Since the Russian revolution of 1917, the USA has had a pathological fear of Communism/Socialism.  You can see it today with regard to health care.  If the US system of government/economy is supposedly the best that the world can offer, then why the fear of socialism——maybe things aren’t so good or could be better!

Poor Salvatore Allende——he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The USA was not going to allow another “Cuba” in the western hemisphere at any cost.

I was introduced to Victor Jara in 1981 by my wife-to-be who had a copy of the
“Manifesto” LP record. What a great recording! The best of Victor Jara as far as I’m
concerned. Very hard to find. I found a copy on EBay and snatched it up. Costa
Gavras’ film “Missing” with Jack Lemmon is based on what happened on that
September 11 and is very good to get a feeling for the gestalt of the time from a
Yankee perspective.
Victor Jara! Que Vive!
I have less contempt for my fellow Americans than some here. The education
system and the corporatocracy are to blame for the poor understanding that most
Americans have of their complicity in suffering around the world. That’s where we
should focus our anger and action. Deep down, I believe that all people are good
deep down. That’s the only way Ghandi or MLK could keep going on with
disappointment after disappointment. We are obliged to bring it out of them!

He was not only shot 30 times. The worst part was when they stamped,
mangled, and broke all the bones in his hands. Then they laughed and asked if
he could play one of his songs for them. For days he was tortured in that arena
before he was killed. We should never forget this folk hero. Following is a
poem he scribbled in those last days. Later, Pete Seeger and others would make
it a song.

“There are six of us — lost in space among the stars,?
One dead, one beaten like I never believed a human could be so beaten.
?The other four wanting to leave all the terror,?
One leaping into space, others beating their heads against the wall?.
All with gazes fixed on death.??
The military carry out their plans with precision;
?Blood is medals for them,
Slaughter is the badge of heroism.?
Oh my God — is this the world you created??
Was it for this, the seven days, of amazement and toil?” -Victor Jara

re:race_to_the_bottom, December 5 at 3:34 am:

Well and truly said.

“And Kissinger can still walk the streets and not be spat on.”—iremember

However, Kissinger does have to check with the State Dept. before he can travel abroad. Some countries are NOT Kissinger friendly!

This story brings tears to my eyes, when I am reminded of the destruction and loss of life in countries, far from us— due to bucking U.S. economic interests, which almost always seem to be joined at the hip with U.S. military and government policies, aided and abetted by the two houses of congress, with some exceptions through the years.

Naomi Klein writes in the Shock Doctrine—“By Chile’s historic 1970 elections, the country had moved so far left that all three major political parties were in favor of nationalizing the country’s largest source of revenue: the copper mines then controlled by U.S. mining giants.

“Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity government won Chile’s 1970 elections on a platform promising to put into government hands large sectors of the economy that were being run by foreign and local corporations. Allende was a new breed of Latin American revolutionary: like Che Guevara, he was a doctor, but unlike Che, he looked the part of the tweedy academic, not the romantic guerilla. He could deliver a stump speech as fiery as any by Fidel Castro, but he was a fierce democrat who believed that socialist change in Chile needed to come through the ballot box, not the barrel of a gun.”

For Chileans, torture, death and mass murders continued throughout the U.S. government/C.I.A. backed Pinochet dictatorship. In the four days following 9/11, 1973, known as “The Caravan of Death,” more than 13,500 civilians were rounded up and arrested, many murdered. According to Naomi Klein, “more than 3,200 people were disappeared or executed, at least 80,000 were imprisoned and 200,000 fled the country for political reasons.” 

And, we citizens of the U.S. are supposed to be proud of this history? Many people I know have NOT a clue about why people in other countries don’t like us. Therefore, it’s very easy for someone like G.W. Bush to white-wash the truth, by over simplification, and to explain it away with, “They hate our freedoms.”

Repeatedly, I encourage my friends and family members to read books, such as The Shock Doctrine, but even if they buy the books, somehow, they almost never seem to get around to reading them. Ergo, it’s impossible to have a serious discussion.

In 1983, Eduardo Galeano wrote in his book, Days and Nights of Love and War, “The theories of Milton Friedman gave him the Nobel Prize; they gave Chile General Pinochet.”

Again, here is the Nobel Prize being awarded to someone, Milton Friedman, who has NO right to such a prestigious and renowned award. Kissinger, too, won the Nobel Prize, for Peace, no less.

What a farce—as far as I am concerned!

I am going to search out some of Victor Jara’s music, and may he—REST IN PEACE!

Pretty much true, EJH.

I am frankly tired of apologizing for the lame-ass people in the US. They’re pathetic. They don’t read. They spend many hours every day in front of the boob tube absorbing corporate poison. They haven’t a clue what really goes on in the world. Their corporate masters fuck them up the ass and they don’t do shit. They let the crooks on Wall St. kick millions of families out of their homes without saying boo. Their political system is a joke. They have not a clue how politics is supposed to work.

Look how wretched they are. If they had gotten their stupid asses away from their idiotic diversions, they actually could have had Dennis Kucinich as president. There would now be no wars, no evictions, and there would be a massive infrastructure like the Chinese have.

Contrast these sad sacks with people like the Persians. They brought down one of the vilest dictatorships in the world with their bare hands, marching in their millions straight into the guns of the Shah. And we saw them in the streets again when they thought they were being abused.

So yeah, you have a country led like pathetic people like Bush, Chaney, Obama, and all the rest who are a product of this absolutely corrupt society. Contrast these people with the Chinese leadership. In the Politburo, most are engineers and scientists who are more interested in building up their country than in selling out to the financiers.

I usually don’t rant like this, but it really pisses me off that for decades it has been the same small number of people who have been fighting a losing battle to create a civilized country for them to live in and then they slap you down and put their own enemies in power.

I’m so disgusted.

L2k4FC - That is nonsense.  I don’t doubt that you
oppose much of what you government does, but to suggest
that most Americans agree with you is ridiculous.  Go
back, for example, about 8 years and see how many anti-
war people you can find.  Not many (although, of
course, now most folks want us to believe that they had
been anti-war all along).  The American government
absolutely does represent the American people.  If you
think it does not, please explain why there has not
been a revolt.  http://theunpeople.blogspot.com/

Remember that the US-backed 1973 coup installing this evil dictator was on a
September 11th. Ever since then, when Chileans refer to “September 11th”, this is
what we’re talking about.

So when Americans piously urge everyone to “remember September 11th”,
Chileans are not impressed.