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September 11th
Despite the horrendous events of September 11th, 2001 here in the US - it might be easy to forget another horrendous historical September 11th. 35 years ago, on September 11th, 1973, the democratically elected government of the popular President of Chile was violently upended in a coup d'Etat. Salvador Allende, the democratically elected President was overthrown when subversive elements within the Chilean military stormed and bombed the La Moneda Presidential Palace. Many dissidents were rounded up and they are alleged to have been been killed. The incoming dictator, Augusto Pinochet, is known to have practiced torture in the execution of an authoritarian and harsh, militaristic rule over the people of Chile.
This event is dramatically highlighted in Naomi Klein's new book The Shock Doctrine. It her book, Klein presents evidence to allege that the overthrow of the Allende government was part and parcel of the Chicago School of economics program of disaster capitalism.
You can learn more about the overthrow of the Chilean popular government on a recent radio show produced by Pacifica's From the Vault. Here's an excerpt from the show's description:
In this episode of From the Vault, we explore the historic election of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1970 and the forces that conspired to overthrow his socialist government in 1973, by studying three main historical components of this period in Chile’s history, through recordings preserved by Pacifica Radio Archives.You'll find more information and a link to listen to this important historically relevant program here: September 11, 1973, the Coup d'Etat in ChileFirst, we examine the years leading up to the election of Salvador Allende as president, framed by the tremendous social movement of workers, students, activists, artist, professionals, politicians, and intellectuals that resulted in Allende’s rise to national leadership. We hear from anonymous Chilean workers as they describe conditions in the factories before the Allende presidency; author Antonio Skármeta, whose novel Ardiente Paciencia inspired the 1994 Academy Award-winning movie Il Postino speak on the political climate of Chile in the 1960’s; and Joan Jara, widow of legendary folk singer Victor Jara – Chile’s version of Bob Dylan – speak about her husband’s leftist music and how it helped keep the Allende election movement inspired.
I originally heard this program on KAOS.
Information and knowledge. Peace. Bert
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Comments
radar?
Hola Bert, Chile just ain't on my radar...
..the US is in the midst of an identity crisis, and I'm keeping my focus close to home.
Thanks for the historic perspective...
...BTW, what is the current death toll from the mess in the middle east?
Way less than most single days
in WWII, or less than 10% of all of Vietnam
I'm not surprised this was all that was posted this Marxist blog about the worst foreign attack on the greatest country on earth.
"RITALIN, so much easier than parenting"
itchyhitch.blogspot.com
"RITALIN, so much easier than parenting"
itchyhitch.blogspot.com
don't be a dork JT
We are Americans here JT, and the conservative estimate is that over 600,000 Afgans are dead (Read "Ghost War" by Steve Coll...), not to mention all the folks in Iraq, etc...
...Clinton dropped the ball when he started all that rendition stuff, and Bush is just making it worse.
"War on Terror" ...what a fucking insane idea.
Hey JT...
Bert and JT
two OlyBloggers I like, have allowed themselves to let their political agendas overtake the fact that this is a day we should all unite as Americans.
Rob, bad timing for a post like this. I agree with you on your topic, but today was not a good day to post it. Earnestness sometimes can use some diplomacy. I think you hurt your cause more than helped it.
JT, your simplistic sweeping generalizations are awful. I am a major contributor to OlyBlog. Am I a Marxist? Am I Borg? If you use "Borg" to describe us any longer from this point on since you have notice I'll take it as a personal affront and cease respecting you. I find both characterizations insulting. And please, no, "But Da-a-a-ad, they did it too." I'm tired of Rick, Bert, or Clinton getting blamed for all that is bad. Real men take responsibility for their own actions without deflecting on the actions of others.
Let's focus on the victims of 9/11 for today-- this national tragedy doesn't belong to any political party.
A bad day to post it????
When should Rob have posted this? Sept 10th? Sept 12th? Are we so isolated and consumed by our own national tradegies that we can't take a few minutes out of the day to recognize that there are other countries in the world, too, many of which have suffered at least equally to ours?
The main thoroughfare running West-East out of downtown Santiago through the heart of the Provedencia and Las Condes neighborhoods is named, "Once de Septiembre" in rememberance of this day. This was a major watershed event in 1973, not just for Chile but for all of Latin America. The political environment in this hemishpehere shifted significanty on this day.
Rob is also right about U.S. involvement. To say that "information has surfaced" about U.S. involvement is a gross understandment. I would contend that this coup is widely understood - in both Chile and among people in the U.S. that know anything about Chile - to have been an operation almost entirely funded and orchestrated by the CIA. Virtually all Chileans, both opposed to and in support of (which there are A LOT of!) Pinochet recognize this and there is ample evidence to support it.
If anything, Rob is merely showing himself to be globally-aware. I don't see why we can't acknowledge Chile's terrorized past while at the same time morning our own losses.
BTW, here is a great article about Chilean culture in today's NYTimes. Chile is an amazing country - and its political struggles have made it a more thoughtful, interesting place.
stevenl,
I consider you the male version of Sarah. Both you and Sarah set a very high bar here, and a bar to be strived to attained by all. But like Sarah, you and I would likely disagree on most political topics.
The Marxist presence at Olyblog is very prevelant, and likely the majority view. Are you a Marxist? I don't know, but it would be difficult to argue that Marxism or socialism is the more favored view on Olyblog.
My post earlier was more visceral than anything else. I'm on vacation in an area where the conservative point of view is the law of the land, so I'm with my peeps. So I came back from a moving 9/11 ceremony to the bullshit posted here and I lost it a bit. When I come to Olyblog on a usual daily basis, I'm prepared for the opposite view, but on 9/11/2008 I wasn't, and my post was likely a bit edgy.
Stevenl, your challenge to separate the politics from the event of 9/11 is understandable, but in reality impossible. The whole issue of 9/11 is completely immersed in politics, it can't be separated. The respect for the war dead of 9/11 in the absence of politics is possible to some degree, but the whole event of 9/11 is so political it won't be separated for decades to come.
Now for the most concerning part of your post, my use of the moniker of "The Borg" for Olyblog. The credit for the term goes to Merwyn. But with that said, I believe the term is rather profound for how Olyblog has been run, and the view of the majority of the posters. Being a Treker, at least a Star Trek Voyager fan, the Borg is a very apropos term to descrbe the Olyblog philosophy. I doubt I need to go into detail on the parallels here for your challenge/threat, but corrolations are amazing and funny. So I use the term Borg as an appropriate tease, more than an intentional attempt to offend.
My profession and me personally have been ridiculed, teased, and maligned on Olyblog for a very long time and even recently during the Republican conventions. If my use of "The Borg" gives you a taste of that, and you don't like it, I can only say, "deal with it". (I don't remember you challenging some of the recent comments about Police Officers in the last few weeks made by others, maybe I missed those though.) My use of the Borg is used as a tease and for fun, not with the hate and viciousness of some of the comments spewed out by some of the Olybloggers.
So stevenl, if you chose to no longer respect me for referring to Olyblog as The Borg, on another website, that is your decision to make and I hope you find it is a correct one for you. I would suggest to you that if my teasing term for Olyblog forces you to no longer respect me, your respect for me was hanging by merely a thread anyway.
"RITALIN, so much easier than parenting"
itchyhitch.blogspot.com
"RITALIN, so much easier than parenting"
itchyhitch.blogspot.com
Two September 11s
As far as the most recent September 11 attack, that horrendous attack on the WTC in NYC in 2001, it is absolutely critical to understand that attack as a product - a direct consequence of US foreign policy.
Perhaps I will risk the wrath of Drew Hendricks and others, here, for seeming to "blame the victim." But I am not blaming the victim. Because the victims of the attack on September 11, 2001 were not to blame. The blame lies with bad foreign policy. The blame lies with a foreign policy that explicitly seeks to promote and further entrench the global hegemony of US interests. No one person is at fault or to blame. This failed policy - of divide and conquer, of might equaling right, of the ends justifying the means, of greed and relentless pursuit of power and property, etc. - these are at fault. It's endemic to this society. The problem relates to materialism. It relates to fear-based ideologies and of competition for resources that should rightly be fairly distributed - not owned and controlled and sequestered and sold for profit.
What gives one man or one corporation the right to own an oil field?
It's power, plain and simple. And it's not right.
September 11th, 2001 - whether it was a conspiracy of an elite core of decision makers / actors (oh yeah, when did the US Government cease providing material support to Osama bin Laden?...), or whether it was a terrorist attack plain and simple - was the product of a failed foreign policy. It was payback - "blowback" to use the CIA term - for years of exploitative and abusive overseas "business" practices.
That being said - let me say that I truly and genuinely wish and pray for those who have suffered as a result of Sep 11, both of them - and any other incident similar to Sep 11. So that those who suffer may find healing, peace and relief from their pain.
Bert
Nonpolitical Observance
Yes this is a day for observance - but in reality how is it possible to be nonpolitical. You see, that would be playing into the whole hocus pocus of "united we stand." You see, because we do not stand united. We stand divided. We stand divided because that's the politics of our national officials. They seek division. This is the conversation that we should be having. This is what should be on the front pages of the national broad sheets. American society is under attack by powerful business interests.
Okay, maybe that's a little over the top. Just maybe. But I don't think so.
Honestly, this nation is divided. And it's for good reason. People are being spoon fed the rhetoric of fear and terrorism. Do most Americans honestly believe that our government is the good guy? I don't know. I can't imagine that's the case - considering the approval ratings of national officials. However, people are afraid. They are afraid of the terrorists. They are afraid of the guy next door. People need to talk. They need to share and have conversations about just what this government is doing.
I don't know if it's possible to observe September 11th non-politically.
And BTW - tell that to the Bush Administration, which capitalized so heavily off of the tragedy - it was just the very type of "Pearl Harbor Like Event" that the Project for a New American Century had been advertising... (which they had forecast would be necessary to further the goal of increasing US dominance abroad) hmmm. kind of makes me wonder.
Bert
Maybe You Are Right
bert