Lessons of a Catastrophe

By Ariel Dorfman

This article appeared in the September 29, 2003 edition of The Nation.

September 11, 2003

It can't happen here.

Thirty years ago that is what we chanted, that is what we sang, on the streets of Santiago de Chile.

It can't happen here. There can never be a dictatorship in this country, we proclaimed to the winds of history that were about to furiously descend on us; our democracy is too solid, our armed forces too committed to popular sovereignty, our people too much in love with freedom.

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About Ariel Dorfman

Ariel Dorfman (www.adorfman.duke.edu)the Chilean author, has recently published Exorcising Terror: The Incredible, Unending Trial of General Augusto Pinochet (Seven Stories). His novels Widows and Konfidenz have recently been reissued. more...
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