Remembering the Other September 11
When my friend came back from Chile, he brought with him a heartbreaking movie called Machuca, a work of historical fiction that follows the lives of a group of children during the CIA-sponsored coup in which a military dictatorship overthrew the democratically-elected government of Chile and “disappeared” thousands of dissidents.
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It happens that this coup took place on September 11, 1973. Our idea is that this coming September 11, in order to counteract right wing propaganda to the effect that the United States government is an innocent defender of freedom, people organize showings of this movie in their communities, accompanied by discussions of the role the US government plays in global affairs. Over sixty copies have already been distributed around the country to this purpose. Machuca hasn’t yet been released in the US, but if you’d like to organize a showing yourself, email crimethincbooking@yahoo.com for a copy.
To learn more about the military coup and subsequent dictatorship in Chile, you could start with Chile: The Other September 11 An Anthology of Reflections on the 1973 Coup (though it hardly presents an anarchist analysis). Also not to be missed is world-renowned novelist Ariel Dorfman’s How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic, an analysis of the capitalist propaganda Disney flooded Chile with in the months leading up to the coup. Exciting coverage of last year’s 9/11 protests in Chile can be found here: