Chile’s memories and Palestinian narratives can challenge UN complicity

It seems that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set upon a course that will even challenge the brutality of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile. The infamous impunity constructed by Pinochet which he summarised explicitly when he said, “Sometimes democracy must be bathed in blood” – a reference to the torture, murder and disappearance of thousands of Chileans – has been adopted enthusiastically by Netanyahu’s Israel. In the latter’s case, the premise of democracy serves as an internationally-accepted veneer for its brutal colonialism.

In May, Palestinian NGO Addameer hosted a delegation from South America, with the aim of forging solidarity between Palestine and the region that has seen more than its fair share of colonialism, neoliberal violence and dictatorships. Among those invited was activist Alicia Lira, who is President of the Association of the Executed Political Prisoners (AFEP) in Chile. In comments to Radio Y Diario Universidad de Chile, Lira declared: “I feel, after having lived for 17 years under military dictatorship, that Palestinians are even more desperate than we were during the dictatorship.” She also denounced the UN and international organisations for promoting the oblivion of Palestinians rather than defending their human rights.

While, unfortunately, it was not given much prominent coverage, Lira’s presence in Palestine accomplished what international organisations have intentionally failed to address. As a result, it exposed many of the contradictions that have enabled UN complicity and impunity in particular to survive unchallenged.

The undeserved reverence and authority with which the UN and affiliated organisations have adorned themselves have created a perpetual cycle of reports, condemnations and yet more human rights violations. Rather than challenge the UN as an institution which enables and promotes violence, human rights groups and NGOs have increased impunity for the perpetrators consistently by resorting to the organisation after compiling reports brimming with testimony and statistical information. This has created a permanent cycle of subjugation that not only affects Palestinians, but also the autonomy of those organisations that should be concerned primarily with the Palestinian narrative instead of appeasing international institutions.

Nevertheless, Palestinians are subjected to the same drivel constantly, having their plight brought before international bodies which have no intention of halting colonialism in Palestine, given their institutional complicity in establishing the illegal entity and violating international law in the first place. Lira’s statement leaves no doubt about such complicity and accountability for Israel’s colonial presence and violence in Palestine. Additionally, she has exposed clearly how Palestinians have been forced into a never ending spectacle that mocks their existence. Rather than finding means of supporting Palestine’s anti-colonial struggle at an internationalist level, giving the UN prominence is the most degrading action taken by human rights groups which resort to the UN to raise awareness of atrocities inflicted by Israel upon the Palestinians, despite the knowledge that its officials know full well what is going on.

The history of both Chile and Palestine have other similarities, such as the plight of the indigenous Mapuche population or the thousands of Chileans who resisted Pinochet’s dictatorship. Since the independence of Chile and subsequent colonisation of their territory, the Mapuche have faced marginalisation and forced assimilation, as well as extermination by state actors. In 1979, Pinochet decreed that, “The divided lands will no longer be considered indigenous lands, and the people living on those lands will no longer be considered indigenous.” From colonial massacres to neoliberal violence, the Mapuche have lived through atrocities to this day, particularly through the application of anti-terror laws introduced by Pinochet, now manipulated to annihilate Mapuche resistance to further colonial violence and usurpation of their territory. Indeed, the Mapuche have been divested of identity by successive Chilean governments, their collective memory diluted through the dominant state narrative even though the indigenous population has not relinquished its own definition of nationhood.

Chileans who resisted Pinochet’s dictatorship faced torture, murder and forced disappearance, particularly those involved with the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) and the Communist Party. While not dismissing the horrors experienced by Chileans – the torture and extermination centres of Tejas Verdes and Cuartel Simon Bolivar come to mind – state repression of group memory contains one single item in the narrative that Palestinians living under Israel’s colonial violence do not have access to: Pinochet called explicitly for the oblivion of the indigenous population in order to safeguard his government’s impunity. Indirectly, he acknowledged his human rights violations. The Palestinians, meanwhile, are seeing their land and presence obliterated by the Zionists, whose narrative is also endorsed at an international level by the UN.

Lira’s declaration should provoke intense discussion. There is no way to forget the atrocities perpetrated by Pinochet and his intelligence services DINA and the later CNI. Having read testimonies and spoken to torture survivors, it is impossible to be unaware of, and moved by, the systematic, sadist brutality inflicted upon Chileans opposing the dictatorship. The experience creates permanent awareness of, and adherence to, their collective memory. Furthermore, Lira’s statements after visiting Palestine evoke a stream of similarities and differences in the Palestinian experience.

Palestinian prisoners’ testimonies have also provided a wealth of evidence of abuse at the hands of the Israeli authorities. Disappearances have also taken place, and Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has called for this to continue. However, whereas Chileans have asserted autonomy over their collective memory, the Palestinians risk theirs being tarnished by the constant referral to the UN despite proof of the institution’s disdain for them and its willingness to support Israel’s colonial existence.

Chileans are living under relics of Pinochet’s dictatorship yet have the foundations to challenge the state and assert their right to memory, whereas Palestinians are living under colonial rule compounded by Palestinian Authority and international complicity. Hence, while the political framework is undoubtedly different, there are strategies that can be adopted by the Palestinians.

Divesting of international norms and conventional procedures when it comes to safeguarding Palestinian memory is imperative. Every time the Palestinian experience is brought before the UN, the people are being degraded and humiliated due to the fact that sustaining Israeli colonialism is the institution’s priority. This is resulting in a reduced possibility that Palestinians will become the authors of their memory and awareness, rather than mere spectators.

Furthermore, strengthening internationalist support would serve Palestinian memory much more than grovelling at UN assemblies and acquiescing to the ludicrous notion of “partial justice” as articulated last year by PA Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki. The Palestinian struggle is continuing at a time when right-wing influence in South America is threatening countries such as Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil. Lira’s visit to occupied Palestine should not be reduced to being simply a personal experience; it should provide the key to a collective struggle in which the main actors are the multitudes who have suffered from Israel’s human rights violations. Such action would increase Palestinian visibility and also reduce the repercussions generated by organisations clamouring for UN attention. It is about time that Palestine determines its own narrative from within, regardless of what the UN dictates as it seeks to safeguard its overt ulterior motives.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.