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16 September 2003
The other 9/11
30 years
ago, when a US-instigated coup ousted Chilean President Salvador
Allende and ushered in a bloody 17-year-long military
dictatorship (BBC Photo)
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RIGHTLY so, people took
time last week to mourn the victims of "9/11," a now familiar
term used to refer to the barbaric terrorist assaults in New York and
Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
But last week's commemorations of 9/11 should have been a time to
remember the tragic events of another "9/11" -- 30 years ago,
when a US-instigated coup ousted Chilean President Salvador Allende and
ushered in a bloody 17-year-long military dictatorship.
The coup in Chile certainly wasn't the first time the United States
intervened in domestic politics. In the past 50 years, the international
press has often referred to Latin America's banana republics, the term
used to describe the never-ending succession of coups that take place in
many of these countries. The term has also been suggested for the
Philippines, given our fondness for "regime change," one
administration going after another like banana trees.
But the term "banana republic" can be deceptive, suggesting
that Latin Americans (and, lately, Filipinos) are incapable of good
government. What isn't mentioned is the role of US intervention in
destabilizing governments. Often, as in the case of the Philippines, it
is US involvement that keeps unpopular and corrupt leaders in power,
leading to instability and insurgencies. In other cases, as in Chile in
1973, "leftist" leaders were popularly elected, but then
brought down through the US Central Intelligence Agency's
destabilization campaigns.
The Chilean case lingers in many people's memories because it was so
brutal. The coup was led by Allende's own chief of staff, Augusto
Pinochet, who ordered an air assault on La Moneda to force the president
to surrender. Allende held his ground, managing to send out messages to
the Chilean public and urging them to resist. In the end, Allende shot
himself, but not without leaving a last message which is today engraved
on a stone marker at La Moneda:
"Workers of my fatherland, have faith in Chile and her destiny.
Others will overcome this gray, sad moment when treason strains to
conquer. Go forward, knowing that much more sooner than later, the great
avenues will open anew to let pass free people to build a better
society."
Treason did conquer Chile. Known "leftist" leaders were
rounded up and incarcerated in the national stadium, where many were
tortured and killed. That was only the beginning of a reign of terror --
by the time Pinochet stepped down from power, in 1990, at least 3,000
Chilean political dissidents had been killed or disappeared. Despite
attempts to bring Pinochet to trial, he still lives, a free man, in
Chile.
Ironically, Hollywood has helped to keep the memories of Chile's 9/11
alive and known to the global community. The gripping film
"Missing" was about Chile, and the murder of an American who
had been working in Chile.
Another Hollywood film, "House of the Spirits," dealt with a
Chilean senator's family torn apart by politics and the coup. The author
of the novel on which the film was based knew the situation only too
well; she was Isabel Allende, whose uncle was the deposed president.
Allende's other novels occasionally offer glimpses into Chile's troubled
past.
There is one area where the progressive legacy of Allende's Chile has
influenced the world, often without our knowing it. This is world music.
Beginning in the 1950s, Latin America saw the emergence of Nueva Cancion
or New Music, a movement in different countries that sought to revive
traditional music, using themes revolving around ordinary people's
lives.
Not surprisingly, Nueva Cancion's pioneers were the politically
progressive artists. The Chileans were particularly productive,
especially during the Allende presidency. The best known of these
artists was Victor Jara, who was among those rounded up after the coup
and sent to the notorious stadium. The military broke his hands, then
taunted him, asking him to play the guitar and sing his progressive
songs. He was executed in that stadium but his songs were preserved and
later distributed globally, which together with other Chilean groups
such as Inti-illimani and Quilapayun, were to spur an interest in
"ethnic" music and what we call world music today.
Jara was a folk singer, so his songs, although political, spoke of
day-to-day events, set to lilting music rather than grim martial
cadences. One song, "Recuerde te, Amanda" [I Remember You,
Amanda], captures his memories of a woman whose husband had been killed
in a strike:
"Amanda, I remember you Amanda, when the streets were wet, running
to the factory, where Manuel worked. With your wide smile, the rain in
your hair, nothing else mattered, as you went to meet him."
One of Victor Jara's songs was "La Plegaria a un Labrador"
[Prayer of a Worker], based on the Lord's Prayer. The song was
translated into Filipino during the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. It
starts out: "Arise, look at the mountains, the source of the wind,
the sun, the water. You who change the course of rivers, directing the
flight of your soul." (I'm sorry, but the English translations will
never capture the passion of the Spanish original.)
9/11 is a time to reflect on New York's Twin Towers, but we shouldn't
forget the many other terrorist acts perpetrated throughout the world,
from the brazen assault on La Moneda on Sept. 11, 1973, to the
day-to-day injustices here at home.
9/11 is not just a time to mourn the dead, but a time to remember the
courage of people like Allende, a time to remember life itself. I think
now of the songs of Violeta Parra, another Chilean singer and Victor
Jara's mentor. Her "Gracias a la Vida" [Thanks for Life] has
been interpreted many times over by different artists, from Joan Baez to
contemporary Latina singer Claudia Acuna. "Gracias" gives
thanks for what comes with life: our senses, our feelings, and more. One
passage captures it all:
"Life has given me sound and the alphabet, and with it the words to
think and speak: mother, friend, brother, words that illuminate,
brighten the path of the soul of my loved one."
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