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Imágenes del cuerpo/ Corporal Images: La imagen fotográfica y las significaciones culturales del cuerpo

'Molotov Man' News Article

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Contents of this path:
1. Anastasio Somoza Debayle
5. General Tom Thumb, Lavinia Warren Stratton, Comodoro Nutt y Minnie Warren
7. Mapa de una parte de Chile que comprehende el terreno donde pasaron los famosos hechos entre españoles y araucanos
8. "Me cago en el V centenario"
12. “Molotov Man" (1979–2009)
13. 'Molotov Man' News Article
17. Señor y Señora Patrick O'Brien
18. The Eternity Of Tomorrow by Cristóbal Olivares The Mapuche are the largest indigenous community in Chile. They are concentrated in the south of the country, mostly in the Araucanía region which is the poorest region in Chile with a population of 957.224 which 17,2% lives below the poverty level. For almost a century they have claimed their right to recover ancestral lands and natural resources that have been affected by the negative impact of the forest industry and state business. In the absence of a responsive government that allows the restitution of the land, the level of the conflict in the Araucanía region increased. The Mapuche adopted measures of pressure like the squatting of the lands and properties demanded. This claiming right process and the increase of clashes generated a negative reaction from the government that resulted in the implementation of a policy of judicial persecution and criminalization of collective action, harassment and persecution of leaders, and the militarization of these ancestral territories. The violence against the Mapuche has serious and specific consequences on children and teenagers, derived from repression, criminalization, raids, interrogations, and other actions carried out by members of the special operation forces. Different NGO's and the national institute of human rights counted 133 cases that include several police violence against Mapuche youth in the last 5 years (up to 2019) while many other cases has not been reported due to mistrust of the judicial system. During the same years 2.241 bullets have been fired by the police in the region. Those cases are rarely reported through traditional media, that brings as a consequence misinformation, letting the Chilean population knowing very little about the Mapuche conflict and their demands. This project focuses on the experiences suffered by the Mapuche youth documenting testimonies of repression, psychological and physical violence. This project was produced with the support of Magnum Foundation. #Otredad, #Indígena
24. Nicaragua. Esteli. Fleeing from Revolution

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The Nicaraguan Revolution: How conflict causes othering It's obvious that conflict divides people. From small scale revolts to full-blown wars, conflict can cause people to make decisions that they usually wouldn't. In the case of revolutions, it can escalate to people starving, beating, and even killing their fellow countrymen. How does this happen? How do people come to brutalize the people who they share land, a culture, and a community with? This article will examine the Nicaraguan Revolution and how conflict caused othering in this country.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Somoza family political dynasty ruled over Nicaragua as a dictatorship that left citizens exhausted and fearful due to political corruption and an increasing social inequality caused by economic developments. Fed up with this dictatorship, civilians and guerrillas gathered to form the leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion nacional-FSLN) which decided to stage a revolution against the Somoza dynasty. They were able to successfully overthrow the dictatorship in 1979, but in the process of overthrowing this dictator there was othering of their fellow countrymen. Through examining revolutions such as this one, we can see just how events such as bombings, killings, kidnappings, and other human rights violations can occur amongst individuals in the same community.
To start, the Sandinista perspective. From their perspective, the National Guard were purely followers of the Somoza dictator, who at the time was Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The National Guard is often characterized by their cruel behavior during the war, such as bombing Nicaraguan cities and public executions. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Sandinistas' dehumanization of the National Guard was likely driven by desperation and a sense of righteousness. Even as they firebombed their fellow countrymen or used whatever weapons they could to ambush them through guerrilla warfare, they could justify their actions by focusing on their fight for independence over the crimes they had to commit to achieve their goals.
Meanwhile, the National Guard and the United States, which was supporting the Somoza dynasty, wanted others to perceive the rebels as “dangerous communists” who were set on causing disorder in Nicaragua. One way they did so was by turning the very symbol of hope for the Sandinistas, the picture of the Molotov Man, into a symbol of aggression. In the United States particularly, we can observe an obvious bias towards the Somoza dynasty and the National Guard’s view of the FSLN. Though they brought leaders from the Somoza and Sandinista factions to discuss the conflict for coverage of the Nicaraguan revolution, they were far from neutral in which side they chose to cover more often. For example, they did broadcasts solely interviewing figures such as Anastasio Somoza and his perspective of the revolution without refuting his claims or addressing his attempts at downplaying the revolutionaries. In this way, Americans were told about the Nicaraguan revolution and the Sandinista National Liberation Front from a biased perspective where misinformation was allowed to spread and develop into negative perceptions of the Sandinista party.
Suffice to say, both sides had a sense of righteousness that allowed them to dehumanize the other party. The Sandinista rebels believed that they were doing what was best for the country just as much as the National Guard did, and to achieve their goals they resulted to dehumanizing their fellow countrymen to be able to do morally questionable things. Furthermore, both were exploited by the government in ways that have caused lasting damage both before, during, and after the revolution, whether it be due to loss, regret, disappointment, or anything else in between.
To summarize, this essay examines the ways in which conflict causes dehumanization and othering between a community that is undergoing a conflict. I examined the Nicaraguan Revolution in particular because of the variety of documents and photographs that can be used to observe othering between the Sandinistas and National Guard. Even decades after this revolution, the acts both sides committed remain in the survivors' memories and cannot be undone. Luckily for us, we can learn from conflicts such as these and recognize tactics that authority figures may use to make us dehumanize a group before we do something we can never take back.

Works Cited
Army is crucial issue in nicaragua. (2023, December 22). Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/07/09/army-is-crucial-issue-in-nicaragua/ced802c0-8652-4c2c-9e23-6aab0b1c2481/
Editors, B. U. (2021). Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs. Understanding the Iran-Contra affairs - the Iran-Contra Affairs. https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/n-sandinistas.php
Editors, P. (2016). The life of an image: “molotov man,” 1979–2009 (2016-41.1-.18). Princeton University. https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/123743#:~:text=%22Molotov%20Man%22%20is%20Meiselas’s%20best,
headquarters%20of%20the%20National%20Guard
Knapp, A. (2021). Nicaraguan Revolution (1978-1990). “Burning with a deadly heat”: Newshour coverage of the Hot Wars of the Cold War. https://americanarchive.org/exhibits/newshour-cold-war/nicaragua