9-11

          We should always remember the violence carried out and/or orchestrated  by the U$A against states that don't follow their rules. The list is long and the details horrific as catalogues of state terror heaped on innocent people. America's first imperialist adventure was the Philippines, 1899-1902. Since then it has invade countries across the globe on a regular basis.

                                              Image courtesy of Radio Havana Cuba.

          Today 11th September marks the 50th anniversary of the American orchestrated military overthrow of the legitimate elected government of Chile. The Presidential Palace, La Modena, was bombed by military jets, the legitimated elected president Salvadore Allende was killed. General Augustus Pinochet took the reins of power. What followed was years of brutal repression of the people of Chile with thousands killed and as many "disappeared". Dictator Pinochet ruled until 1990 but continued as Commander-in-Chief until 1998, when he became senator-for-life according to legislation he passed in 1980. He has a close friend of the UK Thatcher government.  Still it goes on, from Korea to Vietnam, Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya to Syria the U$A proxy war in Ukraine and the belligerent military attitude to China, a desire to maintain its dominant position in the world is a road to total destruction for civilised life on the planet.    

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3.5%, Is This The Tipping Point?

 Chile.

Ecuador.

        Across the world the young are turning against the enforced neo-liberalism that has brought so much hardship and misery to so many. From Chile, Haiti, Ecuador, to Lebanon, Iraq and Sudan and elsewhere, people are on the streets challenging the established authority and the symbols of this brutal exploitative system. In some states in is insurrection, and others growing mass protests. Can Chile be the spark that starts the fire?

 Lebanon.

Iraq.

    An interesting article By Medea Benjamin Nicolas J S Davies

         Uprisings against the decades long dominance of neoliberal “center-right” and “center-left” governments that benefit the wealthy and multinational corporations at the expense of working people are sweeping the world.
         In this Autumn of Discontent, people from Chile, Haiti and Honduras to Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon are rising up against neoliberalism, which has in many cases been imposed on them by US invasions, coups and other brutal uses of force. While the severe repression against these activists have led to more than 250 protesters killed in Iraq in October alone, the protests have continued to grow. Some movements, such as in Algeria and Sudan, have already forced the downfall of long-entrenched, corrupt governments.
        A country that is emblematic of the uprisings against neoliberalism is Chile. On October 25, 2019, a million Chileans – out of a population of about 18 million – took to the streets across the country, unbowed by government repression that has killed at least 20 and injured hundreds more. Two days later, Chile's billionaire president Sebastian Piñera fired his entire cabinet and declared, “We are in a new reality. Chile is different from what it was a week ago.”
        The people of Chile appear to have validated Erica Chenoweth’s research on non-violent protest movements, in which she found that once over 3.5% of a population rise up to non-violently demand political and economic change, no government can resist their demands. It remains to be seen whether Piñera’s response will be enough to save his own job, or whether he will be the next casualty of the 3.5% rule.
       It is fitting that Chile should be in the vanguard of protests sweeping the world in this Autumn of Discontent, since Chile served as the original neoliberal laboratory.
       When Chile’s socialist leader Salvador Allende was elected in 1970, after a six year covert CIA operation to prevent his election, President Nixon ordered U.S. sanctions to “make the economy scream.”
       In his first year in office, Allende’s progressive economic policies led to a 22% increase in real wages, as work began on 120,000 new housing units and the nationalization of copper mines and other industrial sectors. But growth slowed in 1972 and 1973 under the pressure of brutal US sanctions, as in Venezuela and Iran today.
        Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed coup on September 11, 1973. The new US and Western backed leader, General Augusto Pinochet, executed or ‘disappeared’ at least 3,200 people, held 80,000 political prisoners in jail, and ruled as a brutal dictator until 1990.
         Under Pinochet, Chile’s economy was radically restructured by the “Chicago Boys”, a team of Chilean economics students trained at the University of Chicago under the supervision of Milton Friedman. US sanctions were quickly lifted and Pinochet sold off Chile’s public assets to US corporations and wealthy investors. The neoliberal program: tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, together with mass privatization and cuts to pensions, healthcare, education and other public services, was soon duplicated across the world.
          While the Chicago Boys pointed to rising economic growth rates in Chile as evidence of the success of their neoliberal program, by 1988, 48% of Chileans were living below the poverty line. Chile is currently one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, and one of the most unequal.
        The governments elected after Pinochet, from “center-right” to “center-left”, have abided by the neoliberal model. The needs of the poor and working class continue to be exploited, as they pay higher taxes than their tax-evading bosses, on top of ever-rising living costs, stagnant wages and limited access to voucherized education and a stratified public-private healthcare system. Indigenous communities are at the very bottom of this corrupt social and economic order.
        The neoliberal consensus following Pinochet has triggered a disillusionment with the traditional political process, as voter turnout declined from 95% in 1989 to 47% in the recent presidential election in 2017.
       If Chenoweth is right and the million Chileans in the street have breached the tipping point for successful non-violent popular democracy, Chile may be leading the way to a global political and economic revolution. 

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The Voice Of Victor Jara Breaks The Silence Curfew.

      Some, people live their life and when they die they leave a mark that lives on and continues to inspire that ongoing struggle for peace and justice across all borders. One such person was Victor Jara, Chilean poet, song writer, theatre producer, brutally tortured and murder by that rat bag of sewer creatures, the Pinochet regime.

Victo Jara, Wikipedia:

         Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈβiktoɾ ˈliðjo ˈxaɾa maɾˈtines]; 28 September 1932 – 16 September 1973)[1] was a Chilean teacher, theater director, poet, singer-songwriter and communist[2] political activist tortured and killed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He developed Chilean theater by directing a broad array of works, ranging from locally produced plays to world classics, as well as the experimental work of playwrights such as Ann Jellicoe. He also played a pivotal role among neo-folkloric musicians who established the Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement. This led to an uprising of new sounds in popular music during the administration of President Salvador Allende.
      Jara was arrested shortly after the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973, which overthrew Allende. He was tortured during interrogations and ultimately shot dead, and his body was thrown out on the street of a shantytown in Santiago.[3] The contrast between the themes of his songs—which focused on love, peace, and social justice—and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a "potent symbol of struggle for human rights and justice" for those killed during the Pinochet regime.[4][5] His preponderant role as an open admirer and propagandist for Che Guevara and Allende's government, under which he served as a cultural ambassador through the late 60's and until the early 70's crisis that ended in the coup against Allende, marked him for death.
      In June 2016, a Florida jury found former Chilean Army officer Pedro Barrientos liable for Jara's murder.[6][7] In July 2018, eight retired Chilean military officers were sentenced to 18 years and a day in prison for Jara's murder.[8]

       The people of Chile today are going through a struggle for real change in the face of fierce brutality from a state that supposedly stands under the flag of democracy, but like all states, shows its true character when challenged by the will of the people. However, Victor Jara's voice can still be heard in the face of this state repression and savagery, This from Loam:

       This is the chilling moment soprano Ayleen Jovita Romero defies the silence curfew, imposed under martial law by the government of Sebastián Piñera in Chile and sings the song “El derecho de vivir en paz”, (The right to live in peace) by Victor Jara.
      Such is the silence because of the martial law, that her voice echoes through the buildings, while people from their windows and balconies are “holding their breath” to the words of her song, until the moment she hits the final note and a wave of applause by dozens of people fills the night and space of a neighborhood under police siege.
      The video consists of two scenes of the moment from different angles, one of them being the point of view next to the singer's window.
        The soprano is singing a song from a guitar artist called Victor Jara, he was killed by the Pinochet dictatorship (imposed by the CIA back coup). Jara was taken prisoner along with thousands of others in the Chile Stadium, where guards tortured him, smashing his hands and fingers and then told to try playing his guitar. He was then shot over 40 times and killed. The song is called “The right to live in peace”.

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Pinochet Lives On.

       Margaret Thatcher's buddy, the psychopath Pinochet is dead, but his legacy marches on. The present government of Chile has held onto a lot of Pinochet's dictatorial laws and agenda. The people fought the dictator Pinochet when he was  alive, the vicious structure he created aided and abetted by the power mongers of the United States of America, are still being struggled against on the streets of Chile today. The people of Chile have existed in a blood soaked society through the Pinochet era to the present day, but they are battle hardened, and the youth of the country has taken up the struggle with determination.
This from Enough is Enough:

 

       The Chicago Conspiracy takes its name from the approximately 25 Chilean economists who attended the University of Chicago and other prestigious universities beginning in the 1960s to study under the neoliberal economists Milton Friedman and Arnold Harberger. After embracing Friedman’s neoliberal ideas, these economists returned to assist Pinochet’s military regime in imposing free market policies. They privatized nearly every aspect of society, and Chile soon became a classic example of free market capitalism under the barrel of a gun.

The Chicago Conspiracy is about today. We began this documentary with the death of a dictator, but we continue with the legacy of a dictatorship.

       The Chicago Conspiracy is about the Day of the Youth Combatant. On this day, two young brothers and militants of the MIR, Rafael and Eduardo Vergara, were gunned down by police as they walked through the politically active community Villa Francia. March 29 is not only about the Vergara brothers—it is a day to remember all youth combatants who have died under the dictatorship and current democratic regime.

      The Chicago Conspiracy is about the students who fight a dictatorship-era educational law put into place on the last day of military rule. Over 700,000 students went on strike in 2006 to protest the privatized educational system. Police brutally repressed student marches and occupations.

       The Chicago Conspiracy is about the neighborhoods lining the outskirts of Santiago. They were originally land occupations, and later became centers of armed resistance against the military dictatorship. A number of them, such as la Victoria and Villa Francia, continue as areas of confrontational discontent to this day.

      The Chicago Conspiracy is about the Mapuche conflict. The Mapuche people valiantly resisted Spanish occupation, and continue to resist the Chilean state and the multinational corporations who strip Mapuche territory for forestry plantations, mines, dams and farming plantations. The government has utilized the dictatorship-era anti-terrorism law to jail Mapuche community members in struggle. Two young weichafes (Mapuche warriors), Alex Lemún and Matías Catrileo, were recently killed by Chilean police—one in 2002, the other in 2008.

         The Chicago Conspiracy is a response to a global conspiracy of neoliberalism, militarism and authoritarianism.

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Pinochet-Thatcher, Two Of A kind.

        Following on from my recent post on 9/11, it would be impossible to overlook the Pinochet-Thatcher relationship. Two beasts that that trampled the people in the name of neo-liberal polices of the multi-millionaires. While one slaughtered, tortured and butchered his way across the people, the other throw generations on the scrapheap of society, turned communities into garbage bins, crushed hopes, destroyed the potential of millions of individuals, and played her brutal imperialist card in the Falklands, However, we should never forget, they were not alone, they had the full backing and participation of presidents, Prime Minsters and dictators across the globe. who were following in their festering footsteps. That is the shape of the beast we live with, it's called capitalism.

Got this video from Loam at arrezafe:

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Remember 9/11??

       In a few days the anniversary of 9/11 is coming up, and no doubt the babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media, will spew out its usual avalanche of phoney patriotism, aiming to get all and sundry beating their patriotic chests. This comment in no way detracts from the suffering of those involved in that tragic event. The Western imperialist states’ response to this tragedy was, the “war on terror”, which spawned a continuous series of brutal wars, that are still to this day, shedding the blood of thousands of innocent people. All the wars that arose from the “war on terror”, are still ongoing, with the devastating consequences to people, villages, towns, cities and countries across the whole of the Middle East and North Africa. The “war on terror” was the West’s attempt to reassert its power and control over that region, for no other reason than its oil under the soil.
       However, the 9/11 that the babbling brook of bullshit will not give much, if any cover to, will be the tragedy of September 11th. 1973. This was the brutal overthrow of the elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende, by the butcher of the Chilean people, General Augusto Pinochet, let's not forget, he was a deeply religious man, who acted with the backing of US president Nixon. 

       The presidential palace was bombed, Allende committed “suicide” and there followed the usual fascist public burning of books, brutal torture, savage repression and disappearings. More than 200,000 Chileans went into exile, their lives destroyed by the savagery of the regime. Thousands of Pinochet’s political opponents were murdered, thousands of others ended up being tortured while held indefinitely in detention centres. Such was the savagery of the Pinochet regime that more and more states across the world started to distance themselves from his brutality. Even the US government of President Carter started to distance itself from this butcher, of course we all know that Margaret Thatcher loved him. Over his 16 years of savage power hugging, Pinochet shed the blood of countless thousands of the citizens of Chile. That is the 9/11 that will be to the fore of my thoughts when that date comes round once again. Though the New York 9/11 was a tragic event, it is dwarfed by the 9/11 of Chile, more deaths, more brutality, 16 years of ongoing torture and repression, backed by the so called democratic free West.

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Tomorrow Is Ours.

      The people of Chile have had brutality heaped on them for generations, from the CIA's, (Capitalism's Invisible Army) coup, that installed the butcher Pinochet, through the neo-liberal/free-market policies forced down the throats of the people by the American financial Mafia. However, like people the world over, they take only so much, and then they start to kick back. You will not find much about the struggle of the people of Chile in our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. No, they are much too pre-occupied with more important things such as royal babies, sporting spectaculars, and hyping up hate against those poor and vulnerable on benefits.  

    The struggle by the people in Chile is just one part of a growing world wide hatred of this insane system of exploitation of the majority, by the rich few. A growing awareness that we can change things, we have the power, and when we come together, we are unstoppable. This world belongs to us, from the bricks to the the mansions, from the bicycles to the cargo ships, we made them all, we can surely decide how we will use them.  

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The 9/11 Anniversary.

      In a couple of days it will be the anniversary of 9/11, an event that resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people, an event that should make the international community drag the American state to the International Court of Justice. A horrific event for which America should be held to account. If you are confused by my statement, you are probably thinking of 9/11, 2001 where a handful of crazy nut cases brought down the twin towers in New York, killing almost 3,000 innocent people. I am of course talking about 9/11 1973, a bloody event that was organised, funded and supported to the hilt by the American state. The military coup in Chile by General Pinochet, which resulted in the death of a freely elected president, burning of books, thousands of "disappearances", thousands more executions, and years of brutal repression, all with the blessing of Dr. Henry Kissinger, America's fascist strategist, and the full backing of the American state apparatus. 

 

From Mickey Z:

“Make the economy scream…”
       When the 1970 Chilean presidential election rolled around, Salvador Allende was still a major player and, despite another wave of U.S.-funded propaganda, he was elected president of South America’s longest functioning democracy on Sept. 4, 1970.
        However, he had a new and powerful enemy: Dr. Henry Kissinger.
The 40 Committee was formed with Kissinger as chair. The goal was not only to save Chile from its irresponsible populace but to yet again stave off the Red Tide™.
      “Chile is a fairly big place, with a lot of natural resources,” explains Noam Chomsky, “but the United States wasn’t going to collapse if Chile became independent. Why were we so concerned about it? According to Kissinger, Chile was a ‘virus’ that would ‘infect’ the region.”
       At a Sept. 15, 1970, meeting called to halt the spread of infection, Kissinger and President Nixon told CIA Director Richard Helms it would be necessary to “make the [Chilean] economy scream.” While allocating at least $10 million to assist in sabotaging Allende’s presidency, outright assassination was also considered a serious and welcome option.

Read the full article HERE:

      So, when our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, start spouting there usual platitudes on 9/11, and our pompous parasitic politicians, wax lyrically on the horrible event in New York, remind them of that even more brutal and blood event, perpetrated by America on the people of Chile some 28 years earlier.  It was a longer lasting and more savage 9/11, than the one in New York.

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9-11, Which One?

     We all remember 9/11, but which one? Of course our babbling Brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, will recall the twin towers in New York. However in Chile, 9/11, has a different memory, September 11, 1973, was the beginning of the military coup lead by General Pinochet, fully supported and backed by America. It ushered in an era of vicious savagery that lasted until 1990, though General Pinochet was removed from power in 1988. The era of the military junta saw the blood of the Chilean people flow from the tens of thousands of beatings, torture, killings and disappearances perpetrated by the exesses of the of the psychopathic Pinochet junta, with the full backing of America. So this September 11, let's remember all those who suffered at the hands of fanaticism.

Photo from Arrezafe, original source Hoguera De Ideas

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY, - PINOCHET.

       In a couple of days it will be the 37th anniversary of the American backed coup in Chile that lead to 17 years of brutality, death and torture across that country. Though Pinochet has gone, nothing much has changed regarding American policy, it still backs dictators and despots as long as it suits the Western corporate machine. The profits and survival of corporatism is more important than the lives of people. 

From Contra Info: 

September 11th was the day that, in 1973, the commander-in-chief of the Chilean army Augusto Pinochet took power over the democratically elected president Allende. Pinochet killed and tortured thousands in his dictatorial rule, until 1990. On the same day, in 1998, anarchist Claudia López was shot dead by cops of the reinstated democracy while she fought at a barricade during a commemoration of the 1973 coup d’etat. Since then, under the slogan of ‘Black September’ demonstrators fight state repression in remembrance of Claudia and all of those who fell in combat

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