The other September 11
I want to thank 
gardnerhill for informing me that today's date was relevant long before 2001:September 11 (1973) is the anniversary of Salvador Allende's overthrow by the CIA-backed Pinochet, that ushered in the era of torture, desaparecidos and which wiped out a whole generation of young Chileans...in the name of Anti Communism and Therefore Our Friend. (A lot of us, after the other 9/11 occurrence, did not ask the question "Why do they hate us?" We knew why.)
Not that I was unaware of the ugly history.
In August of last year, "a Chilean commission investigating human rights abuses under the former military leader Gen Augusto Pinochet says there are many more victims than previously documented." The official number of those killed or "disappeared" was 3,065. Between that report and an earlier one, the commission estimates the a total of 40,018 recognised victims.
Forty thousand people tortured, raped, and killed.
Last year, this blogger wrote,The most striking part of it to me is that we share September 11th, as well as the amount of people killed, around 3,000 in both cases. In both instances, they were followed by heavy privatization (Walter Reed, our US military, the post office, etc., etc.) and the socialization of private debt. José Piñera was in charge of the large majority of privatization and is writing glowing reports at The Cato Institute and never mentioning these were undertaken under a military dictatorship. A 17-year dictatorship. He neglects to mention the bailout President Bachelet gave to pensions. Or the commission expense ratios that take advantage of people.
...It would take many books to really cover the topics, most won't be read because that is too time consuming of course. But if you can spare a few minutes to understand something of what has happened in Chile and the US and understand our commonalities, perhaps we can better predict our futures.
I recommend this excellent article from last year (yes, it's in Forbes). It has been translated into Spanish as well.
Pinochet died in December 2006. In response to the linked article, commenter Hedgell writes,This is a thoughtful and moving peace of writing as we mark the passing of one of the global bad guys of the last century.
It has been fascinating to watch the last decade or so of Pinochet's life (illness, back and forth to Spain, court). One has to wonder how --and indeed if -- he ever did any private reflecting on his actions, and if so, if he did anything (even within his own heart) to acknowledge the breadth of the pain and suffering he caused.
Pinochet's death also reminds us that the U.S. has done more than its fair share of backing the wrong team in any number of foreign countries, all in the name of a variety of pet causes: fighting communism, arresting drug traffickers, finding WMD.
Today Kofi Annan is in Missouri making his last official address as UN Secretary General.
His words apply to any number of U.S. actions:
"When power, especially military force, is used, the world will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose, for broadly shared aims, in accordance with broadly accepted norms."
AND
"When it [the US] appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused."
Two books on the topic which I have not read, but which seem interesting, are Chile: The Other September 11: An anthology of reflections on the 1973 coup (from the self-described radical publishing house Ocean Press); and Londres 38, Londres 2000. Biografías/Testimonios de la guerra sucia del Cono Sur/Chile 1973-2000 [Londres 38, London 2000. Biographies/Testimonies of the Dirty War in the Southern Cone/Chile 1973-2000], by the Centre for Social Studies.
The title of the latter book alludes to Londres 38 [38 London Street] in Santiago, which was a torture dungeon and is now a memorial to Pinochet's victims. [Previous two links: strong TW for torture.] It also alludes tothe date of Pinochet’s release by the British government on health grounds, after nearly 17 months of house arrest pending extradition to Spain for crimes against humanity. The former dictator returned to Chile where he continued to elude trial in numerous prosecutions brought by victims’ families and others up until his death, six years later. The bridge connecting these two “Londons” is the injustice that prevailed in Chile, the authors of the book say.
Unlocked.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1882037.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.
gardnerhill for informing me that today's date was relevant long before 2001:September 11 (1973) is the anniversary of Salvador Allende's overthrow by the CIA-backed Pinochet, that ushered in the era of torture, desaparecidos and which wiped out a whole generation of young Chileans...in the name of Anti Communism and Therefore Our Friend. (A lot of us, after the other 9/11 occurrence, did not ask the question "Why do they hate us?" We knew why.)
Not that I was unaware of the ugly history.
In August of last year, "a Chilean commission investigating human rights abuses under the former military leader Gen Augusto Pinochet says there are many more victims than previously documented." The official number of those killed or "disappeared" was 3,065. Between that report and an earlier one, the commission estimates the a total of 40,018 recognised victims.
Forty thousand people tortured, raped, and killed.
Last year, this blogger wrote,The most striking part of it to me is that we share September 11th, as well as the amount of people killed, around 3,000 in both cases. In both instances, they were followed by heavy privatization (Walter Reed, our US military, the post office, etc., etc.) and the socialization of private debt. José Piñera was in charge of the large majority of privatization and is writing glowing reports at The Cato Institute and never mentioning these were undertaken under a military dictatorship. A 17-year dictatorship. He neglects to mention the bailout President Bachelet gave to pensions. Or the commission expense ratios that take advantage of people.
...It would take many books to really cover the topics, most won't be read because that is too time consuming of course. But if you can spare a few minutes to understand something of what has happened in Chile and the US and understand our commonalities, perhaps we can better predict our futures.
I recommend this excellent article from last year (yes, it's in Forbes). It has been translated into Spanish as well.
Pinochet died in December 2006. In response to the linked article, commenter Hedgell writes,This is a thoughtful and moving peace of writing as we mark the passing of one of the global bad guys of the last century.
It has been fascinating to watch the last decade or so of Pinochet's life (illness, back and forth to Spain, court). One has to wonder how --and indeed if -- he ever did any private reflecting on his actions, and if so, if he did anything (even within his own heart) to acknowledge the breadth of the pain and suffering he caused.
Pinochet's death also reminds us that the U.S. has done more than its fair share of backing the wrong team in any number of foreign countries, all in the name of a variety of pet causes: fighting communism, arresting drug traffickers, finding WMD.
Today Kofi Annan is in Missouri making his last official address as UN Secretary General.
His words apply to any number of U.S. actions:
"When power, especially military force, is used, the world will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose, for broadly shared aims, in accordance with broadly accepted norms."
AND
"When it [the US] appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused."
Two books on the topic which I have not read, but which seem interesting, are Chile: The Other September 11: An anthology of reflections on the 1973 coup (from the self-described radical publishing house Ocean Press); and Londres 38, Londres 2000. Biografías/Testimonios de la guerra sucia del Cono Sur/Chile 1973-2000 [Londres 38, London 2000. Biographies/Testimonies of the Dirty War in the Southern Cone/Chile 1973-2000], by the Centre for Social Studies.
The title of the latter book alludes to Londres 38 [38 London Street] in Santiago, which was a torture dungeon and is now a memorial to Pinochet's victims. [Previous two links: strong TW for torture.] It also alludes tothe date of Pinochet’s release by the British government on health grounds, after nearly 17 months of house arrest pending extradition to Spain for crimes against humanity. The former dictator returned to Chile where he continued to elude trial in numerous prosecutions brought by victims’ families and others up until his death, six years later. The bridge connecting these two “Londons” is the injustice that prevailed in Chile, the authors of the book say.
Unlocked.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1882037.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.