Salvador Allende, born on this day in 1908, was a Chilean physician and politician who became the first Marxist leader to be elected president in a Latin American liberal democracy. He was ousted by CIA-assisted fascists in 1973.

Allende, whose political career spanned nearly four decades, achieved the presidency as the candidate of the Popular Unity coalition, serving from 1970 to 1973.

As president, Allende sought to nationalize major industries, expand education and improve the living standards of the working class. His administration gave educational grants to indigenous children, implemented literacy programs in impoverished areas, and established a minimum wage for workers of all ages.

On September 11th, 1973, the military ousted Allende in a coup d'état assisted by Henry Kissinger and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

As troops surrounded La Moneda Palace, Allende gave his final speech to the public, vowing not to resign. Later that day, Allende died of a gunshot wound, concluded to be a suicide by an investigation conducted by a Chilean court with the assistance of international experts in 2011.

"Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seed which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Chileans will not be shriveled forever. They have strength and will be able to dominate us, but social processes can be arrested neither by crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history."

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  • Tapirs10 [undecided,she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Yeah, for all the reddit atheists did wrong, they did have the right take on what christians want

    • CyberMao [it/its]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Leftist Sam Harris: “When these people say that they believe their texts are the divine word of God, and that they want to establish a government formed in that image, we ought to take their word for it.”

      Edit: gonna unironically say #NotAllChristians here. Leftist Christians are woefully underrepresented in formal institutions, but there are plenty out there, especially on this site. And Sam Harris is a ghoul and I don’t wanna do the shit he does where he takes the views of right wing terrorists and extrapolates them to the broader population.

        • CyberMao [it/its]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Yeah “Leftist Sam Harris” should sound as absurd as “Leftist Mitch McConnell”

        • CyberMao [it/its]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Those who’ve stuck with organized religion despite issues always seem to end up being the types who are “totally huge queers/allies” but then are anti-abortion, transphobic, etc. or “totally left wing” but just promoting small business owners

          Yeah I know the type. This is my experience as well. But also I live in the US and it’s my understanding that there are Quaker communes in the country which practice liberation theology or some similar schools of thought. And that’s to say nothing or Christians all around the world. There’s just too many to make a big generalization