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THE WORLD

‘DEMOCRACY NOW! PINOCHET OUT? AS PROTESTS MOUNT

Sept. 11, 1983 marked the 10th anni-
Versary of the brutal military coup which
overthrew the elected government of Pres-
ident Salvador Allende and ushered in a

of repression and brutality. On
that day Allende was murdered by the
Soldiers of General Augusto Pinochet.

In the 10 years that followed 30,000 Chi-
leans have been killed, 3,500 have ‘‘disap-
Peared’’, 10,000 tortured and one million
forced into exile. The fascist regime de-
Stroyed democracy and brought on an

€conomic disaster. Chile today owes $18- .

billion in foreign debts. Unemployment
" at 30% and inflation in 1982 was
In the spring of this year mass protests
to rock the regime. Each month

Since May, days of protest have mobilized

thousands in a call for a return to dem-
Ocracy and an end to Pinochet.

On Sept. 11, 1983 Torontonians
8athered to mark the 10th year since the
Coup and to renew their determination to
Work for the restoration of Chilean demo-
racy. At that meeting an outline of the
new phase in this struggle was given by a
representative of the Office of Solidarity

th the People of Chile (Canada) of
Which portions are reprinted below.

It should be noted that at the moment .

this speech was being given, Chileans were
battling police and troops. Marches and
Street rallies took place across the country
4s the struggle escalated.

* * *

_ Today we commemorate 10 long years
Since the brutal coup d’etat which over-
threw the Popular Unity government in
Chile. The Popular Unity government
Was headed by Salvador Allende, who

along with giving his life, gave all of us a:

€sson in bravery, patriotism and revolu-
Uonary spirit ...
Allende’s epic fight on September 11,
3, when beset by the mercenary
forces unleashed by General Pinochet,

Shook the world and raised his name to

i Peak of the struggle for national
iberation of Chile. Allende died a patriot
and his memory, like that of Sandino, has

Martyred Chilean President Salvador Al-
lende. -

tional days of protest in May, June and
July have shown this clearly. The new
phase of struggle results from, the
convergence of two factors: 1) the sharp-
ening of the economic crisis to the level
of national disaster, deepened by the de-
pendency of Chile’s economy at this
moment of intermational crisis for capital-

ism; and 2) the long organizing effort to

bring opposition and struggle against the
tyranny through the popular democratic
political parties.

The demonstrations. preceding the na-
tional days of protest advanced the

struggle. The most recent day of protest, .

on August 11, was the most brutally re-
pressed, leaving 30 men, women and
children dead. This repression caused

international protest against the regime, |

which sent 18,000 troops into Santiago
alone to back up the uniformed police
and civilian white guard, which together
form the backbone of this system of
domination.

—_
‘Allende died as a patriot and his memory, like that of Sandino, has

Come the banner of a nation which soon will avenge its
Sacrifices in the only way possible — by gaining the final victory.
Se

2) The struggle is more political. The
slogans are general, and they are aimed
at the regime: Democracy now! Pinochet
out! The demands for a return to democ-
racy voiced by many unions and associa-
tions, and the co-ordination of the efforts
of protest prove this.

3) The masses are rapidly becoming
more radical. While the initial protests
were headed by the wheat growers, truc-
kers and professionals, the working class
is now at the head of the struggle. For this
reason the last mass protests have taken
on a more radical opposition to the mili-
tary dictatorship. The workers’ pre-
sence, however, has not become a true
hegemony of the proletariat, due
principally to the predominance of
liberal-bourgeois thinking at the level of
trade union leadership.

Pinochet Will Fall

The increases in the level of participa-
tion, level of politicization and radical-
ization have brought about a change in
the correlation of forces within the coun-
try. The government is on the run, trying
to play for time and take over the initia-
tive now in the hands of the people.
Thus, the Cabinet shuffle, the lifting of
the State of Emergency, the dialogues
between Jarpa and the Democratic Alli-
ance, the legalizing of the fifth Day of
Protest, and the admission of a large
number of, but not all, exiles. It is a case

~ of concession today, repression

tomorrow.

The centrist ideology of the Christian
Democrats Party is very active on all
fronts, bringing the people together from
botl, left and right for limited change to
be negotiated with the Armed Forces.
The left cannot be ignored, however, by
the government or by the Christian
Democrats.

The tyrant is soon to fall, but it is along
process. Historically we can be sure it

will happen. The so-called government —

concessions are belied by the toll of dead

_in the last day of protest, and the right has
failed in its constitution of a Multi-Party

dialogue, headed by Sergio Diez, be-
cause the right has shown that its true
intention is not to negotiate at all.

The openings offered by the junta are
not to be taken for true democratization:

ee,

become the banner of a nation which
N will avenge its sacrifices in the only
Way possible: by gaining the final vic-

Ory. Allende died for the historic cause °

of the Chilean people, as part of their

car eele for economic, social and politi-

i liberation. He believed that this
Tation would come only through
lalism ..

President Allende not only fulfilled his
Promise to die fighting for the cause, but
mn his final hours, his bravery reached
d tic proportions. Never has a presi-

€nt on this continent carried out such a
a The brute force confronting Allende

Years ago today had never met such
thetant resistance from a man of
limp whose everyday arms were
sht©d to the word and the pen. Allende
he °d More dignity, more honor, more

“toism and more bravery than all the
Py fascists put together, sinking

Ochet and his accomplices into the
‘mp eSt infamy. Fidel said of Allende:
ehtat's the way of a revolutionary,

t's the way of a man, this is the way a
fers, ughter dies, this is the way a de-

Nder of the people dies: This is the way

Struggle for socialism.”’

New Phase of Struggle
ee current situation in Chile is
terized by the role of the masses

_ 4WMited to end the dictatorship. The na-

There are fundamental differences,
however, between the protests before
and during the national days of protest,
which we would like to point out:

1) The mass character of the anti-dicta-
torial struggle. This quantitative change

_ has led to a qualitative change. Not only

members of political parties have taken

‘part in these protests. The struggle has

spread to wide sectors of the population
which until recently had been very pas-
sive, or had expressed discontent timidly
and in isolated actions. Now even un-
organized workers have joined the pro-
tests, as well as those unionized workers
who previously had been under the in-
fluence of the bourgeoisie, including
leaders of unions such as that of the cop-
per workers. The same phenomenon can
be seen among residents of the marginal
neighborhoods and students, overcom-
ing the “‘association’’, anti-union ten-
dencies so pervasive in the universities.
To the dismay of the regime, even
middle-class and non-monopoly
bourgeois sectors took part in the May 11
protest, becoming more vocal in the
three days of protest which followed,
taking part in the banging of pots and
even the street protests. The vast major-
ity of agricultural producers, truckers,
taxi and bus drivers and small business
owners have joined the protests.

ear

For the first time since being banned in
1973, the Communist Party of Chile
held a press conference inthe country.
Appropriately, it took place in the
home of world-renowned poet and
patriot Pablo Neruda who died only
days after the coup. Photo: Communist
Party leader Luis Corvalan, in 1976
upon being freed by the junta following
massive world protests.

_ Chile: united to end the dictatorship

the spaces are only for so-called ‘‘demo-
crats’’, not for Marxists. It is a way to
play for time while holding onto power.
The civilian right is like a retaining wall
against the popular movement, and the
army is behind the right. If the popular
struggle becomes too powerful, the
armed forces leap to action. Pinochet has
said, “‘if necessary, we will repeat Sep-
tember 11.”

To collaborate is to accept that in the
near future, the popular movement will
be repressed. The situation today favors
opposition. The regime cannot legitimize
internal exile, disappearances, or the
deaths of Chileans. We will only enter
into dialogue with the true democratic
sectors who oppose, the regime to form a
government which will not stand in the
way of the democratic process.

The crisis of the dictatorship has
legitimized the use of violence and a var-
iety of forms of struggle. We have dis-
proven the hypothesis of Chantilly that
governmental reforms would stabilize or
toughen the dictatorship. To the con-
trary, it is the people who have been
toughened and who will destabilize and
overturn the government.

Minimum Program: —

The democracy sought by the
bourgeoisie is not the same one the
people of Chile aspire to. The
bourgeoisie wants to put everything back
together; the people want to move to-
ward their historic objective: socialism.
We believe that any democratic-revolu-
tionary program must include at least
these points:

e dismissal of the fradulent Constitu-

tion of 1980.

e dismantling of the repressive ap-

paratus

e settling the issue of prisoners and

the disappeared

e democratic transformation of the

Armed Forces and their rehabilitation

e reorganization and democratization

of the Judicial system

e re-establishment of political free-

doms and democratic rights

e development of an emergency

economic plan

e autonomy for the universities

e nationalization of the banks and

large economic concerns

e election of a Constitutional Assem-

bly

e development of an independent

foreign policy

e return of the exiles

e freedom for political prisoners

e dissolution of agreements between

the dictatorship and the IMF

As the situation changes so rapidly in
our country, we as Chileans will be ask-
ing for more support from Canadians.
We will be calling on you to tell the
Canadian Government that Canada
should vote positively to condemn
human rights violations in Chile at the
next United Nations vote on Human
Rights in Geneva. Canada has abstained
in the past, but with public pressure, this
can change. Remember that public pres-
sure from Canadians stopped the pro-
posed prison equipment and surveillance
deal between Canadian companies and
the Chilean Armed Forces earlier this
year.

We ask you to be on the alert for
changes on the Chilean scene. We ask for
your support and your solidarity. Help
other Canadians find out what is happen-
ing, through your trade union, at your
workplace, and in your other political
work. Together we will win freedom and
democracy for Chile.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 21, 1983—Page 9

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