Death of Democracy

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Jay Tee
Had A Life Before GSB
Jay Tee
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 26777

Mibba Blog
September 11th, 2009 at 01:26pm
September 11th 2001 is a date which will live with all who were there to see it.

But the true death of democracy shares the same date with the terrorist attacks, 28 years earlier. On 11th September 1973, the democractically elected leader of Chile, Salvador Allende, was overthrown in a military coup by General Pinochet. The main significance of this event was the fact that Allende was a Marxist.

His election, the first time a Marxist was democratically voted into power, was a huge blow to the West who remained trapped in a Cold War which had no obvious ending. The coup was in retaliation to a poor economy and the results of the coup were catastrophic to Chile, as Pinochet began to purge the country politically and kill all those who opposed him. The really shocking fact is that President Richard Nixon ordered the CIA to intervene in Chile and stop Allende from becoming too powerful. It was the USA who were bringing the economy down through covert measures and it was the CIA who were encouraging Pinochet to take action. By displacing the true leader of the country simply because of his beliefs and replacing him with a twisted dictator, the USA felt that good was being done in the world. The opposite effect was achieved.

September 11th truly was the day that democracy died.

Various questions arise from the '73 case in Chile. Why are the major powers of this world so fearful of socialism? Something that works so well in theory and could be put into practice in the right conditions shouldn't be oppressed but encouraged to work.

Why should the democratic nations of the world see fit to go against their own ideas of democracy, just for the sake of undermining left-wing politics?
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