Spring Break
The Other September 11th
Thomas Dollar
Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Opinion
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Last month, Americans marked the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the past six years, it has become a truism to say that "everything changed" on 9/11. Since September 11, 2001, the United States has invaded and occupied two Muslim countries; "Axis of Evil" became first a rallying cry and then a sick joke; long security delays at airports are taken in stride, and "reasons of national security" have become the justification for all but the most impertinent of the Bush administration's shenanigans. Nevertheless, to say that everything changed is a gross exaggeration. Most Americans' daily lives remain unchanged since 9/11: people still drive their kids to soccer practice, congressmen still get caught in sex scandals, and the basic structures of society and government remain intact. For all the hullabaloo, 9/11 changed the US remarkably little-especially when compared with another September 11th, twenty-eight years prior, when one country really did see everything change.
On September 11, 1973, a military coup overthrew Chile's democratically elected government. The junta, or military council, installed Gen. Augusto Pinochet as president of the republic. The country that had once had Latin America's longest tradition of pluralist government overnight became a testing-ground for repression. This past September 11th was the first since the dictator's death last December. Even now, Pinochet remains a controversial figure, lauded by some as an anti-communist hero, while derided by others as a monstrous tyrant. Perceptions of Pinochet often mirror those of the president he overthrew, Salvador Allende.
Allende had the distinction of being the world's only Marxist leader chosen in a free and fair election. After winning the presidency in 1970 with a plurality (36%) of the vote, Allende's coalition government introduced radical social and economic reforms. By 1973, the situation in Chile had deteriorated to a state of chaos. Inflation was rampant, food shortages were commonplace, and civil unrest was in the air. Allende was finding it impossible to keep his many factions-which ranged from the center-left to the Communists-together. With the country spiraling out of control, the military seized power. Soldiers stormed the presidential palace, and Allende committed suicide after delivering an impassioned radio address.
On September 11, 1973, a military coup overthrew Chile's democratically elected government. The junta, or military council, installed Gen. Augusto Pinochet as president of the republic. The country that had once had Latin America's longest tradition of pluralist government overnight became a testing-ground for repression. This past September 11th was the first since the dictator's death last December. Even now, Pinochet remains a controversial figure, lauded by some as an anti-communist hero, while derided by others as a monstrous tyrant. Perceptions of Pinochet often mirror those of the president he overthrew, Salvador Allende.
Allende had the distinction of being the world's only Marxist leader chosen in a free and fair election. After winning the presidency in 1970 with a plurality (36%) of the vote, Allende's coalition government introduced radical social and economic reforms. By 1973, the situation in Chile had deteriorated to a state of chaos. Inflation was rampant, food shortages were commonplace, and civil unrest was in the air. Allende was finding it impossible to keep his many factions-which ranged from the center-left to the Communists-together. With the country spiraling out of control, the military seized power. Soldiers stormed the presidential palace, and Allende committed suicide after delivering an impassioned radio address.
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