I worked 3 blocks from the World Trade Center, and was there that day when downtown workers in NYC got terrified we were next when the towers roared and crumbled as we waited in lobbies to be told we could go home. I was one of thousands trekking uptown through the ash and grit. The effect on myself, my co-workers, was traumatic. Even more so for the people who suffered respiratory illness from the months of burning debris. Even the EMTs who worked at that time in that area had trouble getting money for their illnesses, even though many have died from the damage to their lungs when they went to help clear out the bodies and debris.
But there's another 9/11 that doesn't get talked about on this day. And that's September 11, 1973 when the CIA assassinated the democratically elected Salvador Allende and replaced him with the brutal dictator Pinochet. So many cries of "Never Forget" that we hear on the anniversary of the 2001 9/11 event, but our media has done its best to let us forget this other 9/11.
US Uncut
On September 11th 1973, US-backed General Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected leader of Chile, Salvadore Allende. Pinochet ordered an air strike on the Presidential Palace, labor activists and famous folk guitarists were rounded up for torture, disappeared, and killed. Pinochet converted the national football stadium into a detention facility like Guantanamo Bay. Chile's economy was turned into a plantation for the 1%, as inequality and poverty skyrocketed under the imposed Milton Friedman-style economic model.
The last radio broadcast of
Allende (11 September 1973 at 9:10 am.)
Surely, this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The Air Force has bombed the antennas of Radio Magallanes. My words do not have bitterness but disappointment … the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign! Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seeds which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have force and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested by neither crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the Constitution and the law and did just that. I address the youth, those who sang and gave us their joy and their spirit of struggle. I address the man of Chile, the worker, the farmer, the intellectual, those who will be persecuted, because in our country fascism has been already present for many hours — in terrorist attacks, blowing up the bridges, cutting the railroad tracks, destroying the oil and gas pipelines, in the face of the silence of those who had the obligation to act. They were committed. History will judge them.
Surely, Radio Magallanes will be silenced, and the calm metal instrument of my voice will no longer reach you. It does not matter. You will continue hearing it. I will always be next to you. At least my memory will be that of a man of dignity who was loyal to his country. The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in Chile and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason seeks to prevail. Keep in mind that, much sooner than later, great avenues will again be opened, through which will pass the free man, to construct a better society . Long live Chile! Long live the people! Long live the workers! These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.
"What do I belong to?
Soul or chromosome?
Boundaries and bloodshed.
Earth seems
So far from home."
--Barbara Barg