Portland, Oregon: A Potential Lesson in Repetition

These thoughts were written by Sophie, one of our 2020 summer interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.

Most of us have heard the phrase “history repeats itself” at least once in our lives. We see the proof in news stories that compare the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918 to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Or else a history teacher spouted the phrase somewhere down the line, comparing two things that we can’t quite remember. 

Most of the time the phrase is deployed to connect two large events, keeping specifics out of the conversation and making it easy to ignore the comparison. America today is like Germany before World War II. But what parts? All Americans? What are the similarities? No one is looking beyond the blanket statement.  

But history does repeat itself, whether or not we are aware of it at the time. 

What is happening in Portland, Oregon, where federal agents detain protestors and throw them into unmarked cars, rings eerily similar to the disappearances orchestrated by the Argentine government in the late 70s and early 80s. 

It is not a direct repetition. What happened in Argentina was the large-scale, systematic disappearance of 30,000 people by a military junta convinced it was waging war on subversives. The Disappeared were tortured, murdered, dropped from airplanes into the ocean still alive, and many are still missing, with no record as to where their bodies are. 

The military junta feared Communism and justified the disappearances as a war on subversives who were attempting to overthrow the government. Almost 40 years later, the pain of these disappearances still define the Argentine consciousness. An entire generation of people are still missing, and the ghosts of the disappeared still haunt the national conversation. 

Furthermore, the disappeared were kidnapped from their own homes, at night or in the middle of the day. There were no mass protests happening in Argentina at the time, only the Madres of the Plaza de Mayo were allowed to demonstrate against the government’s actions. While 30,000 people disappeared, all of Argentina lived under silence as the government “disappeared” their voices. 

The trauma, torture, and scale of Argentina’s Dirty War, as well as the unimaginable suffering endured by the Disappeared and their families is not comparable to what is happening in Portland. The United States is not yet engaged in a “Dirty war” with its own citizens in which Americans have no legal recourse or voice with which to oppose the government. There are very clear and important differences. 

But history repeats itself. 

For a brief, but substantial, moment in time, no one knew who those unmarked federal agents were or where those unmarked cars were taking protestors. Those people forced into cars were disappeared, as the federal government acted without fully alerting Portland authorities. People had no idea where family members had been taken. 

It was the government who painted all Portland protestors with a broad brush, labeling them as anarchists and painting them as subversive elements that belonged in jail. By creating a crisis and deliberately smearing protestors, the Trump Administration has created an enemy with no face and a mob mentality—terrifying for those who only follow him and don’t read about what is actually happening. 

Creating an invisible enemy and labeling that enemy subversive allowed dictator Jorge Vidal to conduct a war that was largely popular until citizens realized they were also being targeted. Trump is using the same rhetoric to protect officers and federal agents from facing repercussions from using excessive force and scare tactics.

At some point, one wonders if the deployment of federal agents is the precursor of worse things to come. If federal agents are allowed to temporarily disappear Untied States citizens, what will they be allowed to do next? Where is the line? Given the conditions deemed acceptable for immigrants in the detention facilities, we still have a long way to go to find the line the Trump administration will not cross. 

There are smaller similarities too. 

In Portland, there is a wall of moms who stand between the federal agents and the protestors. Based on society’s expectations of women, and especially of mothers, these moms occupy a space that commands attention and special coverage. The moms know that and have used their position to draw attention to what is happening in Portland. 

The difference, of course, is that the wall of moms regularly suffers abuse at the hands of police and federal agents. Standing through the tear gas, rubber bullets, and other tactics of the police and federal agents puts the moms in harms way. 

The Madres of the Plaza de Mayo did not face the same abuse, as they were mostly dismissed by the government. Allowed to protest without harassment, the Madres could attract support. The moms of Portland, however, face different obstacles. 

Media coverage is another similarity—though one that has the potential to become greater than it currently is. The Argentine government gained power through the intimidation and silencing of its citizens. The Disappeared vanished without a trace, no proof they existed beyond the memory of them and no coverage in the papers or reported news. 

Portland, though not yet a complete media blackout, could easily trend towards the same fate. With media coverage attempting to represent both sides and give the president’s reasoning a platform, the true atrocity of the deployment of federal troops has been made palatable. People believe there is a legitimate reason for unmarked federal agents to kidnap protestors. 

Once again disappearances, even temporary ones, are being justified. If only history didn’t repeat itself. 

But there is one more important similarity: the denial of anything wrong, the lack of change when called out, the insistence that nothing unusual is happening. 

After the Dirty War, Argentina swore never again but also promptly denied justice to the victims of the government’s atrocities. Today, it is the parents and the children of the missing generation demanding justice. The Madres of the Plaza de Mayo march every Thursday, some days there is a gap and then the children of the Disappeared march, showing the generational gap. The nation cannot heal because there has been no justice served. The Disappeared have stayed disappeared. 

What will happen in Portland? Do we know where the protestors who were thrown into unmarked cars have ended up? Do we know if they have been released? Has the behavior stopped? Do we know why federal agents targeted the people they targeted? Do you know why these questions have been unanswered? 

I turned in my final paper on the Dirty War and Argentina’s Disappeared at the beginning of May. I never thought that a historical paper analyzing Alicia Partnoy’s memoir The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival would be relevant a few months later. 

What happened in Argentina is an atrocity of unimaginable horror. What is equally horrific is the thought that since justice was never served, a second Dirty War could happen. 

Portland, Oregon is not yet a Dirty War. There have been no reports of torture or permanently disappeared persons. The United States still allowed protesting, however fraught the conditions are and the media is still allowed to cover, and criticize, the events happening.  

But, the lesson is not that we should be proud that we are not yet at 30,000 disappearances. The lesson is that history can repeat itself.