Part 1: Written on a Friday night, around 9pm...
It is so remarkably easy to visit Chile without ever having to be in Chile. You can get away without speaking Spanish, and if you visit all the pretty places then you can get by without knowing the culture or the history. Yeah, the Chileans may call you a ¨rich gringo¨ behind your back if you can only say ¨Hola¨ and ¨¿Cuàntos cuesta?¨, but as long as you eat whatever food they give you and buy the occasional trinket then they´ll love you. Don´t worry if you don´t know about the US´s role in Allende´s death, the atrocities of the recent dictatorship, or the current state of corruption and exploitation. Because these subjects won`t come up. Do you know why? Because it is so remarkably easy to live in Chile without ever having to be in Chile.
This is a country with a history of debt and economic crises, yet people live off of credit cards and spent their paychecks on shoes and cell phones. This is a country with a history of corruption and power struggles, but news programs and TV shows are filled with updates on car crashes and tasteless music videos. This is a country with a very recent, very dark history of military dictatorship and mass killings, yet the majority of historical sources (museums and texts) as well as informal political discussions seems to skim over this twenty-five year period.And for me, it is this last scenario that bothers me the most.
As an anthropology major with a history teacher as a best friend, I believe that in order to understand a people, a culture, or a society you have to understand their history. Before coming to Chile, I did my homework. Books, wikipedia, you name it. I had a general understanding of Chile`s history before coming here and I was eager to take advantage of my travels to gain first hand access and personal responses of Chile`s past, present, and future. So imagine my surprise when the National Historical Museums in Santiago stopped their cronological displays in the early 70s with the death of Allende. Imagine my dissapointment when the only book I could find in the university bookstores that vaguely refered to the dictatorship was an anthology on the ¨Izquierda y Derecha en Chile.¨ And now imagine my extreme dismay to find out I have traveled all the way to Iquique--a city greatly impacted by the regime and located a mere 3 hours from the site of one of the biggest mass gravesites and concentration camps in Chile--only to find out I cannot find a single travel agency or public transportation to bring me there.
I am neither dumb nor insensitive. I know that this is a heavy subject that touches the hearts and souls of many people. The dictatorship ended a mere twenty years ago, and nearly everyone knows someone who was killed and tortured or who performed the killings and the torturing. It is not a happy topic and it is not something I can openly ask any stranger. But the fact that no one wants to talk about this seems far more disturbing than if everyone were spilling out each awful detail. They cannot erase their past, even if they refuse to acknowledge it. They cannot forgive and forget--as South Africa´s Truth and Reconciliation Committee has claimed to achieve in a process that influenced Chile´s post-dictatorship government--without having the important dialogues. They cannot avoid the powerful, albeit subtle, distrust that constantly glosses every interaction, without getting over the fear of offending a stranger or losing a friend through these necesary conversations.
Look, I know we do the same thing in the United States. I know that there are some people who would rather read Danielle Steel novels than a social commentary, who would rather blindly consume than think about the impact of their purchase, who would rather believe what CNN and FOXNEWS tell them than really investigate our country´s current economic state or international policies. But that´s not everyone. You know why I love my country? Because for every five people sitting back and losing themselves in the system, there is one person asking questions, talking about the tough subjects, proposing changes, and making a difference. Don´t forget where we come from. We are a country of revolutionaries. Don´t forget how we´ve grown. We were a country of rebels and fighters. Know your history, and don´t let that spirit die. I´ve seen what is happening to a country that doesn`t ask questions or have dialogues. Keep our history of rebellion alive and maintain that culture of passion and critique, or we will fall victim to the same disease that is killing (or maybe already has killed) Chile.
Part 2: Written on a Saturday morning, around 1am...
Get a few zesty, free-thinking Chileans drunk, and the conversations come out. Why don´t people talk about what happened in the past? Why do people waste their money on clothes and cell phones? Because the past doesn`t matter and the future may never come. Because in Chile (and in all of South America, really), here is the reality: the past is too ugly to talk about and the world is so unpredictable (natural disasters and military coups) that they may all die tomorrow. For Chileans (and for most people in South America), what matters is here and now.
This is what I was told tonight. Plain, simple, and spelled out. Buddha would be proud. Maybe. The more I thought about this explanation, the more my experience over the past few months started to make sense. That`s why there is such an emphasis on friends and family. That is why every goodbye comes with such a dramatic display of tears and kisses. That is why the food is so rich and delicious and heavy. That is why the desire to work hard in a career seems to be lacking. That is why there appears to be so little citizen participation. That is why they desire so much government support for food and health. That is why people of all ages appear inactive. That is why they party all night and sleep all morning. That is why they treat every stranger like they are best friends. That is why they don`t talk about the past, and that is why they don`t plan for the future. Here and now.
Okay. Fine. Understood.
But correct me if I`m wrong....but can`t you still have those important conversations right here and right now? Can`t you live in the present, but still consider the past and think about the future? Can't we find some middle way between the here-and-now-Chileans and the plan-for-later-Americans?
Enough excuses, Chile. Talk already.
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