About the project

Archives of Resistance [Archivos de la Resistencia]

 

Archives of Resistance [Archivos de la Resistencia] is a project that aims to contribute to the right to truth and memory from the voices, testimonies, stories, and experiences of the survivors and relatives of the victims of human rights violations and members of political and social groups in the period of systematic repression  State violence between 1960 and 1980. However, the periodicity of the information contained in the digital archive dates from 1960 to 1992. This digital repository comprises 5530 historical documents, mostly gathered by relatives and former members of social movements, organizations, and combatant groups who survived the period of political repression by the Mexican State. The original collection comes from the Jalisco Memory of Resistance Archive (AMRJ) [Archivo Memoria de la Resistencia en Jalisco], and the Committee of Mothers of the Disappeared for Political Reasons of Chihuahua Archive [Archivo Comité de Madres de Desaparecidos Políticos de Chihuahua], whose collections were digitally shared with ARTICLE 19 for its cataloging and systematization in the ”Digital Library” ["Biblioteca Digital"], and its publication in the “Complete Collection” ["Archivo Integro"].

The documents gathered in the collection Archivos de la Resistencia are the product of Mexico's social and political struggle. They are the proof of the organization, the record of the forms of resistance, the monitoring of the actions, activities and mobilizations of the groups that aimed social transformation in a context of persecution, repression and attempts of extermination of the different armed movements by the Mexican State.

For decades these historical documents were under the care of ex-militants of political groups and the mothers or relatives of disappeared people during that period. Possessing that "subversive material" could mean a significant risk for the holder's life, even if it was only a flyer. These documents represented by themselves protest and rebellion, given that the State interpreted speaking, writing, and disseminating materials and propaganda as a threat. The survivors and relatives of the disappeared assert that, in each detention, they were instigated and tortured to know the location of those materials. Nowadays, we know that, as part of the systemic repression, the police and intelligence agents monitored and persecuted different people for handing out flyers and clandestine newspapers or for having a document considered "forbidden" or "subversive" by the regime.

The published documentation through the website archivosdelaresistencia.org represents the effort of writers, editors, printers, spokespeople, militants, relatives, mothers, children, and members of the social movements from 1960 to 1992. Without their commitment, despite the risks, it would not have been possible to preserve, conserve and protect the Archives of Resistance [Archivos de la Resistencia].

 

Archives of Resistance [Archivos de la Resistencia] is a digital collection that intends to be a tool for constructing new narratives, analysis and research that questions the historiography of the social and political movements, mainly those armed movements in the period of systemic violence by the Mexican State between 1960 and 1980.

 

In addition, these documents show us the action, the voice, and point of view of the resistance protagonist in Mexico. Without question, they also invite us to know and reflect about the origin of Mexico’s human rights movement through the historical knowledge of the pioneer actions of the mothers and relatives in the search of disappeared people and in the denouncement of the crimes against sympathizers, militants, residents, and relatives, that were part of belligerent movements in the period between 1960 to 1992.

 

Note:
Originally, Archives of Resistance [Archivos de la Resistencia] was composed of 5530 photographs of historical documents, whose originals are kept by the donors of the digital archive. ARTICLE 19 is in the process of systematizing, analyzing, and cataloging the historical documentation. This process includes a thorough documentary assessment to identify duplicated images to remove them from the project's “Complete Collection” ["Archivo Íntegro"]. In the "Digital Library" ["Biblioteca Digital"] section of Archivos de la Resistencia, it is possible to consult systematized information of the people, government employees, and organizations mentioned in the documents. In the section “Complete Collection” ["Archivo Íntegro"] (https://archivo.archivosdelaresistencia.org/), users can consult the totality of the unprocessed photographs. The documents of that archive were produced or compiled by members of belligerent groups, armed organizations, relatives of disappeared people, and social movements in México between 1960 and 1992.