Chile Forum

admin wrote:Yea, publishing books that are pro-dictatorship after the dictatorship has generally been forbidden, I believe mostly out of political correctness. ... Apologies for the dictatorship are not a way to get a book published.

Pinochet "dictatorship" textbook row erupts in Chile

A political row has broken out in Chile after it emerged that the centre-right government is changing the way school textbooks refer to the military rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet.

From now on, it will be described as a "regime", and not a "dictatorship".

Left-wing opposition parties have accused officials of trying to whitewash history.

The government says the decision to use what it calls a more general term is not politically motivated.

More than 3,000 Chileans disappeared or were killed by the armed forces during Gen Pinochet's rule, which ended in 1990.

Many thousands more were tortured or illegally detained, and the legacy of the period is still bitterly disputed.
Outrage

The decision to change the way primary school textbooks refer to military rule, dropping the word "dictatorship" was taken by the National Education Council.

Education Minister Harald Beyer - who was appointed last week - defended the decision, but said the government had not been directly involved.

"It is about using the same expression that is used around the world, a more general term such as military regime," he said.

Mr Beyer added that he personally "had no problem" in recognising that Gen Pinochet led a "dictatorial government".

The change to the school curriculum has provoked outrage among left-wing opposition parties.

Senator Isabel Allende - whose father President Salvador Allende was overthrown and died in the 1973 coup led by Gen Pinochet - said it was "unacceptable".

"it goes against all common sense, because the whole world knows that for 17 years what we had in Chile was a ferocious dictatorship with the most serious violations of human rights," she said.

"History cannot be changed by a decree or a law," said former President Eduardo Frei, who led Chile from 1994-2000.

"There is only one history and it is clear: it was a dictatorship, full stop"

President Sebastian Pinera is Chile's first conservative leader since the return to democracy.

His majority in parliament depends in part on the right-wing Independent Democratic Union, which supported Gen Pinochet.

The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet, Basic Books, 2008.
Newsweek said about The Dictator's Shadow: Heraldo Muñoz has written "an insightful and poignant new personal memoir of the Pinochet years." The Washington Post stated: Muñoz has produced "a meticulous and vivid new book...Muñoz delivers a compelling, personal account of life in a police state and a strong reminder of how far Chile has come." The Washington Post listed The Dictator's Shadow among the best books of 2008.

Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela (born July 22, 1948) is a Chilean politician and diplomat, the former Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations, and currently Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator, and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme.

greg~judy wrote:

admin wrote:Yea, publishing books that are pro-dictatorship after the dictatorship has generally been forbidden, I believe mostly out of political correctness. ... Apologies for the dictatorship are not a way to get a book published.

well, we had to go back a couple years...
to find this (appropriate) thread to place this recent "history book" story...
think this will ruffle many feathers?

Pinochet "dictatorship" textbook row erupts in Chile

A political row has broken out in Chile after it emerged that the centre-right government is changing the way school textbooks refer to the military rule of Gen Augusto Pinochet.

From now on, it will be described as a "regime", and not a "dictatorship".

Left-wing opposition parties have accused officials of trying to whitewash history.

The government says the decision to use what it calls a more general term is not politically motivated.

The decision to change the way primary school textbooks refer to military rule, dropping the word "dictatorship" was taken by the National Education Council.

Education Minister Harald Beyer - who was appointed last week - defended the decision, but said the government had not been directly involved.

"It is about using the same expression that is used around the world, a more general term such as military regime," he said.

Mr Beyer added that he personally "had no problem" in recognising that Gen Pinochet led a "dictatorial government".

The change to the school curriculum has provoked outrage among left-wing opposition parties.

Senator Isabel Allende - whose father President Salvador Allende was overthrown and died in the 1973 coup led by Gen Pinochet - said it was "unacceptable".

"it goes against all common sense, because the whole world knows that for 17 years what we had in Chile was a ferocious dictatorship with the most serious violations of human rights," she said.

"History cannot be changed by a decree or a law," said former President Eduardo Frei, who led Chile from 1994-2000.

"There is only one history and it is clear: it was a dictatorship, full stop"

Yesterday, the country's news and conversations were filled with people upset over the possibility that Piñera's government would seek to cleanse history classes of the term "dictatorship."

News website El Mostrador collected quotes from people across the political spectrum.

"Dictatorships are dictatorships anywhere in the world, and history should recognize them with the word that fits," Karla Rubilar, a legislator from Piñera's own Renovacion Nacional party, said, according to the newspaper. "It is fundamental for countries to have memory. Only if we can learn from the facts can they not be repeated. This country had a dictatorship that lasted 17 years."

Hugo Gutierrez represents the Communist Party in congress. His party was banned under Pinochet's government and has struggled since to recover members. He said that along with changing the word "dictatorship," there have been efforts to change the term "violations" of human rights to the more neutral "excesses," El Mostrador reported.

Revulsion against the human rights record of the dictatorship remains widespread. A poll released yesterday by the Center for Study of Contemporary Reality found that only 12 percent of the public agreed that "the deaths during the military regime were a necessary evil to impede Communism."

The education panel will revisit the terminology if the Education ministry requests it, the panel said late yesterday in a statement.

"Regarding the new learning objectives in the civics focus, it is important to review the possible lack of coherence between these objectives and the social and historical content of the proposal," the panel said. The goal is to provide "a comprehensive understanding of the historical process alluded to in this controversy," it said.

Chile: ‘Dictatorship’ Stays in Books

Chile is backing off a plan to remove the word “dictatorship” from school textbooks in reference to the government of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. President Sebastián Piñera’s new education minister, Harald Beyer, started a political uproar when he discussed the plan on Wednesday, which was publicized in a local newspaper. He suggested that grade-school students be taught a more “general” term by calling the 1973-90 rule of General Pinochet a “military regime.” The Socialist Party leader, Osvaldo Andrade, said: “It has the ears of a cat, the body of a cat, meows like a cat and some people want to call it a dog.” Publishers will remain free to decide what words to use, and schools free to choose which books to buy, Mr. Beyer said.