ALLENDE SMILES IN HIS GRAVE

[Judi Lynn]

ALLENDE SMILES IN HIS GRAVE

The Statesman
28 Mar 2014

Perhaps it would not be a mistake to read Michelle Bachelet’s return to power as a reaffirmation of
the Chilean people’s faith in the legacy of an assassinated President and all those who lent their weight behind his visionary programme of empowerment of the oppressed and the marginalised, writes vidyarthy chatterjee

IT is difficult to overlook the element of renewed poetic justice in the recent re-election of socialist leader Michelle Bachelet as President of Chile. Salvador Allende, the world’s first freely-elected Marxist head of state who was brought down in a CIA-sponsored military coup 40 years ago, must be shaking his head and smiling in his grave. That coup claimed the lives of thousands of Allendistas (followers or supporters of the slain President). Bachelet’s father was among those who were eliminated for siding with Allende.

Bachelet, her country’s first woman President, and her Left-Centre coalition, were first elected in 2006. She was followed in office by a conservative billionaire named Sebastian Pinera who proved to be a disaster for a country with the highest per capita income in Latin America. Bachelet’s re-election is being interpreted in some circles as a vote for social justice and responsible governance, which had badly suffered during Pinera’s presidency.

When the news came in of Bachelet’s victory, I was reminded of distinguished Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littin’s comment that “a country which forgets its past has neither a present nor a future”. For years after Allende’s assassination and the fall of his Popular Unity government, it seemed as if the Chilean people had decided to look the other way when it came to discussing that tragic chapter in the country’s past.

More:
http://www.thestatesman.net/news/46687-allende-smiles-in-his-grave.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Useful ending, worth noting:

A simple story gives life to an entire history of repression and resistance. Marquez writes simply but with a depth of feeling that few chroniclers can evoke, of a woman who was taken aside by Littin so that no one would overhear their conversation and asked whether she had been an Allendista. She reacted sharply, “Not had been, am.” And removing a figure of the Virgin Mary in the house, she revealed a photograph of Allende behind it.

Littin also visited Neruda’s seaside home at Isla Negra, sealed and closed to visitors by the military. He found that despite the army’s determined efforts, the poet’s home had become a place of pilgrimage to generations of men and women who loved their country no less. On barred shutters and on wooden planks used to seal the house there were thousands of messages and signatures of love and gratitude, often scrambled over each other for want of space. Most of the inscriptions were variations of the same theme: Juan and Rosa love each other through Pablo… Thank you, Pablo, for teaching us love… We want to love as much as you loved… Generals, love never dies. Allende and Neruda live. One minute of darkness will not make us blind…

From his magnum opus, One Hundred Years of Solitude, to his several other masterpieces, Marquez has been a magical storyteller not just to millions of readers whose language is Spanish but many times that number of people speaking other languages. But his reputation as a writer rests as much on his dark journeys through the world of non-fiction. What he has done to expose the tyrannies of the generals and their Western supporters who never tire of mouthing democracy and human rights, first in Chile and later in Argentina, gives him a moral authority that few can equal. If he has not restricted himself to literature and spoken up for many apparently lost causes, it is because of his oft-voiced belief that neutrality is an absolute false position to take in this lawless, immoral world where, for instance, Allende had to die because he refused to take up arms against his own army clandestinely equipped, trained and incited by the USA. He would rather die than violate his oath to his country’s constitution.

Perhaps it would not be a mistake to read Michelle Bachelet’s return to power as a reaffirmation of the Chilean people’s faith in the legacy of Salvador Allende and all those who lent their weight behind his visionary programme of empowerment of the oppressed and the marginalised.

[Laelth]

2. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[MADem]

3. She is NO FAN of "Rule by Decree" Maduro.....from a month and a half ago...

http://en.mercopress.com/2014/02/15/chilean-president-elect-bachelet-blasts-venezuelan-repression-and-maduro

Chilean president-elect Bachelet blasts Venezuelan repression and Maduro
Following the bloody events of last Wednesday, while countries such as Argentina, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua expressed their full support for the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro, others were more cautious such as Washington and the Europe Union calling for restraint and dialogue, but Chilean president-elect Michelle Bachelet openly twitted her rejection to repression, to President Maduro and called for a plebiscite.

”I repudiate repression in all its forms. Venezuela must hold a plebiscite. My greatest rejection of (President) Nicolas Maduro. You do not attack the people“, said president-elect Bachelet in several twits condemning the iron hand of riot police and the attacks by armed gangs against the students' massive demonstration, which left at least three people killed and over sixty injured....

No wonder Maduro skipped her inauguration!

I wish her the best of luck, I hope she can hold her coalition together.

[Judi Lynn]

4. So you're hunting for articles which can be used to claim Bachelet hates Maduro?

That's not hard to accomplish. That's what our right-wing-controlled corporate media does, all the media controlled primarily by business interests. Everyone's well aware of that.

It's what the same organizations used to do regarding Hugo Chavez. They tried like people possessed to claim Lula da Silva loathed Chavez, as well. Only the sane people took time to notice those disgusting attacks were in no way reality-based.

It's simply a tawdry attempt to pretend progressive Presidents who are more submissive to US interests are far better people than the ones the US hates more.

Bachelet has learned during her own life experiences the extreme discomfort which can come through torture, and seeing your father murdered by the bloody, evil, insanely brutal puppet dictators the US fully supports. She's probably concerned avoid makinging herself a target again. It would be immoderately stupid to assume this means she worships US policy toward Latin America.

Bachelet: I support Maduro’s Venezuela

By Progreso Weekly • Published on March 7, 2014


Chile’s president-elect, Michelle Bachelet, said her administration will support the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“When we take office, what we’re going to do is offer our support to the government and people of Venezuela in a real search for the democratic channels of social peace, so the Venezuelans themselves may find that road,” Bachelet said Thursday night (March 6) on television.

It was her first public statement on the Venezuelan crisis since her election in December.

“Chile has played a very important role in the defense of human rights, and also of the democratic processes,” she said on Santiago’s Channel 13. “And just as we shall always endeavor to truly guarantee human rights, we don’t think it proper that violent actions be utilized to destabilize a democratically elected government,” she told her interviewer, Mario Kreutzberger (Don Francisco).

(In an interview published Friday (March 7) in The Washington Post, Bachelet is quoted as saying that "Chile has recognized President Maduro as a democratically elected president. I will work with President Maduro, as with other presidents, with a lot of respect." When pressed for a longer answer, she said that "once I am in office, there will be a chance to talk about all of these issues.”)

More:
http://progresoweekly.us/bachelet-support-maduros-venezuela/

[MADem]

5. She's no fan of him, and how interesting that you characterize ME instead of reading HER words.

Your link isn't all that fresh either, ya know! You do know that she has to kowtow to her coalition, which includes a crew that are all ardent and into all things Cuban (including the satellite state of VZ, as far as they are concerned) that she had to buddy up with to get a sufficient majority, right?

And you do know that Maduro did NOT attend her inauguration? And that picture that illustrates that article shows her shaking hands with the very famous TV presenter Don Francisco, he of Sábado Gigante fame (most popular variety show on spanish language TV, with all those half dressed showgirls)...who does look a bit like Maduro from the back?

You do know that, right?

Some actions speak louder than words!

[Judi Lynn]

6. It's not likely anyone would confuse that blob with Nicolas Maduro from any direction.

Last edited Tue Apr 1, 2014, 02:40 AM - Edit history (1)

Makes no sense whatsoever.

As for my link being not "all that fresh," tough. It's from March 7. What on earth are you attempting to say?
This is not Late Breaking News. No one sensible would attempt to change the rules for the forum, one would hope.

Of course we all know Maduro didn't attend her inauguration, as he was somewhat busy at the time trying to manage the situation in his country after your ugly little sociopaths started running amuck in their classy tribute to right-wing malignancy, "La Guarimba."

You know in time all the right-wing filth is going to disappear from the face of this planet. It's not designed to last forever. You just can't kill all the good people fast enough to win.

[center]





Don Francisco



Someone who does not resemble Don Francisco.[/center]

[MADem]

7. Don Francisco is in better shape than Maduro, IMO. He's in his seventies.

You criticized the freshness of my source, I'm just giving you a little taste of your own medicine.

As for the rest....wow, what a nasty little rant.

I'll just leave it at that!

[Judi Lynn]

8. Please leave the link to the thread in which I "criticized the freshness of" your "source."

I don't have any idea of that situation ever having occurred.

Two other posters have lobbed that charge at me in this forum, once each poster, separated by years years, but, as we all know, this is NOT Late Breaking News, and many of us have shared articles we located which we found important to share, since we do know we can't begin to trust our own corporate media to inform us, and we do come here to learn what we have missed as part of our own education in this country.

Please do post that link. I really want to see it. Thank you.

[MADem]

9. Here ya go...happy "hunting." But you knew this already.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110828491#post4

[Judi Lynn]

10. It would be impossible to make that claim about my link. Impossible.

Can't imagine you would pretend my post "criticized the freshness of" your "source." How unbelievably odd.

It doesn't, in any conceivable way.

Maybe you should caution yourself of the inappropriateness of taking a shot at people just for the hell of it. You need to have the truth on your side.

[MADem]

11. Well, it wasn't impossible, because I just did it. nt

[Zorro]

12. That explains a lot

Lil' Latin Loopy Lynn doesn't even comprehend her own posts.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Affirmation by two people full of right-wing horsefeathers does NOT produce a positive.

It's one winger trying to prop up another fact-impaired winger.

[Zorro]

14. Everyone knows

that the closest exposure you get to Hispanic culture is from watching the Univision channel. With SAP turned on.

Hell, you’ve never even been to Miami.

Your cross-eyed views might be a shred more credible if you ever bothered to travel to South America and personally experience that reality firsthand.

But that's something you and your fellow travelers refuse to undertake. It would burst your bubble.

[delrem]

15. They aren't nice people.

[delrem]

16. OK. Deep breath.

We are discussing these matters with people who have a deep aversion to history, to assigning any meaning to recent history in Central and South America (and everywhere else!), in particular, the history of US interference in Latin American politics. The plain fact is that the past half-century has seen the USA promoting a 100% pro-fascist, pro-themostextremerightwingscumballs, approach to matters in Latin America.

Right-wing folk just aren't willing to own to that.

That's quite some momentum for a president and congress (who couldn't even get something so self-evidently benevolent as "single-payer health care" on the table) to overcome and turn around.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Their bond of hatred and xenophobia, along with their racism keeps them strong,

as long as they believe they all have each other to lean upon, and people in Washington to make sure they are connected to control of the U.S. military.

Porfirio Diaz said: "Poor Mexico, So Far From God, So Close To The United States." He could have said that for the entire hemisphere south of the US border. It just hasn't gone well for humanity unfortunate enough to have been born south of the U.S.

They won't go down without a fight from the US gov't, but in time that huge boot on everyone's neck is going to be pried away, and the people of the Americas are going to find that missing freedom from their own professional traitors and their allied military threat from the North.

Utterly disgusting for anyone who dares to start digging in to learn the history of US policy toward the Americas.

So glad to know when we can all speak together here, that there really are so MANY of us here, and throughout our country, now. "Speaking together," of course, must be accomplished through the static set up by right-wing blow hards who have strayed off course to the StormFront forum, or F.R., clearly, so it does take us longer to communicate!

What, us worry? We got the time!