands and sadness of a past never forgotten. Before the Spaniards with their greed. Then the Argentines with their uniforms. At the end of the film there was a tight applause, followed by a profound silence. Emotion. And a sense of guilt Europe. Colonialists for their ancestors.
The European public has become aware. The questions one after another. "How could this happen?" Yes, greed. La Sociedad Rural Argentina finance part of the expedition Asesino Julio Roca, sorry, Julio Argentino. They were then allocated 2500000 hectares of land of those indigenous to the President days of the Sociedad Rural, Martínez de Hoz. How? Yes, I write them in words: two million and five hundred hectares. Martínez de Hoz, the great-grandfather. Known name, no? (Martínez de Hoz, nephew of the president of Rural, was the minister of the economy of dictator Videla, ndt).
Claro, there were also Europeans who have done good things in our country. I really enjoyed the tribute paid to the publisher Peuser during the Fair. Remember Peuser Help? And the publisher Peuser? Perhaps the most famous Argentine publishing house of the last century. Peuser was a German who emigrated to Argentina, an innovator of technology editorial matter the most modern printing presses. Published gauchesca literature and his edition of Faustus of Estanislao del Campo broke all sales records. He arrived in Argentina at age 14, son of a humble cobbler, became one of the largest publishers in the country and in addition, motivated by social issues, he founded the company in its first fund for medical care for its workers and employees. A tribute well deserved. His great-grandson, who was present when he shed tears of gratitude. A manufacturer of books, not arms, Don Peuser.
[La Patagonia rebelde a book once burned in the streets and now adopted in schools in Patagonia, was also published in Italian by Eleuthera] AP
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