View source for Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos

{{short description|Human rights organization in Argentina}}
{{Infobox organization
| image               = File:Movimiento Judío por los DDHH Acto x.jpg
| alt                 = A crowd of people looking at five people standing on a platform in front of a banner that says "Movimento Judío por los Derechos Humanos"
| caption             = A crowd of attendees watches speakers including [[Marshall Meyer]] and [[Herman Schiller]] during an MJDH event at the [[Obelisco de Buenos Aires]], April 25, 1984.
| abbreviation        = MJDH
| formation           = August 19, 1983
| founder             = [[Marshall Meyer]], [[Herman Schiller]]
| type                = [[Human rights group|Human rights organization]]
| location_country    = [[Argentina]]
}}
The '''Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos''' (literally '''Jewish Movement for Human Rights''', abbreviated '''MJDH''') was a [[Human rights group|human rights organization]] in [[Argentina]]. It was founded by [[Marshall Meyer]] and [[Herman Schiller]] on August 19, 1983.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 24, 2013|title=Los treinta años de una histórica marcha judía|trans-title=30 years of a historic Jewish march|url=https://www.perfil.com/noticias/elobservador/los-30-anos-de-una-historica-marcha-judia-20130824-0028.phtml|access-date=14 September 2019|website=[[Perfil]]|language=es}}</ref>
The MJDH was one of nine major human rights organizations during the [[Dirty War]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wappenstein|first=Susana Paula|title=Significant Democracy: Nation, Citizenship, and Human Rights Struggles in contemporary Argentina|publisher=[[University of California Berkeley]]|year=2009|isbn=9781109098099|editor-last=|edition=|location=|pages=66|language=|chapter=Resistance: The Emergence of a Social Movement|oclc=526628504|quote=|author-link=|access-date=May 9, 2021|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LyhPAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> It was one of three such groups that were religious, along with the [[Movimiento Ecuménico por los Derechos Humanos]] and [[Servicio Paz y Justicia|Servicio de Paz y Justicia]].<ref name="Justice">{{Cite book|last=Pereira|first=Anthony W.|author-link=|date=2005|editor-last=|title=Political (In)Justice: Authoritarianism and the Rule of Law in Brazil, Chile and Argentina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJFpzClQiMUC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos&pg=PA137|access-date=2 November 2012|website=|publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh Press]]|location=|page=137|language=en|format=|isbn=0-8229-5885-6|quote=}}</ref> It played a key role in the fight for human rights in Argentina.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Roniger|first1=Luis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzW2-dMwfCMC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos+marshall+meyer&pg=PA197|title=The Legacy of Human-Rights Violations in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay|last2=Sznajder|first2=Mario|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1999|isbn=978-019-829-615-7|edition=|location=|pages=197|language=|chapter=Oblivion and Memory|quote=|author-link=|access-date=4 November 2012}}</ref>
== Background ==
In 1978, [[rabbi]] Marshall Meyer of the [[synagogue]] [[Comunidad Bet El]] began encountering [[Church (congregation)|congregants]] whose relatives had been [[Forced disappearance|disappeared]] by the [[National Reorganization Process]]. These people had not found support at [[Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas]] (DAIA), and the mainstream [[Jewish community]] in Argentina was remaining silent because they feared government repression.<ref name="Anguita">{{Cite book|last=Anguita|first=Eduardo|title=Grandes Hermanos: Alianzas y Negocios Ocultos de Los Dueños de la Información|publisher=Colihue|year=2002|isbn=978-950-581-789-4|editor-last=|edition=|location=|pages=182, 188|language=es|chapter=El pueblo elegido|quote=|author-link=|access-date=4 November 2012|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwE8-3LTcfQC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos+marshall+meyer&pg=PA183}}</ref>
Major Jewish organizations such as DAIA, [[Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina]] (AMIA), and the [[Organización Sionista Argentina]] called for community unity to discourage questioning of DAIA leadership, wanting there to be a single voice representing the Jewish community. Marshall Meyer decided to create the Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos as a response to the demands of the unsupported relatives in his congregation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gurevich|first=Beatriz|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyWjwOzJmOMC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos+marshall+meyer&pg=PA108|title=The Jewish Diaspora In Latin America And The Caribbean: Fragments Of Memory|publisher=[[Sussex Academic Press]]|year=2005|isbn=1-84519-061-0|editor-last=|edition=|location=|pages=|language=|chapter=After the AMIA bombing|quote=|author-link=|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref>
== Objectives and members ==
Argentine Jews who joined the MJDH put themselves in danger by becoming exposed to government retaliation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wang|first1=Diana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lb8HtENGCyIC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos&pg=PA186|title=Los niños escondidos: del Holocausto a Buenos Aires|last2=Brunet|first2=Constanza|last3=Ruano|first3=Virginia|year=2004|isbn=987-21109-5-6|pages=186|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref> Unlike the [[Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo]] or the [[Familiares de Desaparecidos y Detenidos por Razones Políticas]], the group was largely not made up of people who had been personally affected by the disappearances.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jasper|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_o1MbNMWlwC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos&pg=PT160|title=Contention in Context: Political Opportunities and the Emergence of Protest|last2=Goodwin|first2=Jeff|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=2012|isbn=978-080-477-612-7|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref>
The MJDH included religious [[Dissident|dissidents]] from the Jewish community. Rabbi Meyer reached out to people from [[Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano|Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano]] who disagreed with the military regime, and took advantage of their credibility to repudiate and delegitimize political repression, based on a philosophical and religious commitment to social justice.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brysk|first=Alison|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODycIMXiZqcC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos&pg=PA49|title=The Politics of Human Rights in Argentina: Protest, Change, and Democratization|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=1994|isbn=0-8047-2275-7|editor-last=|edition=|location=|pages=49|language=|chapter=The Human rights movements: Religious movements|quote=|author-link=|access-date=4 November 2012}}</ref>
The group began participating in marches near the end of 1982, although it was not officially founded until 1983.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T89qAAAAMAAJ&q=movimiento+jud%C3%ADo+por+los+derechos+humanos|title=Declaraciones 1984|last2=|publisher=[[Instituto Hebreo de Ciencias]]|year=1985|isbn=|editor-last=|edition=|location=|pages=45|language=es|chapter=|quote=|author-link=|access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref>
== Activity ==
[[File:Movimiento_Judío_por_los_DDHH_Marshall_Meyer.jpg|thumb|268x268px|[[Jacobo Timerman|Jacobo Timmerman]], [[Alfredo Bravo]], [[Marshall Meyer]] and [[Renée Slotopolsky de Epelbaum|Renée Epelbaum]] on April 25, 1984 at a commemoration of the 41st anniversary of the [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]] against the [[Nazism|Nazis]], convened by the Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos]]The first public action of the MJDH was to participate in a [[Demonstration (political)|march]] protesting an attempt by the military to pass an [[amnesty law]] for themselves in August 1983. This march was a success, and as a result, an independent MJDH rally was planned for October 1983 at the [[Obelisco de Buenos Aires]]. DAIA attempted to stop the rally,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Katz|first=Paul|date=March 24, 2016|title=Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos|url=https://jewishstudies.duke.edu/news/movimiento-jud%C3%ADo-por-los-derechos-humanos|access-date=2021-05-11|website=[[Duke Center for Jewish Studies]]}}</ref> claiming it was [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] and criticizing speakers [[Hebe de Bonafini]] and [[Adolfo Pérez Esquivel]],<ref name=":0" /> but thousands of people attended.<ref name=":2" /> The slogan of the rally was "Contra el Antisemitismo" ("Against Antisemitism").<ref name=":0" />
After the election of [[Raúl Alfonsín]] as [[President of Argentina]] at the end of October 1983, the MJDH continued to organize events, often working with the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo and other human rights groups. They supported [[democracy]] and called for [[punishment]] of the crimes of the National Reorganization Process. These efforts eventually led to the [[Trial of the Juntas]] and the imprisonment of key people involved in the dictatorship.<ref name=":2" />
The MJDH also defended [[immigrants]] from [[Paraguay]], [[Bolivia]], and [[Peru]] who were persecuted by racist groups in Argentina.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bauer|first=Alfredo|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7y7AwtdwgcC&q=movimiento+judio+por+los+derechos+humanos&pg=PA186|title=Historia contemporánea de los judíos: desde el ascenso de Hitler al poder hasta 1967|publisher=[[Ediciones del Pensamiento Nacional]]|year=2003|isbn=978-950-581-856-3|editor-last=|edition=|location=|language=es|chapter=Perspectivas: ¿Qué será de los judíos en el futuro?|quote=|author-link=|access-date=2 November 2012}}</ref>
== Awards and honors ==
In 2005 the Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos received an award from Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas for work in defense of freedoms during and after the dictatorship, but rejected it. In a rejection speech on behalf of MJDH, [[Pedro Resels]] criticized DAIA (as well as AMIA and the Organización Sionista Argentina) for their conduct during the dictatorship, noting that the president of DAIA at the time claimed that dictatorial governments were better for Jews than democratic ones because they could control [[antisemitism]] more effectively.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He also criticized the government of [[Israel]] for having sold weapons to the repressive Argentine government.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Kollmann|first=Raúl|title=Cuentas no saldadas|trans-title=Accounts not settled|url=https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-55956-2005-09-02.html|access-date=14 September 2019|website=[[Página/12]]|language=es}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=September 5, 2005|title=Apoyo al Movimiento Judío por los Derechos Humanos|trans-title=Support for the Jewish Movement for Human Rights|url=http://www.nuevasion.com.ar/archivos/2469|access-date=14 September 2019|website=[[Nueva Sion]]|publisher=[[Meretz Argentina]]|language=es}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[History of the Jews in Argentina]]
* [[Marshall Meyer]]
* [[Permanent Assembly for Human Rights]]
== References ==
{{Commons category}}{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://repository.duke.edu/dc/meyermarshall The Marshall T. Meyer Papers in Duke University's Human Rights Archive], including information about the MJDH
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Anti-racism in Argentina]]
[[Category:Anti-racist organizations]]
[[Category:Dirty War]]
[[Category:Immigrant rights organizations]]
[[Category:Jewish anti-racism]]
[[Category:Jewish organisations based in Argentina]]
[[Category:Human rights organisations based in Argentina]]
[[Category:1980s in Argentina]]
[[Category:Opposition to antisemitism in South America]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1983]]
[[Category:1983 establishments in Argentina]]