The Solidarity Media after the 1973 coup in Chile

• In Event: Exclusion by Silencing: When Violence is Not News

Abstract

Long before September 11, 2001, September 11 was a significant date for many Chileans, Latin Americans, North Americans, and others around the world. On that day in 1973, the government of Salvador Allende, the democratically elected socialist president of Chile, was overthrown in a U.S.-backed military coup. Even before that, people worldwide had formed Chile solidarity groups to create and disseminate alternative media products to cover the dramatic changes taking place in Chile and to counter some of the coverage of Chile in the mainstream press. The solidarity movement's media, particularly the newsletters, provided mass audiences with a non-establishment version of U.S. involvement in Chilean affairs before and during Allende's administration. And after September 11, 1973, they provided an alternative assessment of events during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte and kept his human rights violations in the public eye. The solidarity media also helped create a national network of like-minded people, kept solidarity activists informed and motivated, recruited new activists, and agitated for political and governmental change, especially in the area of U.S. foreign policy, among other things.

Author

• Victoria A Goff, University of Wisconsin