I don't know how it took me so long to see this video, and the others, but I'm glad I finally did:
This is from the 1988 Chilean National Plebiscite-where the Chilean people voted to end Augusto Pinochet's 16 1/2 year rule. Well, 56% of the Chilean people voted that way. The others were singing a different tune. Literally:
If you type anything about the Chilean Plebiscite on youtube, you'll find plenty of videos from both sides (more from "no") and if you're like me, you'll get lost watching the doctored videos with red images dripping down the screen to reveal burning buses and chaos.
Now, I'm certainly not going to get into a Pinochet discussion per se, but lately I have not been able to avoid this taboo conversation topic as much as I'd like to sometimes.
Because of my job, I teach mainly one type of man (nope, no lady student of mine fits the description) who share many things in common. They are wealthy, Catholic (more precisely Opus Dei), and conservative engineers who studied at either Universidad Los Andes or La Católica. I'm not generalizing here. It's a fact. I have all of their information in my teacher's binder. Here in Chile, these characteristics are pretty much code for "I'm a Pinochetista, or at least my parents were. And I voted for Piñera."* Most anyone in Chile will tell you that they can figure out (and they do try to figure it out) which "side" of the Allende/Pinochet uhh, "issue" a person is on within the first few minutes of meeting them and quite frankly, it's impossible not to. The signs are obvious and it's just something you pick up on here.
When I teach I don't bring up the old Allende/Pinochet** discussion ever for many reasons. Recently, however, my students have wanted to talk about this and everything associated with it when they've never even mentioned it before. Last week, one student laid his opinion out on the table and then went on and on about his feelings on having kept his mouth shut before. It was more like a therapy session on not being able to talk about his beliefs than anything else. Then on Friday, I had a much louder student give me an angry history lecture on the Chilean military (not at all what I learned from 4 years of Latin American Studies and 6 months of Chilean history courses here). Not a huge deal, but it's just so out of the norm that something's got to be going on. I really got the sense that these two students are fed up with being quiet about things and aren't going to stand it much longer. I'm extrapolating A LOT since I only have two examples to go by, but I definitely sense a change in how people who hummed along to the sí song back in 1988 talk about their political beliefs and I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience.
*Someone pointed out that I'm making a direct comparison between Pinochet and Piñera, politically speaking, which is not what I mean to do, but I guess I need some writing classes to get that point across better :) What I mean to say is that this group of students I'm talking about supported Pinochet and also voted for Piñera. Piñera is not at all like Pinochet and I don't want to make readers think it's like that or that I think that.
**I'm also not saying that Allende was some dream president. AT ALL. I definitely sympathize more with the left in this case, but it would be naive of me to think one's the bad guy and the other's the good guy. And I tend to think every politician has a little (maybe a lot) of bad in him/her anyhow.
13 comments:
yes, you're characterization of white wealthy chileans is *FAIRLY* spot on. you sound like sarah. i guess you guys teach at the same institute? haha. anyways one thing i didn't like about the post- seems to make a parallel between pinera and pinochet. like his politcs or not, i think since you've got so many foreigners reading this blog it's important to separate extremist dictator/military government leader vs. fiscally conservative socially progressive democratically elected president. i see this way too much especially among expat bloggers and i've decided to call you out for it - lucky you! oh and also, allende was no great hero - the gov't was a disaster with people waiting in line to purchase groceries. so while he wasn't making people disappear and wans't the horrible monster that pinochet was i can totally sympathize with a chileno who says he was a sucky pres. just my 2 centavos.
YOUR not you're - jeez, English much?
KM, you're right. I'll change it because I didn't meant to compare Pinochet and Piñera, but I did mean to say that many people who supported one also voted for the other. I also agree with you about Allende, but didn't get that point across, I guess. I bet you think I'm wearing a Che Guevara shirt or something, hehe. Thanks for the centavos! Oh, and I don't work at the same place as Sara. Santiago is just teeming with wealthy Chilean engineers it seems
Ohhh...I learned long ago not to bring up the right vs left discussion or anything along those lines! I once made this casual comment during English class about how I thought it was a little unfair that the military continued earning 10% of copper incomings, a law that was created by Pinochet. I didn't realize that my students were hard core righties, one students dad even served in the Chilean military. Wrong crowd. We had had a great relationship until that point, they then turned on me and started going off on a big shpeal defending Pinochet and the military. The vibe totally changed and they were never the same to me again!
From that point on, I have always tried to steer as clear as possible from any topic of the sort!
ohhh Lou, that's the same comment that got me in trouble with one of my students. I just asked what he thought about the 10% and I regret ever having brought it up because I got an earful about the Chilean military and its excellence (several comparisons to the Israeli military were made...uhhhh...whaaaaat????)
Oh my gosh I can just imagine the conversation you had with your students and it makes me want to tear my hair out.
I mean, I guess it's hard to be 100% objective when it comes to history. There's always going to be a certain view point shadowing how you interpret historical events. But what I can't stand is when people deny that documented events happened, like the murdered, tortured and disappeared during the dictatorship. I mean, there is scientific proof that those things happened, so why say it didn't? It's not some sort of leftist propaganda against the military. It's cold hard fact. And yes, the left wing also committed atrocities. It was a rough time in Chilean history but don't deny it happened.
Ok, enough ranting. Thanks for posting those videos, they're really interesting.
Isabel,
I would have liked you to write more about the video (La Alegría Ya Viene), because no matter the political viewpoint, it is marvelous, beautiful and epitomizes actual Chilean people. And many people from the right-wing have it as the culprit for their defeat in 1988.
On the other hand, I think it is important to point out that the 56% of Chileans who chose the winning "NO" option must not be identified with Salvador Allende (who was elected president with a 36%), but rather with people who wanted democracy.
well i kinda got ran off my train of thought when i read gonzalo's comment and realized I was going to say the exact opposite. that video completely did not give me the idea of chilean people at all. (dancing in the street? throwing a fit when you miss the bus? busting open the windows with a big smile?) I guess maybe that was the point... showing that voting that way means you can relax and be free
then again ads here rarely seem representative of chilean people to me. i guess im a tough audience
Abby- I responded to your comment via facebook chat, but I've been in situations where it's so frustrating to sit there and listen to people deny facts, which is another reason I like to avoid the whole shebang
Gonzalo- Excellent point about the 56% voting no because if you watch more of the doctored and homemade "sí" videos, returning to communism is a huge and obvious theme
Lydia- I definitely agree with you about it not representing Chileans. That woman in the video...is she even from here? But then I think that's the point. The whole, "look what you COULD have if you vote no"
Lydia, you're right. They don't look like Chileans you can find high and low in the street, but they definitely look like Chileans, when they are happy and relaxed. I wish you got to see us in that mood more often. And showing people when they're joyful is what a marketing campaign is about, isn't it?
Isabel, the woman in the video is more Chilean than an empaná, believe me, you couldn't find her anywhere else. I could even introduce you to her.
Gonzalo, I'm referring to the woman who wipes her nose and then smiles. She looks a little like Michelle Pfeiffer and I have seen tons of empanadas and very few, if not no women who look like her here.
Isabel, I don't find that woman a lot different from, say, Javiera Acevedo, a known Chilean actress you can google and find many photos of. Women like her are most likely to frequent places like Zapallar rather than Cartagena, and definitely are not a majority. But the campaign was trying to show precisely that: that every Chilean from every social environment wanted democracy.
Pinochet y Pinera are the same,,,,nazis,,,,
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