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Exactly twenty-eight years prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there was another equally, arguably more devastating act of terrorism. Santiago, Chile was the scene of a violent authoritarian coup executed by military General Augusto Pinochet, rubberstamped and financially sponsored through the CIA and United States intelligence. The goal was to overthrow democratically-elected socialist President Salvador Allende and reestablish US political-economic hegemony throughout the region. The idea of mechanisms of power being operated by the people according to actual democracy was enough to sanction the death and destruction of countless innocent lives. The dictatorship formally lasted until the early 90s, with remnants of its infamy still present today throughout Chile, as well as virtually all of Latin America that was the stage of the global north’s theater of oppression. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Sciences’ winner, economist of Chicago University Milton Friedman, established the rationale for the harsh economic policies that the dictatorship would ascribe to and set the ground for the disastrous experiment in neoliberalism that would rip apart the social fabric and make Chile one of the most socioeconomically unequal countries in the world. This history’s obscurity in the minds of average Americans is a form of violence itself, perpetuating injustice and leaving the innocent who suffered neglected and without vindication. This is the first and the forgotten 9/11. ¡Viva Allende!
lyrics
*****Exactly twenty-eight years prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there was another equally, arguably more devastating act of terrorism. Santiago, Chile was the scene of a violent authoritarian coup executed by military General Augusto Pinochet, rubberstamped and financially sponsored through the CIA and United States intelligence. The goal was to overthrow democratically-elected socialist President Salvador Allende and reestablish US political-economic hegemony throughout the region. The idea of mechanisms of power being operated by the people according to actual democracy was enough to sanction the death and destruction of countless innocent lives. The dictatorship formally lasted until the early 90s, with remnants of its infamy still present today throughout Chile, as well as virtually all of Latin America that was the stage of the global north’s theater of oppression. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Sciences’ winner, economist of Chicago University Milton Friedman, established the rationale for the harsh economic policies that the dictatorship would ascribe to and set the ground for the disastrous experiment in neoliberalism that would rip apart the social fabric and make Chile one of the most socioeconomically unequal countries in the world. This history’s obscurity in the minds of average Americans is a form of violence itself, perpetuating injustice and leaving the innocent who suffered neglected and without vindication. This is the first and the forgotten 9/11. ¡Viva Allende!*****
Milton Friedman I’m at your front door
With a gun in my hand, bury you under the floor
9/11 1973, Erase that from American History
Chicago Boys, Catholic University
Pinochet’s in bed with the CIA
Presidential Palace up in flames
Desaparicidos split their veins
Black lists made red with empty names
Kill all defectors of the caged-market games
Democracy was never going to work
Nixon’s fist in Santiago
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from
Demo,
released October 30, 2015
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