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Today isn't only the anniversary of the terrorists attacks against the twin towers.
Local Chileans remember their own Sept. 11 tragedy
Mark day democracy overthrown by Pinochet in 1973
Pair plans celebration to recall better times under Allende
Sep. 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
Alex Ciudad's memories of Sept. 11 have less to do with the collapse of New York's twin towers, or even his own birth on that date 44 years ago, than with the day democracy died in his beloved Chile.
"Sept. 11 brings many different things to different people, and for many Chileans, our Sept. 11 happened in 1973," says the Toronto resident, who came here from Santiago via Venezuela in 1990.
On that day, Gen. Augusto Pinochet deposed the democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende in a violent overthrow, opening an era of dictatorship in which opponents were routinely jailed, tortured and executed. At least 3,000 people are known to have been killed, and 27,000 were incarcerated or disappeared under the regime between 1973 and 1990.
While those horrible years are something many Chileans try to put behind them, Ciudad feels it's important to bring his own piece of history to the multicultural fabric of his adopted home.
But instead of a sad commemoration, he and others plan a celebration tonight to remember far better times: the 1,000 miraculous days of democracy under Allende.
Chilean Canadians will host a potluck party at the Concord Café, near Bloor St. and Ossington Ave., with the support of artists, poets and musicians from other Latin American communities who have experienced their share of political turmoil in their homelands.
"Salvador Allende's government offered a range of social programs, offering free education, milk and access to university, to children of peasants and those working in factories. He believed education could improve poor people's lives," says Ciudad, a former chemist who now works in a cabinet-making factory in Toronto.
"We want to restore his dignity. For me, he symbolizes what democracy is all about. It's important that we learn to share our history so it doesn't repeat in Canada or anywhere else."
An unlikely supporter is Helmut Sabando, whose father, a marine sergeant, served for a decade under the Pinochet junta, up until his unexplained death in 1982.
Sabando, 44, who came to Canada with his family from Valparaiso in 1998, feels shame about his family history and says he rarely discusses it, even with his 15-year-old son, Dayan.
"What Allende accomplished in a thousand days had not or would not have been done in Chile in a hundred years," says Sabando, a musician who will play "He (Allende) Was the Light," a song he wrote and dedicated for this evening.
"I can still feel it in my blood that my father was partially responsible for what the dictatorship did to the people," he adds. "I was glad with my father's death, in a way, because he was finally freed from (doing) more wrongs for the dictatorship."
Pinochet was indicted by Spain, arrested and released by the British government and eventually prosecuted by Chile.
"Yes, our Sept. 11 happened a long time ago, at a far distance from us in Canada, but stories of humanity are the same everywhere," says Sabando.
Local Chileans remember their own Sept. 11 tragedy
Mark day democracy overthrown by Pinochet in 1973
Pair plans celebration to recall better times under Allende
Sep. 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
Alex Ciudad's memories of Sept. 11 have less to do with the collapse of New York's twin towers, or even his own birth on that date 44 years ago, than with the day democracy died in his beloved Chile.
"Sept. 11 brings many different things to different people, and for many Chileans, our Sept. 11 happened in 1973," says the Toronto resident, who came here from Santiago via Venezuela in 1990.
On that day, Gen. Augusto Pinochet deposed the democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende in a violent overthrow, opening an era of dictatorship in which opponents were routinely jailed, tortured and executed. At least 3,000 people are known to have been killed, and 27,000 were incarcerated or disappeared under the regime between 1973 and 1990.
While those horrible years are something many Chileans try to put behind them, Ciudad feels it's important to bring his own piece of history to the multicultural fabric of his adopted home.
But instead of a sad commemoration, he and others plan a celebration tonight to remember far better times: the 1,000 miraculous days of democracy under Allende.
Chilean Canadians will host a potluck party at the Concord Café, near Bloor St. and Ossington Ave., with the support of artists, poets and musicians from other Latin American communities who have experienced their share of political turmoil in their homelands.
"Salvador Allende's government offered a range of social programs, offering free education, milk and access to university, to children of peasants and those working in factories. He believed education could improve poor people's lives," says Ciudad, a former chemist who now works in a cabinet-making factory in Toronto.
"We want to restore his dignity. For me, he symbolizes what democracy is all about. It's important that we learn to share our history so it doesn't repeat in Canada or anywhere else."
An unlikely supporter is Helmut Sabando, whose father, a marine sergeant, served for a decade under the Pinochet junta, up until his unexplained death in 1982.
Sabando, 44, who came to Canada with his family from Valparaiso in 1998, feels shame about his family history and says he rarely discusses it, even with his 15-year-old son, Dayan.
"What Allende accomplished in a thousand days had not or would not have been done in Chile in a hundred years," says Sabando, a musician who will play "He (Allende) Was the Light," a song he wrote and dedicated for this evening.
"I can still feel it in my blood that my father was partially responsible for what the dictatorship did to the people," he adds. "I was glad with my father's death, in a way, because he was finally freed from (doing) more wrongs for the dictatorship."
Pinochet was indicted by Spain, arrested and released by the British government and eventually prosecuted by Chile.
"Yes, our Sept. 11 happened a long time ago, at a far distance from us in Canada, but stories of humanity are the same everywhere," says Sabando.
