Two Anniversaries

Today, September 11th, is the anniversary of a number of events, but two in particular are being talked about today: the twelve year anniversary of the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks, of course, and the forty year anniversary of the overthrow and forced suicide of democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende.

It’s instructive to think of these two events and their aftermaths in comparison. I was not alive for the 1973 coup and I’m not very knowledgeable about it (those looking for an in depth analysis and history can try here or here) but I understand the bare bones: Allende was a strong supporter of socialism and collectivization, which sparked fear in the Cold War-adled hearts of the US government. Although there is no evidence that the US participated in the coup, afterwards they aided Pinochet, a brutal dictator responsible for the deaths of thousands of dissidents and the torture of tens of thousands. This is very much in line with US policy during the Cold War, when the nebulous specter of communism provided the justification for unconstitutional, inhumane, and deadly actions, including the waging of the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the support of military dictatorships in Guatemala, Argentina, Chile, Iran, Iraq and other places.

Twenty-eight years later, after the 9/11 attacks, the US government has used fear of terrorism - responsible for fewer US deaths than lightning strikes - to justify wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, human rights violations in theaters of war and at Guantanamo Bay, and sweeping surveillance measures against its own citizens.

Just a week ago I was standing in an airport in Santiago, Chile. I’d gone through the regular Chilean security to get to the gate, and now had to go through an extra level of security to get on the US-bound plane. I rolled my eyes at the security theater, but having to remove your shoes to get on a plane is perhaps the silliest and most inconsequential aspects of the “War on Terror”. Far worse has been done in the name of anti-terrorism, and anti-communism before that.

It’s difficult to say what the world would look like if there had been no Cold War, or no “War on Terror”. We can only look at the world we live in, where vast resources have been poured into fighting abstractions, where millions have died in the name of American security. On this anniversary, I want to remember not just the events of these particular two days but all the days of loss and struggle that followed.