Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman are the founding fathers of neoliberal economics. When Augusto Pinochet overthrew Chile’s elected government, they helped devise his economic agenda and endorsed the brutal repression that was needed to force it through.
Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán and his team documented Chile’s Popular Unity government and the 1973 coup that destroyed it. Smuggled out of the country to be edited in exile, The Battle of Chile is an unforgettable record of an extraordinary historical moment.
Fifty years on, more details on the US role in overthrowing Salvador Allende’s socialist government are being uncovered. Among the latest revelations: Richard Nixon knew that the 1973 coup was going to happen days before it did.
US politicians used the attacks of September 11, 2001, as a pretext to launch their own campaign of terror, from Afghanistan to Iraq to dozens of “counterterrorism” operations in Africa. Though less visible now, the murderous “war on terror” continues.
After becoming Chile’s president, Salvador Allende discussed his background and political outlook with the French writer Régis Debray. In this excerpt from their conversations, he also spoke about the danger of a violent right-wing counterrevolution in Chile.
Chile’s socialist leader Salvador Allende became an icon of resistance to oligarchic tyranny after the right-wing coup that began 50 years ago today. His ideas and his sacrifice remain a powerful example for anyone seeking to build a movement for change.
For years, the history of Chile’s Popular Unity government under Salvador Allende has only been accessible through written records and photographs. Thanks to new research, the vibrant and politically engaged music it helped produce is playing online until tomorrow.
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the brutal coup that overthrew Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. North American support for the coup wasn’t limited to US policymakers — the Canadian government was also complicit.
Across the political spectrum, Americans whitewash the working class and exclude labor struggle from black history. Blair LM Kelley’s Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class is a necessary corrective — and provides lessons for struggle today.
Before Chile’s coup, Salvador Allende’s government was engaged in plans to reform the environmentally destructive copper industry. Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship put a stop to them, crushing organized labor in the process.
Fifty years after Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship came to power, Chile’s government has now admitted guilt for “disappearing” over 2,000 people. Yet many on the Chilean right still defend Pinochet — disturbing evidence of the dictator’s lingering legacy.
Canada’s housing crisis is off the charts, and half the country lives paycheck to paycheck. In a classic show of disconnect, some Trudeau Liberals think the party’s greatest problem is that people don’t understand how fabulous a job they’re actually doing.
For decades, France has kept control over its old African colonies by backing pliant local strongmen. Recent coups in Niger and Gabon against governments accused of alignment to Paris show that France’s informal empire is breaking apart.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke with Jacobin following her recent trip to Latin America and on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the coup in Chile. She discussed the crimes of US intervention and the struggles for justice and democracy across the Americas.
The European Union’s supporters often call it an antidote to nationalism — yet today the bloc is hardening its borders against the outside world. With citizens unable to change its basic economic orientation, the EU is ever more obsessed by identity.
Amazon forces its warehouse employees to work at breakneck paces in unsafe conditions — and then tries to keep them from getting medical care when they’re injured. In response, Amazon workers across the US are organizing for health and safety improvements.
Pundits and liberal strategists alike keep scratching their heads as to why Joe Biden’s economic approval ratings are so low. But the sweeping rollback of pandemic-era social programs is a glaringly obvious culprit.
Recent footage from around the world showcases how the harrowing effects of climate change are pushing more people to migrate. But international law, stuck with Cold War–era persecution-based criteria, remains incapable of offering protection to climate refugees.
Joe Biden is shouldering historically low poll numbers heading into his reelection campaign. The good news is that he has a readymade platform in the form of the defunct Build Back Better bill. The bad news? He’ll have to be forced to run on it.
The US’s air traffic control workforce is overstretched, which has led to a big rise in airplane “near misses.” The crisis has roots in Ronald Reagan’s crushing of the 1981 PATCO strike and in the neoliberal attack on public services he helped spearhead.