So another day of marking the deaths of those who died in the World Trade Centre has passed, albeit this time with an extra dollop of controversy in relation to the proposed Islamic Centre. However, while it is right to remember the victims of Sept 11th 2001, it is also important to remind the world of the first tragic Sept 11th, 37 years ago.

On that day, the Chilean military, led by Augusto Pinochet and supported by the US administration overthrew the government of Salvador Allende. Minutes after giving this speech on radio, Allende, the first Marxist elected a world leader was dead, either having been murdered or having taken his own life as Pinochet’s assassins closed in.

“My friends,

Surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes.

My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. May they be a moral punishment for those who have betrayed their oath: soldiers of Chile, titular commanders in chief, Admiral Merino, who has designated himself Commander of the Navy, and Mr. Mendoza, the despicable general who only yesterday pledged his fidelity and loyalty to the Government, and who also has appointed himself Chief of the Carabineros .

Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever.

They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.

Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. At this definitive moment, the last moment when I can address you, I wish you to take advantage of the lesson: foreign capital, imperialism, together with the reaction, created the climate in which the Armed Forces broke their tradition, the tradition taught by General Schneider and reaffirmed by Commander Araya, victims of the same social sector who today are hoping, with foreign assistance, to re-conquer the power to continue defending their profits and their privileges.

I address you, above all, the modest woman of our land, the campesina who believed in us, the mother who knew our concern for children. I address professionals of Chile, patriotic professionals who continued working against the sedition that was supported by professional associations, classist associations that also defended the advantages of capitalist society. I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act. They were committed. History will judge them.

Surely Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country.

The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.

Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open again and free men will walk through them to construct a better society.

Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers!

These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.”

(Santiago de Chile, 11 September 1973)

Following Allende’s death, a right wing dictatorship took control and the ordinary workers of Chile bore the brunt of the torture, murder and oppression synonymous with the name of Augusto Pinochet. Meanwhile, the middle classes and aristocrats, who numbered few but as in most nations, consumed and possessed the most, gladly accepted and supported the oppression of their fellow countrymen and women, since they regained their status and went back to exploiting those who had only themselves to give.

Allende was not the only high profile victim-think for example of the great and talented Chilean singer, writer and dramatist Victor Jara, whose bravery, as he was held with thousand of others in the stadium that would eventually be named after him, brought with it a painful and tragic reward. Even when brutalised by guards he entertained his fellow prisoners, until he was tortured, had the bones in his hands and his ribs smashed and then was machine gunned, his body being flung out onto the street for his English born wife Joan to find (her book “Victor, An Unfinished Song is an excellent source for those who want to find more about this remarkable man who included Phil Ochs as a personal friend). Even through the beatings and fear, Jara summoned the courage to not only sing, but to write the poem that became known as “Estadio Chile”:

“There are five thousand of us here
in this small part of the city.
We are five thousand.
I wonder how many we are in all
in the cities and in the whole country?
Here alone
are ten thousand hands which plant seeds
and make the factories run.
How much humanity
exposed to hunger, cold, panic, pain,
moral pressure, terror and insanity?
Six of us were lost
as if into starry space.
One dead, another beaten as I could never have believed
a human being could be beaten.
The other four wanted to end their terror
one jumping into nothingness,
another beating his head against a wall,
but all with the fixed stare of death.
What horror the face of fascism creates!
They carry out their plans with knife-like precision.
Nothing matters to them.
To them, blood equals medals,
slaughter is an act of heroism.
Oh God, is this the world that you created,
for this your seven days of wonder and work?
Within these four walls only a number exists
which does not progress,
which slowly will wish more and more for death.
But suddenly my conscience awakes
and I see that this tide has no heartbeat,
only the pulse of machines
and the military showing their midwives’ faces
full of sweetness.
Let Mexico, Cuba and the world
cry out against this atrocity!
We are ten thousand hands
which can produce nothing.
How many of us in the whole country?
The blood of our President, our compañero,
will strike with more strength than bombs and machine guns!
So will our fist strike again!

How hard it is to sing
when I must sing of horror.
Horror which I am living,
horror which I am dying.
To see myself among so much
and so many moments of infinity
in which silence and screams
are the end of my song.
What I see, I have never seen
What I have felt and what I feel
Will give birth to the moment…”  (Victor Jara, Sep 1973)

An other, more indirect victim was the poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda, who died of a heart attack, already in a weakened state from prostate cancer, on the 23rd Sep, distraught that so many people, including his friends Allende and Jara, had died. Neruda, often described as the best poet in the Spanish language (in fact described by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as the “best poet in any language” ) and Chilean diplomat to Spain up to and during the Spanish Civil War (where he helped many republicans escape Franco’s clutches) was renowned as a socialist and humanist, and thousands were attracted to his funeraldespite the junta declaring that no public demonstrations were permitted.

These were only three victims of Pinochet’s regime- thousands were murdered and disappeared over the years, a fact Margaret Thatcher seemed to ignore when she helped obtain Pinochet’s release when it seemed he may be about to pay for his crimes thanks to the diligence of a  judge Baltasar Garzon, who is currently trying to investigate the crime carried out by Franco, and is being persecuted by the Spanish authorities because of it (what happened to “Murder is murder is murder” Maggie?). Most of these victims are unknown outside of their famillies and friends, yet where is their international day of rememberence. As in most dirty wars the US government was complicit in the coup, again making a mockery of their self promoted image as protectors of democracy. I am not saying that the victims in New York should not be remembered, but that yet again a hierarchy of victims has been established- what makes the 3000 who died in 2001 any more notable or more important than those from 1973, or the fact that the same number of people die from hunger every day worldwide- can we have a moment of silence for them, songs written, flags flown at half mast? Where is the media saturated coverage of other victims of terror, be it state sanctioned or not? So my thoughts today were not with those who died in the World Trade Centre, as opportunist publicity seekers sought to use the memory of these victims to push their own twisted neo-conservative agenda. Instead I will spend a few moments thinking about all of those who have been victims worldwide, especially those who dies trying to make a difference for the oppressed and poor- they deserve more recognition and respect-

“It’s a long way from the heartlands,

To Santiago Bay,

Where the good Doctor lies

With blood in his eyes

And the bullets read USA,

And the bullets read US of A”

(“Allende”,  Christy Moore)