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unamuno's wordsThinking about Iraq and what it really means for a country to evolve from a dictatorship into a democracy (in the context of writing something about how hard the next few decades will be for Iraq, even if it is able to hold elections next January), I was reading a book on Argentina's experience between 1976-82, a time of military rule that coined the grim term "disappeared", and looking for some references I found this quote by Miguel Unamuno (Spanish writer, philosopher and poet): Callar a veces significa mentirWhich, roughly translated, reads: To be silent sometimes means to lieStrikingly appropriate to the times we live in. By the way, the "disappeared" in Argentina where sometimes buried under the name "N.N." which is an acronym that dates back to the Nazis. In Nazi Germany N.N. meant "Nacht und Nebel", or "Night and Fog", the cover under which these unknown people had been taken. Something to keep in mind about the consequences of dictatorships and the rule of fear. Categories: geopoliticsPosted by diego on October 30 2004 at 12:31 PM Comments (please see the comments & trackback policy).
I think "N.N." has nothing to do with Nazis, but rather stands for "Nullo Nomine" which is Latin for "No Name". Years ago, ID cards in Italy used to bear the name of the father. In case of illegitimate children, "N.N." was printed instead. From there came the phrase "Figlio di N.N." (son of unknown person) used as an insult hinting to the low morality of the mother of the subject. Posted by: Ugo Cei at October 30, 2004 2:06 PMThanks for the comment/correction, Ugo. It is entirely possible that this was one of the tidbits of "knowledge" that is actually apocryphal that I was referring to in http://www.dynamicobjects.com/d2r/archives/002929.html However, Wikipedia defines in Latin "NN" as "Nomen Nescio" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomen_nescio) rather than "Nullo Nomine". I don't know Latin to go for one or the other, or both though. I'm pretty sure about the german "Nacht und Nebel" and its relation to the Gestapo practice of making people vanish, but whether that directly inspired its use in Argentina's case is something that quite possibly isn't true, and it refers to the Latin use. Something to look at! Posted by: Diego at October 30, 2004 2:11 PMHi Diego, what's the name and author of the book you read? Posted by: Klaus at November 4, 2004 2:26 PMThe book I was reading is called Nunca más - Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas (CONADEP). Translated: Never Again - Report of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons. CONADEP was formed after democracy was restored in Argentina in 1983, and chartered with investigating the fate of the "disappeared" during the dictatorship. Ernesto Sabato, the great Argentinian writer, was its president. Sabato also wrote the prologue (http://www.nuncamas.org/english/library/nevagain/nevagain_002.htm) to the report, which I recommend reading if you have a few spare minutes. The report is available in English (http://www.nuncamas.org/english/library/nevagain/nevagain_001.htm) and here in its original Spanish (http://www.nuncamas.org/). Posted by: Diego at November 4, 2004 4:07 PMCopyright © Diego Doval 2002-2007.
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