The author of this article reviews a new book by Victor Figueroa Clark entitled Salvador Allende: Revolutionary Democrat.
Salvador Allende remains an icon and as such is ‘stripped of context’. Victor Figueroa Clark provides that context and helps us understand why the events of 11 September 1973 are so critical to understanding the world today. In doing so, he brings to life the personality of Allende and argues passionately that he was a revolutionary and not just a reformist as many on the left have argued.There is an excellent chapter in a well-documented book that sheds much light on the other side of Allende's brief revolutionary attempt: Chapter 11 of The Sovereign State of ITT [1973] by Anthony Sampson. In this chapter Sampson uses the Chilean episode, with ITT as a major player, as another illustration of his thesis that major transnational corporations and conglomerates were starting to function like sovereign states.
Sampson's book should become a classic study in the rise of neoliberal capitalism: the dominance of transnational corporations in today's world and their ideology called neoliberalism. After reading this book, you will understand that neoliberalism is essentially an updated transnational form of fascism (rule by and for corporations, with financial institutions functioning as its nerve center).
This new form of rule has found its fullest expression in the US led Empire which in this era of TV and other visual media, differs from its fascist predecessors mainly by more reliance on the control of information and images. Meanwhile, in case their propaganda machinery should fail, they keep highly militarized police forces and sophisticated surveillance systems in operation to check on their people.