Miriam Lewin talk “Sexual violence and dictatorship, 30 years later. The end of the taboo”
April 1, 2015
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Location
Latino Cultural Center, Lecture Center B2
Address
803 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607
Calendar
Download iCal FileMiriam Lewin is a journalist based in Buenos Aries who has worked in Argentine printed media, radio and television for over 20 years. She received 7 nominations to the Martin Fierro prize, as best television and radio journalist in Argentina for her investigative journalism on issues like sexual abuse in the Catholic church and human trafficking.
Ms. Lewin was a young political activist during Argentina's military dictatorship when she was kidnapped and 'disappeared' to a torture center. After a year she was taken to the Navy Mechanical School (known as ESMA) in Buenos Aires where she spent 10 months. At ESMA -the largest detention and torture center during the dictatorship- almost 5,000 people were killed or made “disappeared.” Ms. Lewin is one of the few survivors. In 1987, Ms. Lewin testified as a witness at 'The Trial of the Juntas' that led to the dictators being convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for their crimes against humanity. As the trials re-opened in recent years to include larger number of cases, Ms. Lewin continues to offer her testimony as a witness of crimes against humanity and appropriation of children stolen from political prisoners.
Ms. Lewin started her career as a journalist at magazines and newspapers, including local and international venues such as Crisis -one of the most popular cultural magazines in Argentina-, Diario La Prensa of New York and Interviu of Spain. She was also the editor of Delitos y Castigos, a literary magazine that published short black novels based on real crimes. In 1992, she joined the news division of Argentinean Channel 13 as a reporter. In 1997, she joined the investigative reporting team of the newscast. Her reports became stepping stones for trials and social actions, such as the detention of a famous a Catholic priest accused of pedophilia, and the identification of the military pilots of the death flights that threw prisoners to the ocean in the 70s. In 2003 she became producer and anchor of another investigative reporting program, Puntodoc.
She returned to Channel 13 in 2006. The same year, she joined the team of the National Public Radio, where she anchored several morning and afternoon shows and worked for the investigative reporting team. In 2010, she created Secretos Argentinos -Argentine Secrets- an award winning radio fiction show based on real journalistic stories. Ms. Lewin and her partner, Marcelo Camaño, published a book with a selection of cases, in 2011. Together with another 4 female ESMA survivors Ms. Lewin published the book Ese Infierno –That Inferno: Conversations of Five Women Survivors of an Argentine Torture Camp-, translated to English and Italian. She is also the producer of the documentary film La Escuela, on the same topic. Her most recent book Putas y Guerrilleras (Whores and Guerrilla Members) on sexual violence in concentration camps during the military dictatorship in Argentina was published on May 2014.
Date posted
Jun 9, 2020
Date updated
Jun 9, 2020