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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/chile-protests-army-israel-palestine-santiago-pinera-pinochet-mapuche-a9167021.html?fbclid=IwAR34i9Bkumpn3RXhW0t4mdk6eFHSk8jI8oefbzGvNRhN6ctyrNpD2X4743c">https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/chile-protests-army-israel-palestine-santiago-pinera-pinochet-mapuche-a9167021.html?fbclid=IwAR34i9Bkumpn3RXhW0t4mdk6eFHSk8jI8oefbzGvNRhN6ctyrNpD2X4743c</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">You've heard about the violence in
Chile. You probably haven't heard their military learns its
tactics in Israel</h1>
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/author/benjamin-zinevich"
title="Benjamin Zinevich">Benjamin Zinevich</a><span
class="location">- October 22, 2019</span></div>
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<p><span>What started as a student act of civil
disobedience against Santiago’s rising metro fares has
now expanded outside the Chilean capital. In a sudden
uprising against austerity and persistent economic
inequality, a proposed fare increase (the equivalent
of €0.02) was simply salt on an open wound for the
poor and working-class citizens of Chile. Peaceful
protests, when forcibly dispersed by the national
police, have turned violent. The government, led by
conservative billionaire President Sebastián Piñera,
responded by declaring a state of emergency and
calling in the military to quell protests, declaring
that the state was “at war”.</span></p>
<p><span>While the military enforces brutality towards
civilians not seen since the dictatorship that ended
in the early 1990s, it is important to highlight the
international connections to such brutality. The state
of Israel’s tactical and resource-based military
support in the past and present for Chile should be
noted in particular.</span></p>
<p><span>During Augusto Pinochet’s US-supported regime,
Chile witnessed<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_violations_in_Pinochet%2527s_Chile"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_violations_in_Pinochet%2527s_Chile"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>tens of thousands</span></a>
of political adversaries imprisoned, killed, or
disappeared. During these years, Israel and Chile had
a collaborative relationship, as Israel was one of<a
href="https://972mag.com/investigate-israeli-complicity-with-pinochets-crimes/125566/https://972mag.com/investigate-israeli-complicity-with-pinochets-crimes/125566/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://972mag.com/investigate-israeli-complicity-with-pinochets-crimes/125566/https://972mag.com/investigate-israeli-complicity-with-pinochets-crimes/125566/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"><span> the main suppliers</span></a>
of arms to the military junta.</span></p>
<p><span>The dark era of Pinochet’s rule has some notable
connections to the present. President Piñera, having
appointed individuals to his cabinet who<a
href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=5795&id=201309&p=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/23/chile-president-elect-sebastian-pinera-andres-chadwick&clickref=xid:fr1571842384373ebe"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/23/chile-president-elect-sebastian-pinera-andres-chadwick"
data-vars-event-id="c6"
data-orig-url="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=5795&id=201309&p=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/23/chile-president-elect-sebastian-pinera-andres-chadwick"
data-ml-id="0" data-ml="true"
data-xid="fr1571842384373ebe"> <span>made comments</span></a>
defending Pinochet, has also worked to refine
so-called “anti-terror” laws from the junta era. These
laws have in turn increased surveillance and
oppression of Mapuche and left-wing groups.</span></p>
<p><span>Today, the armed forces of both Chile and Israel
make no attempts to hide their alliances, citing on
the Chilean Embassy to Israel’s<a
href="http://chile.gob.cl/israel/en/sobre-la-embajada/agregadurias/agregadurias-militares/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-http://chile.gob.cl/israel/en/sobre-la-embajada/agregadurias/agregadurias-militares/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>website</span></a>
the aims of “increasing the bonds with...Israel, in
order to make knowledge, training and experiences
exchange possible.” Chile and Israel<a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180403-israel-and-chile-are-partners-in-the-oppression-of-their-indigenous-populations/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180403-israel-and-chile-are-partners-in-the-oppression-of-their-indigenous-populations/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>signed an agreement</span></a>
in 2018 which spoke of encouraging further
"cooperation in military education, training and
doctrine" during Israeli General Yaacov Barak’s visit
to Chile that year.</span></p>
<p><span>While this alliance is known to benefit the
military power of both countries, those who are
affected<a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180403-israel-and-chile-are-partners-in-the-oppression-of-their-indigenous-populations/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180403-israel-and-chile-are-partners-in-the-oppression-of-their-indigenous-populations/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>the most negatively</span></a>
are the working class and Indigenous people of both
regions. In Israel, Palestinians suffer under a system
of occupation and apartheid, and in Chile, the working
class and Indigenous groups, such as the Mapuche, have
experiences centuries of colonial-based oppression.</span></p>
<p><span>In recent years, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF)
has seemingly used a tactic of maiming Palestinian
protesters rather than lethally shooting them. For
more than a year now, Palestinian civilians have
marched towards the Gaza wall in protest of Israeli
occupation, and the<a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-gaza-protests-idf-troops-aim-for-the-legs/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-gaza-protests-idf-troops-aim-for-the-legs/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>IDF has shot</span></a>
nearly 60 per cent of these 10,511 civilians in the
lower limbs, with more than 90 per cent of casualties
coming from live ammunition. </span></p>
<p><span>During the past week, these Israeli tactics have
been used on Chilean civilians on multiple reported
occasions. One woman has been<a
href="https://www.eldesconcierto.cl/2019/10/18/video-muestra-a-joven-herida-durante-protestas-de-este-viernes-en-estacion-central/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.eldesconcierto.cl/2019/10/18/video-muestra-a-joven-herida-durante-protestas-de-este-viernes-en-estacion-central/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>shot in the thigh</span></a>
and was reported in critical condition due to
excessive bleeding. In another, a 23-year-old man<a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chile-military-says-nothing-to-hide-amid-allegations-of-rights-violations-in-riots-idUSKBN1X11MP"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chile-military-says-nothing-to-hide-amid-allegations-of-rights-violations-in-riots-idUSKBN1X11MP"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>was shot in the leg</span></a>
before a military vehicle crushed him to death.</span></p>
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<p><span>These similar tactics are no coincidence, and are
internationally a part of what activist groups such as
Jewish Voice for Peace have named<a
href="https://deadlyexchange.org/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://deadlyexchange.org/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"> <span>“the deadly
exchange”</span></a>. In the United States,
municipal police, ICE agents, and other security
agents routinely train alongside the IDF, sharing
tactics and weaponry that can encourage racial
profiling, extrajudicial killings, and increased
surveillance on both countries’ most marginalized
groups.</span></p>
<p><span>Emilio Dabed, a Palestinian-Chilean lawyer, has
laid out the connections before, <a
href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/despite-state-policy-chile-well-placed-to-further-struggle-for-palestine/235499/"
data-vars-item-name="BL-9167021-https://www.mintpressnews.com/despite-state-policy-chile-well-placed-to-further-struggle-for-palestine/235499/"
data-vars-event-id="c6"><span>writing</span></a>:
“In both cases, Palestinians and the Indigenous
population in Chile live in a state of exception
imposed on them by the colonizers, and under which the
colonized people are [seen as] neither citizen-holders
of rights nor political subjects but rather a threat —
bodies [to be] ruled by violence that is normalized in
law.”</span></p>
<p><span>The Israeli arms which forcibly kept Pinochet in
power were used disproportionately on the Mapuche, who
had supported left-wing efforts such as the election
of socialist Salvador Allende in 1970. Today many
Indigenous people are taking part in the
demonstrations, and have become many of the casualties
at the hands of the military.</span></p>
<p><span>Outside of Chile and Israel, it’s important that
we call out military partnerships that perpetuate the
oppression of marginalized indigenous people. Such
ties between the IDF and other countries’ armed forces
should be investigated and questioned. Further
militarization of communities does not produce peace,
but further brutality and injustice — and it’s time we
talked about why we’re ignoring that fact.</span></p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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