Chile 1973-2023: Between the Pinochet Machine & Thousands of Imagined Nations: Articles

Abstract: Neoliberalism was first implemented in Chile under the civilian-military dictatorship (dictadura cívico-militar) of 1973–1990. It became official state policy in 1975. Since the end of the dictatorship in 1990, civilian governments have continued to administer the neoliberal system inherited from the dictatorship, with targeted reforms. In the early 21st century, public protest and criticism of what is popularly referred to as el modelo (the model) became increasingly widespread amidst disenchantment with its shortcomings and discontent with socioeconomic inequality.

An array of documentary photographic practices that emerged during the dictatorship in Chile (1973–1990) remain understudied, despite their political, aesthetical, and historical import. From the mid-1970s onward, these different practices served different purposes: some made visible the crime of disappearance and its disavowal by the repressive state; others stood as supplementary evidence that confirmed the legal existence of the detained-disappeared; some were a crucial force in denouncing state repression and demanding justice for victims; and some made it possible for independent media to simultaneously comply with and ridicule the censorship of images imposed by the dictatorship in 1984.

Abstract: Salvador Allende Gossens (1908–1973), democratically elected President of Chile in 1970, pledged to move Chile to socialism within a constitutional framework. A medical doctor by training, and a long-time member of the Socialist Party, Allende won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1937 and the Senate in 1945. He campaigned for the presidency four times (1952, 1958, 1964, and 1970), always at the head of a coalition of left-wing parties. He was deeply committed to improving the condition of the country’s poor, workers, peasants, and women, insuring Chilean ownership of its natural resources, strengthening state ownership of the economy, and deepening popular democracy and worker control of industry. His program was undermined by the conservative opposition, conflicts within his own governing coalition, spontaneous revolutionary activism, and the unrelenting antagonism of the Nixon Administration. He died in a military coup on September 11, 1973, which initiated a 17-year long military dictatorship.