"2006 - Año de homenaje al Dr. Ramón CARRILLO" «ESCUDO» «MEMBRE1» «MEMBRE2» “… The past needs to be helped, needs to be reminded to the ones who forget, to the frivolous, to the indifferent ones…” Vladimir Jankelevitch REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA TO BE PRESENTED TO THE TASK FORCE FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON HOLOCAUST EDUCATION, REMEMBRANCE, AND RESEARCH (ITF): Argentina has been a full member of the ITF since 2002, is committed to the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust of January 2000 and will implement policies and programs to support Holocaust education, remembrance and research. To that effect, Argentina has prepared a report that registers all the activities carried out from July 2005 to May 2006 related to the Holocaust. The work sent by the different competent State areas and NGOs interested in the Holocaust education, remembrance and research was taken into account. This report indicates not only the Argentina’s commitment to the ITF, but also a strong conviction that the Holocaust remembrance is closely connected with the need of guaranteeing the memory, truth and justice in every case of truth and Human Rights. That is why the promotion and protection of Human Rights are an important part of State policies of our country, at the same time that they are considered a priority for the current National Government. 1. Undersecretariat of Quality and Equity. Ministry of Education, Technology and Science The Ministry of Education, Technology and Science promotes a series of initiatives to create shared environments for questioning and thinking about memory, truth, justice and human rights at the educational institutions all over the country. The intention is to promote reflection activities and generate a moment to think with the next generations about the recent past. When looking back to the recent past, the 20 th Century is full of traumatic situations of war, genocides and state terrorism. Events without precedents have interrupted the generational transmission, although there are some who know what has happened. The cultural work as regards the reconstruction of memory after Shoah is clear example for all the peoples that work to have a fresh memory. Shoah is one of the most terrible events in the history of humanity. Understanding its scope, all its complexity, is part of the challenge of building a collective memory that allows us to think about a different future. Educating on memory is also teaching respect for human rights, against discrimination and intolerance. It means collaborating with the development of the most democratic societies open to cultural, religious, political, social and genre differences. Therefore, we consider that ‘education and memory’ is a subject that requires state policies that promote a debate in our societies. Fully convinced that the defense of Human Rights should be promoted, we think that truth and justice should go hand in hand with working on memory by the new generations within their academic experience. For this purpose, the Ministry of Education, Technology and Science has incorporated April 19 as the date to commemorate the Day of Cultural Diversity according to Resolution Nº126/00. It has been established as a 1 "2006 - Año de homenaje al Dr. Ramón CARRILLO" «ESCUDO» «MEMBRE1» «MEMBRE2» remembrance of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943) and as a way of giving honor to the Holocaust victims during the Second World War, but mostly, as a way to preserve memory. During 2006, the Ministry of Education, Technology and Science, since the commemoration of the 30 th Anniversary of the last Coup d’Etat in our country, has promoted a series of initiatives through the project called 30 Years After the Coup d’Etat . Within the hard process of consolidating our democracy, it is necessary to rebuild the reflection and dialogue channels and build collective ways of thinking of reality. The adult generations carry the chances of renewal. Both the generations that underwent the State terrorism and the new ones that were born under democracy, but they live in a context marked by those events and require shared environments for thinking. Only through transmission it will be possible to link the past and the future, involving the new generations in playing the main role in history and in imagining better worlds. 1. 1 Activities in 2006 • Publications because of the 30 th anniversary of the coup d’etat: 30 Ejercicios de Memoria Book (30 exercises for memory). Many figures from different generations and from all over the country were invited to do an “exercise for memory”. The guests were thirty writers, poets, educators, psychoanalysts, historians, journalists, moviemakers, artists, photographers, actors and actresses. They had to write a brief text from an image that they found representative of their own experience during that time. The compilation resulted in the book, which was distributed all over the country among high schools and academies for teachers. Number of copies: 32,5000 • Materials for classrooms: Three posters were designed to convey the theme in different ways: through Literature, Music and Arts. One of the posters is for Primary Schools; another is for high schools; and the other one for academies for teachers. These materials were distributed all over the country among primary schools, high schools and academies for teachers. Number of posters: 258,000 • National Meeting of Planning and Curriculum Directors : A National Meeting of Planning and Curriculum Directors will be held to work on the subject Education and Memory: Shoah as a key event in the 20 th Century. The purpose is to generate an environment for discussion that permits, through the experiences of other people who have worked on the subject, to think about ways to handle it during classes all over the country. • Training for Teachers: A series of activities have been held with the academies for teachers since educators are fundamental as they are and will be in charge of transmitting and recreating culture. As they are protagonists in local contexts, these institutions are able to make activities committed to the different sociocultural realities in our country. Moreover, training on education and memory is being offered. • International Seminar: Between the Past and the Future . Youngsters and Transmission of the Recent Argentine Experience . The purpose of this seminar is to create an environment for the exchange and dialogue among different generations, where several interpretations, questions and experiences about the recent history could be discussed. The students of the academies for teachers will have a main role. In each region, previously to this seminar, pre-seminars will be held where the papers to be presented will be worked on. • Planning and design of the priority of educational contents (NAP) for the last years of high schools. Within NAP, the theme of Shoah will be promoted, since international history of the 20 th Century is seen at that level. Reflection upon the recent past is relevant and within the relation between education and memory. For this reason, activities on respect and human rights will be held so as to prevent any tendency to discrimination in each of our country’s provinces. 2 "2006 - Año de homenaje al Dr. Ramón CARRILLO" «ESCUDO» «MEMBRE1» «MEMBRE2» • In articulation with Human Rights Organizations and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo: We are working on the production of materials for the first three grades and the fourth, fifth and sixth grades of primary schools: told short-stories, with pictures, with the printed story and a booklet as Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo has suggested. • Moreover, a video will be recorded on Abuelas … explaining what is “ Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo ” and storytellers, actors and actresses will tell the selected short stories. Poppets’ images, graphics, body movements, etc will accompany the telling within the agreement with the National University of San Martin. • Distribution of books among high schools according to the agreement with the Human Rights Secretariat: The Ministry of Education, Technology and Science signed an agreement with the Human Rights Secretariat to organize a plan of action. It includes the purchase and distribution of books on recent history and human rights, among high schools all over the country. 2. Secretariat of Foreign Affairs / Undersecretariat of Foreign Affairs/ Department of Human Rights. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship. Argentina has supported the Resolution about the Holocaust Commemoration presented by Israel during the 60º United Nations General Assembly (GUNA-2005). The resolution stipulates that January 27 will be established as the Annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. For this reason, Argentina has proven that she firmly believes in this, as she approved during the 61º UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR-2005) the Resolution about the “inadmissibility of certain practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”. There the Assemble “would also stress that such practices did injustice to the memory of the countless victims of crimes against humanity committed in the Second World War and poisoned the minds of young people, particularly during the sixtieth anniversary of victory in the Second World War and the liberation of Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and that such practices were incompatible with the United Nations Charter