Mariella Gattini

The January 6th, 2021 Hearings are giving us much to think about how Trump and his troupe of disingenuous lawyers, aides, legislators, supporters, and followers tried to steal the 2020 election by obstructing the transfer of power to Joe Biden and his legitimate win. This obstruction attempt is the quintessential definition of a coup d’état, definition I covered in my essay titled January 6th, 2021 published here on my blog on January 12th of that year. I would like to extend this idea to remind the ones not familiar with the Chilean coup of September 11th, 1973, that it had been the second attempt that year. The first attempt had taken place a few months prior, in June to be exact. Although it was unsuccessful, it provided key information to the intelligence officers involved in that coup about the type of weapons used against them, key locations, and about the pro-government workers called by President Allende to defend the government.

Unfortunately, that hadn’t been the only previous attempt, three years before, on October 22nd, 1970, General René Schneider, Army Commander-in-Chief, was attacked, dying three days later. He had been targeted for his defense of Chile’s constitutional transfer of power. He defined what later would be known as “The Schneider Doctrine”, this non-intervention policy was an obstacle for Nixon and his decision of orchestrating a coup in Chile to prevent the Socialist President-Elect Salvador Allende from taking on his duties as president, plan supported by Kissinger. Sounds familiar?

This little piece of world history can illustrate how republicans operate and want to take over as the only entity of political power in the country. These irrational minds are still out there and at work looking for ways to legalize their political tactics to win elections. For example, republicans in North Carolina are using the independent legislature clause to state that only the legislature has the power and right to define how elections are run, and since the majority in the government of North Carolina legislative branch is republican, they want to dissect the electoral map to their convenience. In other words, they want to make gerrymandering legal. What does it mean? It means that if gerrymandering is made legal and widespread around the country with electoral maps drawn by republicans, a democrat candidate will have little to no chance to win an election ever. So, what is a one-party government called? A dictatorship.

Look, I want to talk about this as much as you do, which means I don’t. I would like to think that the problem was solved with the transfer of power to Joe Biden, the legitimate elected president. Unfortunately, the crazies are still out there, and they are thirsty for power, with an insatiable thirst. Crazies that Putin would be glad to support, as he suggested on Russian television when he said he would be happy to re-instate Trump, because Biden has been a nuisance in his desire for taking over the world.

The way I found to deal with this class of incongruences is to analyze them together with reasonable people, who use their own heads to define what is right and what is wrong all the time, and I hope you are one of them.

The only way that this will happen, the disappearance of the last vestiges of democracy, is by opting out, by thinking that there is nothing we can do about it. That’s wrong, because there is so much we can do, and violence is not necessary, all we need is to think and pay attention to what is going on around us. These irrational minds operate freely when nobody is looking whether because they are busy surviving or because they already decided to give up. All I’m saying is: Do not give up, because it’s much worse to recover from a war than it is to prevent it.

It’s true that Chile is a small country compared to the United States, and that its last coup took place in 1973, almost fifty years ago, but it’s for that very same reason that we need to be aware of it, because something that happened in a small country in South America in the early 70’s is happening here now, how can that be justified by the ones proud of the American exceptionalism, if what is happening right now, happened in Chile almost fifty years ago? Even Chileans have moved on. Why can’t Americans?

According to Charles Fried, law professor at Harvard Law School, this “independent legislature clause” case in North Carolina is going to yield a slow motion coup d’état. According to him, this is only one of the attempts by the Republican Party to repeal the 20th century, in his words, “this is not conservative, this is reactionary.”, as he stated in the show The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.

I was witness of much hardship, sadness, and desperation in my early days, and now I’m witnessing the same here. If only you could see what I see in this country, you would realize about all the new opportunities available, and how much power people are still holding in their minds. It is as simple as paying attention and doing whatever is at hand to hold on to our mutual ideas of integration and sincere respect for each other. This mental power is much more than it can be perceived, it can lead us toward a different way to live, where there is no need for the pettiness of a life strangled by the few.

The failed coup, that took place on January 6th, 2021, could be a rehearsal for what it could be coming our way, just as the failed coups, of 1970 and of June of 1973, in Chile. The fact that Trump and the extreme right failed this time doesn’t mean they are not going to try and make their lies prevail next time. We should not take our American tradition of questioning authority for granted, we should honor it and held everyone in politics accountable for their actions. At the same time, we need to let go of the past and open up to a new and humane way to relate to the world, because everything is on the balance, and trying to keep what has never worked will not only yield absolutely nothing, it will damage our relationships even more.

There was never a golden age in America to go back to, that’s a complete fallacy created by the extreme right that wants to exterminate anyone who does not fall into their ranks. It’s up to everyone else to step up and stand for real human values, that are all linked to the preservation of all species, races, genders, cultures, and democratic ideas. If we don’t step up, we will be swallowed by an extreme-right, racist, misogynistic propaganda whose only purpose is the extermination of the ones not on their side.

You know, actions are like boomerangs, they get right back at you, and history has proven it.