Voicing a Global Cause

The coup d’état in Chile on September 11, 1973, sparked an immense wave of condemnation of the dictatorship and solidarity with its victims on a global scale. The events in Chile quickly acquired different and even contradictory meanings, depending on ideological affiliations, political cultures, and the needs of the moment. Chile was thus a socialist, Third Worldist, democratic, and human rights cause, among other possibilities. This article analyzes this phenomenon through the trajectory and global activism of one of the most prominent Chileans in exile, Hortensia Bussi, who went from being a relatively marginal political role as Salvador Allende’s wife to an influential figure with networks that crossed North-South and East-West borders. In this regard, we argue that Bussi skillfully articulated the different meanings of the Chilean cause, while also impacting the new political practices and transnational activism that emerged during the 1970s. In this way, Bussi shaped and fostered solidarity with Chile as a defense of the socialist horizon, democracy, human rights, and women’s rights in front of different audiences and in different scenarios

Context (archaeology) · Social movement · Solidarity · Voice · Work (physics) · Cultural and Social Studies in Latin America · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America · Politics and Society in Latin America