REVIEW BY VANNESSA HEARMAN

For those tired of the patriotic commemorations of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the outpourings of warmongering from US, British and Australian leaders, this latest offering by Ocean Press sheds much-needed light on US imperialism's hypocrisy. On September 11, 1973, a US-backed military coup brutally overthrew the elected left-wing president, Salvador Allende.

Chile: The Other September 11 opens with an essay by Ariel Dorfman, in which he discusses what happened in Chile in 1973 and draws parallels with the thousands of deaths at the World Trade Center and incidents associated with that event. Dorfman hopes that Americans will reflect on why the tragedy happened.

Unfortunately, after the event, the US response has been largely dictated by warmongers such as US vice-president Dick Cheney, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other trigger-happy personnel within President George Bush's ruling circle. Voices of dissent in the US have largely been buried.

Chile: The Other September 11 contains a number of essays by women close to significant Chilean figures in 1973. Joan Jara, widow of singer and composer Victor Jara, writes of those fateful days in Santiago de Chile and of what she was able to piece together of her husband's last moments. These pieces successfully recreate the atmosphere, tension and terrible times of Chile in September 1973.

The book closes with a chapter by Cuba's President Fidel Castro, taken from a speech by Castro at a solidarity rally in Havana just days after the coup. At that same rally, Beatriz Allende, Salvador Allende's daughter, spoke after fleeing Chile and finding refuge in Cuba.

Castro recounted the bravery of the Chileans who defended the Presidential Palace and paid tribute to the Chilean workers and peasants. While mourning the death of President Allende, he tried to inspire confidence that the Chilean people would fight back.

Castro's speech drew the strands together and summarised the significance of what happened in Chile for socialists around the world. Castro said, in a quote which is featured prominently in the book, “If every worker and every farmer had a rifle in their hands, there would never have been a fascist coup”.

It is a pity that the book doesn't conclude with an update of what has happened to Chile since that fiery speech by Castro. The victory of what Castro terms “the fascists” in Chile bought valuable time for neoliberalism to take hold.

Tens of thousands of progressive Chileans were killed, disappeared and forced to flee to other countries; the left was smashed. It has taken a considerable effort, over many years, for the regroupment and recovery of the left to take place.

While Chile no longer formally has the military at the helm, the military officers responsible for the coup and the mass killings which occurred afterwards have not been brought to justice. The neo-liberal economic policies pioneered by the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet have continued to wreak havoc in the country.

From Green Left Weekly, September 18, 2002.
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