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Sep 11, 1973-1989

Chile

Anti-Pinochet Singing in Chile

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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP

“Los de Chacabuco” led by Ángel Parra, hundreds of individual resistant singers in concentration camps all throughout Chile

TARGET

Augusto Pinochet

WIDELY HELD BELIEF

The dictatorial govt. should be removed and democracy should be restored.

CASE NARRATIVE

Issue and Opposition: Augusto Pinochet headed Chile’s junta from 1974 to 1990 and was responsible for ending Chile’s socialist government under Salvador Allende. Interestingly, it was President Allende who appointed Pinochet as the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean army approximately a fortnight before Pinochet overthrew the socialist government in a daring military coup. Right after gaining power, Pinochet and the state machinery under his command began squashing the communists and liberals in Chile. From 1974 to 1977, an estimated 130,000 Chilean protesters and dissenters were arrested, tortured, and killed. To further secure his position in the newly formed government, Pinochet transformed his position from that of the head of the military government’s governing council to that of the president of Chile. He restricted the power of the rest of the junta to advising the president. Although some of the measures and policies that Pinochet introduced during his presidency served Chile well economically by cutting down inflation, his oppressive ways of dealing with anyone who opposed him led to campaigns demanding his resignation. The dilemma action described here was a unique, non-violent way to protest against the suppression of his political opposition and dissenters. Dilemma Action: The protestors assembled and began singing “He’s going to fall, he’s going to fall.” Some of the singers started dancing as well. While the general atmosphere that this music and dance stirred was that of fun and celebration, the taunting underneath did not escape Pinochet. Singing was just one of the tactics used by the nonviolent anti-Pinochet movement to embolden people to join their movement. Outcome: The protesters were ultimately successful to gather support fur the second plebiscite. The 1988 Chilean national plebiscite was a national referendum held on 5 October 1988 to determine whether Pinochet should extend his rule for another eight years through 1996. More than half the population voted against the proposition on another extension of his rule, thus finally putting an end to the dictator’s fifteen and a half years of rule over Chile.

PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL

Human rights
Pro-Democracy

DA TACTICS USED

Singing

CASE NARRATIVE WRITER

SUCCESS METRICS

7 / 12

(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements

(MC) Media Coverage

(OR) Opponent response

(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public

(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent

(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists

Artivism

PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN

3 / 3

Activist group continued working together after the action

Encouraged more participants to join the movement

Internally replicated by the same movement

RESOURCES

Project documentation

Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook

Case study documentation

Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset

CC BY 4.0 Deed, Attribution 4.0 International

SOURCES

https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/chile-struggle-military-dictator09850988/. Accessed April 15, 2022.

Bernath-Plaistad, Shandra & Rennebohm, Max. 2008. “Chileans overthrow Pinochet regime, 1983-1988,” Global Nonviolent Action Database. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/chileans-overthrow-pinochet-regime-1983-1988).


Chornik, Katia. 2013.”Defiant Notes: The choir founded in Chile’s detention camps,” BBC, September 11. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-24014509).

Robinson, Eugene. 1988. “Letter from Chile,” The Washington Post. September 18. Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/09/18/letter-from-chile/15487d41-bfe8-4317-b85f-88120a6eacf8/).

Cantos Cautivos Team. 2013. “About the Project,” Retrieved July 20, 2023. (https://www.cantoscautivos.org/en/about.php).

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