A controversial women, a controversial speech

Eva Duarte de Peron (1919 1952) is an icon in Argentinean history. She married Juan Domingo Peron who became president of the Republic of Argentina in 1946. During the rise of Peronism, despite the fact she was just the First Lady, she had an important role in politics. She was in charge of many social policies and programs which increased her popularity among working and poor citizens. Likewise, she was well-known because of her speeches inspired love and hatred at the same time. Eva had an admirable domain of rhetoric - art of effective or persuasive speaking - and this able her to address a certain group of the Argentinean society. She could manage this art successfully, as it is shown in many of her speeches, by the usage of metaphors, descriptions and others figures. However, in her speeches it was also portrayed that she could not speak in tongues. Hence, the ability of speaking in tongues should not be confused with rhetoric. Indeed, speaking in tongues refers to people who are able to assimilate their voice to make it more flexible. This achieved flexibility makes the orator capable of adapting his speech depending on the audience. Moreover, this ability makes the owner to unbind oneself from prejudices of any kind, to accept others opinions or ideas and to preach the truth notwithstanding ones cultural allegiance. Evita, as she was called by her downtrodden, was the emblem of Peronism and a very controversial character but, regardless of ideology, politics and governmental policies, she did not have the ability of speaking in tongues which is longed to see in leaders and politicians. One of the arguments that lead to the idea that Eva could not speak in tongues is that she had a sort of resentment against rich people. Historically speaking, this feeling

would have its origins during Evas childhood which was nothing but easier. She was an illegitimate daughter and her father, a wealthy man, abandoned her family to a life of poverty. As an adult and as a member of the government, she prejudged every single member of the high class, forgetting that some of them were not bad people and forgetting also that, despite the money, they were Argentineans with the same rights as the working people. She showed clearly her dislike in her speeches in a cruel and disrespectful manner. The following fragment is part of her speech given in 1952 in which this said dislike is highly shown: We are not going to allow oligarchs boots squash us no more! The boots of those who have betrayed, exploited and sold our nation for a few coins; betrayed, exploited and sold us, the working people. Regardless of what caused these feelings; her negative experiences do not justify this public bad treatment. Naming somebody as a traitor because of their money is not, in my opinion, the attitude that characterized an objective person. In short, Eva was not able to liberate herself from these preconceived opinions to see the two sides of the same coin causing her voice to be trapped between dogma and personal bias; that is to say, it could not speak with freedom. Another characteristic of those who speak in tongues is tolerance; i.e. the ability of accept others opinions and ideas without claiming ones as stronger. In the light of the previous definition, Eva, in my opinion, did not have this ability. She thought herself as the herald of truth; so, to her others opinions and points of view were invalid or wrong. In those years, the women did not form active part in society, more specifically, in politics. Women could not vote and they could only develop charity jobs. Eva was the first woman that occupied a role in the government and the first one to give public speeches in front of crowds. Therefore, showing tolerance towards people

who thought differently, in those turbulent and unequal times, would probably mean she was not strong enough or even she was not sure about her own beliefs. This sort of intolerance or arrogance - was also portrayed in the following fragment of the said speech: That day, my dear colonel, I will march with the working people, I will march with women from this country, and I will march with the downtrodden of this nation to destroy all the walls built with bricks that are not Peroniststhis lack of tolerance, to Eva, meant confidence, respect and power. However, this is not an excuse to such behaviour, but an explanation. She presented her ideas as the only truth implying that other opinions were abominable. Her lack of tolerance is, hence, what make her nowadays a woman who could never speak in tongues. Finally, the truth will set you free said Jesus and it also gives you the ability of speaking in tongues. Having the truth as a priority in life in spite of ones cultural bonds is what Eva could not achieve in life. The roots of this deformation lay in the grounds that her political campaign was based on the imaginary war between the rich and the poor.As a result, she had to respect the roles that were given by the Peronism: the target or enemies were represented by the oligarchs and the victims were the working people. Having this in mind, she was forced to maybe she just chose to - hide some important details of the inside of government; such as the fact that her own charitable organization called Fundacin Eva Peron was supported mainly by personal donations from rich people. Ironically, those who supported her organization were also the traitors, the oligarchs to whom she dedicated several paragraph of her speeches. In addition, she did not admit in public that there were also wealthy people who helped her; instead she decided to be loyal to the working people treating the wealthy people as sharks and showing dislike for them. As the result of this
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generalization, poor people built more hatred for the wealthy community and vice versa, which was also portrayed in all of her speeches. The following fragment is quoted as mere example: I would be in the battle field with them, with Peron and with my people to fight against the oligarchs; to fight against the hypocrites who sold and exploited our nation; against this evil race of nations dealers. Political parties campaigns usually use these hasty generalizations to create a strong identity among others and to be more persuasive, though they forget about the truth which is what we need to see in leaders. Eva helped thousands of people in need and won the love and loyalty of the working and poor groups, that is a fact; but she gained this by generalizing, insulting and discriminating minority groups. Therefore, she could not speak in tongues, because it is precisely the truth what makes the orator a leader, not the feelings of belonging. In conclusion, the Peronism changed Argentinean history but not because of Peron, but because of his wife, Evita. The proverb says behind a great man, there is a great woman and having in mind Eva, I would probably say behind a powerful man, there is a controversial woman. She resembled the essence of Peronism, a great dichotomy. Working people loved Peron because they loved Eva. She gained the heart of thousands and thousands of working Argentinean citizens with her polemical character and speeches, but she also gained lots of enemies, the wealthy men. The power of her words made her what she was; furthermore, her words gave her the tools to reach the place she occupied - the sit next to the president. She could persuade and manipulate a whole country because of her precise and effective rhetoric. However, this did not give her the ability of speaking in tongues. Many personal experiences and disappointments denied her this marvellous and desired gift. Being adaptable or flexible

to different communities, different beliefs and different opinions regardless of ones origins is what she could not accomplish. Her personal prejudices and narrowed perspective of society and values made her to create enemies within her own nation; it made her to call her fellow citizens traitors and it helped her to blur the truth. In a nutshell, many of Evas ideas find the answer in reality: sometimes it is true that politics, society and even life is unfair and this provoke negative feelings and resentments, it also truth that many wealthy people build up their fortunes not in an honest way; but it is also truth that many working people become rich because they or their ancestors worked hard. Hence, it would be nice to see a public image, as Eva was, that despite the obstacles on the way, could reach the gift of speaking to EVERYONE. Bibliography: Alonso, Maria E; Elisalde, Roberto; Vzquez, Enrique C. HISTORIA: la Argentina del siglo XX.Aique 1999.