Stitching Truth Lesson Three: Why is Civil Society Important?
Warm up
Have students review the material from lesson two. One way to do this is to ask each student to share something they learned from the presentations. It might be an idea about Chile, civil society, protest, or the arpilleras.
Main activity
In 1977, four years after Pinochet's coup and immediately after President Jimmy Carter announced that U.S. foreign aid to Chile would be tied to the country's human rights record, Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman wrote:
Chileans have hesitantly begun taking over the public [spaces] of the country, gradually grouping in associations, clubs, cultural centers, trade unions, until they have managed to create a vast network of organizations outside the Government's control. [Ariel Dorfman, "The Challenge in Chile," New York Times, June 29, 1986.This quotation is found on page 36 of the accompanying study guide.]
Dorfman's statement summarizes the relationship between civil society and the reemergence of democracy in Chile. You might share this quotation with students before asking them to reflect on the material they have learned in this lesson.
One way to help students gain awareness of their learning is to have them review what they wrote at the beginning of class about the importance of civil society. How have their ideas about civil society changed after learning about Chile and the arpilleras? What is the relationship between civil society and human rights? Between civil society and democracy? What was the role of civil society in bringing about change in Chile? These questions could be used to guide a journal-writing activity or a class discussion. You might even ask students to represent the relationship between civil society and democracy and/or human rights through a drawing or a poem.
Follow through
Finally, students can consider the role of civil society in their own lives. Based on what they have learned about the characteristics of strong and weak civil societies through studying Chile, students might evaluate the health of civil society in their own community. Students could even develop a grading system to analyze civil society. What would a failing civil society look like? What would a thriving civil society look like? How would they grade their own community? What might individuals and groups in their school or community do to improve the vibrancy of civil life? These are all questions that could be addressed in small groups or as a whole class. They could also be the focus of a final writing activity.
1. A culminating project for this lesson could involve students creating an arpillera representing their ideas about civil society. Students probably will not have the time or skills to weave their own tapestry, but they can create an arpillera with other materials such as felt, fabric, construction paper, magazine cutouts, and glue. Begin by asking students to develop a specific message about civil society. The activities suggested in the "Follow-Through" section might help students generate ideas. Next ask students to think about what images and colors would help them express that message. Other guiding prompts: What items should be in the foreground of the piece? In the background? What images do you want to receive the most attention? How might you use color, lines, and placement to emphasize important images? Students could present their arpilleras to the class. Or they could mount a public exhibition drawing attention to issues related to civil society today.
2. Maurice Ogden's poem, "The Hangman," tells the story of a town where the residents are hanged, one by one, by a mysterious stranger who erects a gallows in the center of the town. For each hanging the remaining townspeople find a rationale. When the hangman finally comes for the last survivor, that man recognizes that no one is left to save him. In the final stanza of the poem, Ogden expresses this man's thoughts before his execution:
Beneath the beam that blocked the sky
none before stood as alone as I.
The Hangman then strapped me, with no voice there
to cry "Stay!" for me in the empty square
The text of the poem can be found at www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles6/hangman_by_maurice_o.htm.
The short film, "The Hangman," is available from the Facing History and Ourselves library.
After reading the poem or viewing the film, students can compare Ogden's message about fear and tyranny to life in Chile under Pinochet's rule. "The Hangman" focuses on the relationship between fear and bystander behavior that is also described by Isabel Allende in her memoir, My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile. For example, when Allende writes, "In Chile, where friendship and family are very important, something happened that can be explained only by the effect that fear has on the soul of a society," (found on p. 24 of the study guide) it is reminiscent of residents of the town turning their backs on one another after the hangman arrived. Furthermore, Marjorie AgosÃn conjures images of a "sense of void" in Chile (p. 16 of the study guide) that mirror the scenes depicted in "The Hangman." However, while in "The Hangman" all of the residents surrendered to their fear of being hung, in Chile some citizens, such as the arpilleristas, found creative ways to protest publicly, even within a context where the government was known to be detaining, torturing, and murdering anyone suspected of protest activities. An interesting discussion might focus on the factors that enabled or supported protest and resistance even under the fear of state retaliation.
2. Students could create an arpillera representing their own ideas about civil society. (See"Extension Activities" for more information on how to structure an arpillera-making activity.)
3. Any of the prompts in the "Follow-Through" section of this lesson plan could be used to frame an essay assignment.
