Chile: The Other September 11

by AguileraPilar

Amidst the flood of books on 9/11, the editors remind readers that September 11 is the anniversary of another horrendous event--General Pinochet's coup against the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende. Includes articles, essays, speeches and poems by Ariel Dorfman, Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda, Beatriz Allende, Victor Jara, Muriel Rukeyser and Fidel Castro. What happened in Chile remains highly controversial as shown by legal challenges to General Pinochet and Henry Kissinger. -------------- "As long as someone controls your history, the truth shall remain just a mystery."-Ben Harper Radical History is a new series from Ocean Press seeking to restore our collective memory of events, struggles and people erased from conventional (and conservative) histories and media. These mini-anthologies include eyewitness accounts and historic, forgotten or ignored documents as well as new essays, chronologies and further reading suggestions. This series is designed to appeal to a new generation of political activists.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Latin American History, World Literature

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب شیلی آن 11 سپتامبر دیگر شامل نوشته هایی از آریل دورفمان ، ویکتور خارا ، جون خارا همسر ویکتور ، آخرین سخنرانی سالوادور آلنده رییس جمهور منتخب شیلی و بئاتریس آلنده دختر رییس جمهور و همین طور فیدل کاسترو در مورد چگونگی کودتای 1973 شیلی ایست ، کودتایی که با همکاری نزدیک جناح راست شیلی ، ارتش و پشتیبانی کامل ایالات متحده و نیکسون انجام شد ، کودتایی که تاریخ شیلی و البته آمریکا جنوبی را برای همیشه دگرگون کرد .
دورفمان که پیشتردر کتاب شکستن طلسم وحشت از احساسات خود و البته تلاش های بی پایانش برای محاکمه پینوشه کودتا چی گفته بود در نوشته کوتاه خود با تیزهوشی میان 11 سپتامبر در آمریکا و آنچه 28 سال قبل با همکاری مستقیم آمریکا در شیلی رخ داد پل زده است ، از نگاه او آن روز مرگ به گونه ای ناگریز وارد زندگی مردمان شیلی شد و حال پس از نزدیک به سه دهه 11 سپتامبری دیگر ، روزی مرگبار دیگر در کشوری دیگر ( آمریکا ) رخ داده .
دورفمان آمریکایی ها را مردمانی می داند که خود را ورای اندوه و فجایعی می پندارند که بر مردمان سراسر جهان وارد آمده و به این سبب خود را از دیگر مردمان جدا می دانند ، دورفمان فاجعه تروریستی نیویورک را تصدیق این واقعیت می داند که رنج آنان نه بی مانند و نه منحصر به فرد بوده ، این که تا زمانی که بخواهند در آیینه ای بزرگ ازانسانیت مشترک میان مردمان به خود بنگرند با بسیاری از انسان های دیگر مرتبط اند که در مناطقی بسیار دور از وضعیت های مشابه رنج برده اند .
افراد دیگر به 11 سپتامبر شیلی پرداخته اند ، ویکتور خارا خواننده سرشناس از شروع کودتا و حال و احوال خود گفته ، تا زمانی که تصمیم می گیرد به دانشجویان بپیوندد ، جون خارا نوشته های ناتمام او را ادامه داده ، از دستگیری ویکتور و دانشجویان و انتقال آنان به استادیوم سانتیاگو ، شرح شکنجه ها ، آخرین ترانه ویکتور و پایان تلخ او .
فیدل کاسترو هم درنطقی که در کتاب آمده مقاومت مسلحانه آلنده و همراهان او در کاخ ریاست جمهوری را شرح داده ، او آلنده را رییس جمهوری شجاع توصیف کرده که بر سر قول خود باقی ماند ، سلاح در دست تا آخرین لحظه مبارزه کرد و سرانجام به عنوان سرباز انقلاب در دفاع از حُکمی که مردمش به او داده بودند فرو افتاد . کاسترو البته سرمست از پیروزی و قیام مسلحانه خود خواننده کتاب را اندرز هم داده ، او اسلحه و مردم را با هم موثر دانسته ، انقلاب کردن با تنها مردم ممکن نیست ، اسلحه هم لازم است . اسلحه به تنهایی انقلاب نمی کند ، مردم هم لازمند .
کتاب با قطعاتی کوتاه از ترانه پیروزی از گروه بسیار معروف کوئیلا پایون به پایان می رسد :

پبروز و سرفرازیم
باید گسسته گردد صدها هزار زنجیر
پیروز و سرفرازیم
نوشند بی نصیبان
از جام کامیابی

[J Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived through this time in history as a missionaries kid living in Avenida Brazil Santiago 6 blocks away from La Moneda and watching the bombing of it from our roof it afforded me a perspective that I had not seen before. Pity the anthology was very one sided. We had friends that were both in the military (he was shot and critically injured by Popular Unidad prisoner escaping) and one person that was arrested and tortured at the Estadio Nacional. There is always more than one side to the story and disappointedly this book only gave one side. Still a perspective that was interesting.

[Robert Teeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collection of writings by President Salvador Allende and his daughter Beatriz, the poet Pablo Neruda and his widow Matilde Urrutia, the singer-songwriter Victor Jara and his widow Joan, and Cuban President Fidel Castro on the coup in Chile that deposed the democratically elected Allende and brought to power the dictator Pinochet on Sept. 11, 1973. Perhaps the most harrowing account comes from Joan Jara, whose husband went to the university that day and was missing for about a week. She found out that he was taken to a stadium, along with many others likely to oppose the dictatorship, and killed there.

[Riz · Rating 3 out of 5]

If 9/11 is mentioned, one would get the images of airplanes hitting the World Trade Center towers and other terrorist activities from that unfateful day. However, there is also another dark day of 9/11 which took place roughly five decades ago in Chile. I jpicked up this book as I have been curious to learn about Salvador Allende and how he was brutally toppled by Pinochet with the blessing of America. This book captures the atmosphere of what it was like during these days from first-hand accounts of people.

[Fabio De Bernardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people" - Henry Kissinger

This book is an eye opener, although a very sad one. I wish I read it before going to Chile. And I wonder where the current social unrest will lead this country where the workers and the have-not seem to be still downtrodden.

[shadesofwords · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely fast, powerful read. Every page shocks you to the core. The essays/poems focus on the military coup led by the CIA in 1973, that removed the democratically lead Chilean president Salvador Allendale. US disastrous foreign policy is not a new thing and its imperialist actions has a long and dark history.

[Cary Lackey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very concise, yet powerful, anthology from witnesses (and victims) of Pinochet's brutal (and US-backed) overthrow of President Salvador Allende's legitimate, constitutional government on September 11, 1973.

[Oliver Eike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and direct book on the coup in Chile in 1973.

It would have been better with other sources and potentially just summarized the words of Castro and Beatriz Allende. But in its own way, it is important to include as well.

[Braulio Covarrubias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding first-hand memoirs of Chile after the coup d'etat. Easy to read, and highly ideological and emotional. It is not a history book, but rather a collection of testimonies of people close to Allende and his government.

[Cecilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick little read about the Chilean coup. A lot of first hand account (like from Víctor Jara's wife) which I liked. I definitely want to read more about this event (as well as other CIA-backed military coups in Latin America).

[Amir · Rating 2 out of 5]

آخرین صحبت رادیویی آلنده، روایت همسر ویکتور خارا، نوشته‌ی فیدل کاسترو و گاه‌شمار سه سال منتهی به کودتا. کتاب البته زیرعنوانش نوشته که جنگی از بازتاب‌های کودتای ١٩٧٣ه و بنابراین خیلی خرده‌ای به شلختگی مطالبش نیست.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

"May you continue to know that much sooner than later the great avenues through which free men walk to build a better society will open."

[Gabby N · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read about the events that took place on 9/11 1973 told from various perspectives. I agree with other reviewers who enjoyed the first half of the book than the second half. Joan Jara's testimony brought me to tears and I couldn't imagine losing so much in just a few days. And while I found Castro's speech slightly redundant there were still many inspiring quotes within it. Would recommend if you want to get a holistic view of the 1973 coup, would not recommend if you want a chronological account of how the events unfolded.

[Sam Dye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most succint accounting of the Sept 11, 1973 coup in Santiago and actually a good record of the highlights of Allende's time as president from 1970. The anthology format is the strength of this book. It's interesting that Fidel Castro is not listed on the outside of the book, but the longest and clearest discussion is his from pages 49 to 69. Allende's daughter Beatriz discusses him in a very personal manner and she recounts Allende's last words to her "Tell Fidel I will do my duty...."

All we can do now is reflect on the rightist alignment with industry and why can't the Walmarts of the world give some reasonable breaks to the working people. Instead it gives us more greed. If the workers in Chili had been treated fairly there would never have had to be an Allende. He was trying, but didn't have the skills or knowledge and his experiment was a failure before he was killed. His period as president was followed by the book burning fascist Pinochet. A sad commentary of oppression.

Even the recent book on the 33 trapped miners paints a picture of very poor and unsafe working conditions in 2010.

[Somyajeet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascism, in its violence, wipes out everything. It attacks, closes and crushes the universities. It attacks, represses and persecutes the intellectuals. It attacks political parties and trade unions. It attacks all mass organizations and cultural organizations. There is nothing as violent, as reactionary, as illegal as fascism.

In part the statements by various authors are quite moving. But in whole blaming all on fascism or imperialism may not be logical. Whatever we may call ourselves- communist, fascist or even beast/human, in root we all are only an opportunist. To me communism and fascism are just masks of a non-fictional play where an actor dons them to act the part and then replaces with another as per need.

[Yaaresse · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title implied -- at least to me -- that this would be a collection of many people's thoughts and experiences of the coup and events surrounding it. Instead, it is a very narrow selection of an even more narrow point-of-view. It's not uninteresting or irrelevant, but it is misleading in title and small in scope.

[Jaq · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the works of Isabel Allende - so when I read more about her family, it led me here to this book.

A very interesting and overlooked part of the history of democracy and how easily it can be over turned if it doesn't fit the bigger picture.

[Danielle F · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting account of the fascist Coup in '73 because it is a compilation of personal experiences.

[Alexeena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and quite compelling. A reminder that history is written by the victors; and that the US has much to answer for in terms of its impacts on other nations.

[Manatee · Rating 3 out of 5]

impactante.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant account by numerous people of the US backed fascist coup in Chile.