Forum honors Salvador Allende

On Sept. 11, 1973, a bloody Nixon-Kissinger-CIA-orchestrated coup in Chile toppled President Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government. On this day, Allende diedin the Governmental Palace (La Moneda), heroically resisting the military attacks carried out by Chilean ground and air troops.Following the massacre of tens of thousands of revolutionaries and workers, the U.S. puppet and fascistic Gen. Augusto Pinochet was ushered into power for the next three decades. The Allende government’s defeat not only set back the Chilean workers and peasants but the anti-imperialist struggle throughout Latin America.

Left to right: Nieves Ayress, G1, Rodstarz, Miya, Victor Toro and Teresa Gutierrez.

Speakers at a June 28 forum in New York City reiterated the fact that out of the ashes of a tragic development arise new opportunities for struggle and ultimate victory for the workers and oppressed. This event was a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of President Allende’s birth and his living legacy today, and included a two-hour documentary film showing the events leading up to the overthrow of the Allende government.

Endorsers of this program, held at the Solidarity Center, included La Peña Movement of the Bronx, the Miguel Enriquez Collective, Bolivarian Circle Alberto Lovera-NY and the International Action Center.

Chilean activist Nieves Ayres from La Peña co-chaired the meeting, attended mainly by community and political activists from Latin America. Ayres is a former political prisoner, one of thousands of activists tortured when Pinochet came to power. She had been a member of Allende’s defense squads. The poet Miya, an organizer of Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST) and Women’s Fightback Network in Boston, also co-chaired and read one of her moving poems.

Victor Toro Ramirez, one of the survivors and founders of the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR)—which helped lead the resistance against the coup—spoke passionately about labor and student struggles in Chile today. Toro currently faces deportation by the U.S. government to Chile, now governed by its first woman president, Michelle Bachelet.

Teresa Gutierrez, a co-director of the IAC, gave a solidarity message. G1 and Rodstarz, two of the three members of Rebel-Diaz—a popular hip-hop group based in the Bronx—had the audience on their feet and clapping with their revolutionary selections. These two young artists were physically attacked and arrested this past June 18 by the New York police when they came to the defense of an immigrant street vendor who was being harassed by the same police.

Police raided G1’s apartment on June 24 with no warrant. The Latino artists will hold a press conference on July 8 in the Bronx to denounce the bogus misdemeanor charges of assault and obstruction of justice against them. Go to www.rebeldiaz.com to find out more about this case.

—Report & photo by Monica Moorehead