Yeah, if the CIA/US Gov’t hadn’t kept the strikes alive and supported the business that had cut off the goods, the situation would be very different. I don’t think there would be a coup, and if there was one it sure wouldn’t have succeeded.

The PU was something else man. Having so much of the population understand what the right wing is doing and being committed to put an end to it was very inspiring.

Yes, the mindless support was deeply disturbing. The glossing over of the horrendous crimes of the junta was chilling.

No, I didn’t really knew the Inti-Illimani group before. Thankfully Youtube exposed me to their amazing work.

The parallels between the two Congresses are striking. Their behavior is very similar. Manufactured gridlock for the people. Red carpet for Wall Street.

Americans acting like Popular Unity? Difficult to see but I hope it happens in our lifetimes. The current looting can’t go on.

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I’m glad you liked it. I rather thought you would. I found it both depressing and inspiring simultaneously, which is no small feat, IMO.

The fact is, without American support for the businesses that literally shut down all delivery of food and fuel, the coup would not have succeeded. The transport companies would have gone out of business and would have been nationalized at that point. The coup would have failed.

On the other hand, PU was really something to behold, weren’t they? Commitment, honor, resourcefulness, creativity, intelligence and an unshakable dedication to a better future and more equal society… they had all that and more. One would be hard pressed to find a more inspiring movement than that one. Seriously.

I too became extremely emotional during the last segment. On the one hand, the mindless support for the coup is deeply disturbing, especially just how easy it is to “socially engineer” such disturbing ignorance and moral apathy. Shades of the US, I’m afraid.

On the other pod, people playing the theme, while some looked on with smiles on their faces, reinforces the notion that good ideas don’t really die… they are just forced underground. If you’re familiar with the work of Inti-Illimani (the Chilean group I’m pretty certain is featured in the segment at the Santiago stadium sequence), that theme is in some of their earlier work. Amazon has some of their stuff, but a lot of it seems out of print. If you’re into South American music, they’re really excellent. After the coup, they were forced into exile and went to Rome, where they were welcomed. That’s where I first heard them, back in the ’80s. In any case, their music is right up there with Mercedes Sosa and others. Just effing brilliant and often inspiring as well.

I don’t know if you noticed some of the parallels between Chile and where we are now here. The Chilean congresso was just like ours today. Enforced “gridlock”, coupled with economic sabotage. It seems the GOP and Dems have barely softened the Chilean version of the march to fascism.

On the other, other hand, if Americans were to start acting like Popular Unity… man, even though I can’t see it happening, that would be amazing.

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And, I loved how the people in Chile called the right-wingers: the mummies.

PS. I got tears in my eyes when Guzman returned to Chile and they played Venceremos in the streets of Santiago, the Popular Unity anthem that was banned after the coup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UazI41keDM

Song only:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d02e_QAUMp8

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http://truth-out.org/news/item/9685-the-school-of-the-americas-the-cia-and-the-us-condoned-cancer-of-torture-continues-to-spread-in-latin-america-including-mexico

Torture pervades Mexican governmental and criminal forces and, for civilians, the lines between law enforcement and criminals is too murky to navigate. If harmed, it is most often better just to be quiet. After all, who wants to be tortured for knowing something he or she shouldn’t know and all the time not knowing if the police officer or soldier to whom you are reporting torture or threats is working on behalf of the person who tortured you? Or perhaps it was the military or police who did the torturing.

As Jane Harbury noted in 2005 when BuzzFlash interviewed her, torture “spirals out of control hugely. And because someone under torture will say anything to stop the pain, very often completely innocent bystanders are picked up because they’re incorrectly named by persons who are in excruciating pain. Also, you cannot stop a government force or army force. Once it starts torturing, that also spirals out of control.” (emphasis mine)

(on to Claridge and Chile)

It is important to understand that our national interest is perhaps often perceived by the US government as preserving our economic status through the guarantee of open markets, cheap labor and natural resources. To do that, the US condones torture and murder when a democracy that represents a populist majority – or an attempt to correct an economic imbalance among classes – gets in the way in Latin America.

“Sometimes things have to be changed in an ugly way,” CIA Latin American Chief Claridge matter-of-factly asserted, citing the war crime reign of Pinochet as an example of a man who, Claridge claims, saved his country. “Chile wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for Pinochet,” Claridge asserted with conviction.

Shades of Darth Cheney. Sadly, this attitude seems to persist in the current administration as well.

Another great film on Chile is Patrizio Guzman’s epic documentary, The Battle of Chile:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Chile-Augusto-Pinochet/dp/B002EOVWVQ

Sorry for linking to Amazon, but it’s the only place I could find it.

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It seems very little really changes. Reactionaries have an uncanny ability to repackage themselves, with only slight alterations in appearance, while still holding on to the same arguments they’ve been using since the time of Burke and Hobbes.

So Missing is still relevant as well. The US just took possession of a new military base in Chile. It seems only a matter of time before history repeats. No doubt our intelligence people are helping the Chilean government deal with their student movement.

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