As the World Is My Witness: Chilean Solidarity and Popular Culture, 1973–87

On November 21, 1973 the Chilean team lined up to play in the FIFA World Cup without an opponent. The controversy over Soviet refusal to participate in the soccer match spread across the globe and highlights the role of popular culture in the construction of an international “human rights community” that responded to abuses perpetrated by the Pinochet dictatorship.  The human rights movement that opposed the Pinochet dictatorship emerged from the relationship between exile communities, international solidarity groups, and organizations within Chile.  As popular culture traveled along market routes to global audiences, the scope of its political significance broadened.  The dictatorship and its opponents waged ideological battles in music, television, sports, and literature; the cultural realm was open in a way that economic and formal political institutions were not.  Mixed tapes of nueva canción, the traveling Salvador Allende Museum, and arpilleras were cultural commodities that circulated beyond national borders.

This paper argues that popular culture contributed to the success of the opposition movement, creation of human rights communities, and new forms of identification.  Popular culture venues not only gave like-minded groups the chance to speak with one another, but also to challenge supporters of the regime and to dispute their characterization of contemporary Chile.  Televised shows like Sábado Gigante, the Miss Universe contest, and the International Song Festival in Viña del Mar provided supporters of the dictatorship with stages to showcase their success.  These venues expanded the potential audience that could judge the regime from any corner of the globe, allowing for the proponents and detractors to reach people around the world, including those not traditionally engaged in politics.  The study of the popular culture allows us to understand the creation of new political agendas within the solidarity movement, even as their focus remained fixed on 1973 and its aftermath.