by Tara McGovern
Write-up from research trip in El Salvador last summer. Looking for journal to submit for publication.
During El Salvador’s violent civil war (1980-1992), sophisticated organization and mass political consciousness were... more
During El Salvador’s violent civil war (1980-1992), sophisticated organization and mass political consciousness were key tools in the revolutionary struggle. Nearly twenty years after the Peace Accords, I travel to Northern Morazán, where the violence of the war was the most intense, to investigate contemporary manifestations of political consciousness and organization among youth—the postwar generation—who have only heard war stories from their parents, who were entangled in the war as combatants, support workers, refugees, or civilians. A study of the postwar generation’s political consciousness and organizational capacity is critical to assessing the consequences of U.S. foreign policy, implementations of neoliberal economics, and civil war in the context of a developing country. I found that in Northern Morazán, the level of youth organization and political consciousness varies significantly depending on gender and socioeconomic class; however, the most powerful determinant is the particular war history of the youth’s community of residence. The three communities I worked with and observed—Los Quebrachos of Segundo Montes, Perquín, and La Tejera—have very distinctive histories and relationships with the war that directly influence youth’s modes of organization and the ways in which they politically express themselves. While some youth engage in explicitly political activities, almost all youth are interested in politically “neutral” activities, including sports, music, and community service. However, the leaders who organize the youth in these “neutral” activities have clear but unexpressed political agendas—namely, to garner more votes for the leftist political party, the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front). In this paper I explore how this complex and many-layered phenomenon plays out in the everyday lives of youth in Northern Morazán.
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