PUBLIC STATEMENT
11 SEPTEMBER 2001
To all people of the world which daily resist injustice.
We have gathered today 11 September 2001 outside the Chilean Consulate
in Sydney, Australia for the following reasons:
� Firstly, to commemorate the thousands who died struggling for the
rights and the dignity of the exploited people of Chile, as victims of
the repression and torture during the Pinochet's military dictatorship.
� Secondly, to protest against the current human rights violations
committed against the Mapuche, the indigenous people of Chile, in their
attempt to recover and preserve their traditional land, culture and
society.
� In relation to the latter, we believe that the Chilean government has
an unavoidable moral duty to the Mapuche people, who continue to be the
victims of brutal racism that has lasted more than 500 years. First
there were the Spanish Conquistadors, then the expansionist Chileans and
the white settlers of European descent, who during their march to the
south known as Patagonia forcibly occupied the lands in which Mapuche
people had lived for thousands of years, thus exterminating millions in
the process. More recently, yet not less ferocious, are the
uncontrollable transnational corporations, which continue this
historical invasion.
� After 10 years of "democratic" government in Chile, it is time to put
an end to the human rights violations and crimes committed against the
Mapuche people. Now is also the time that the Chilean government ends
its policy of immunity for those who violated human rights and committed
crimes against humanity under the military dictatorship.
� The economic rationalist model imposed in Chile from 1974 under the
dictatorship was achieved through repression, torture and
violence. This is how Chile achieved a high economic growth identifiable
only through government figures, ignoring the brutal reality of life
under the dictatorship. This is the same economic rationalist model
that exploits and is unjust for most of the inhabitants of our planet, a
planet being slowly destroyed by this very model.
� We must network and globalise our resistance to these economic
models that imposes themselves on all aspects of our life. We must fight
and demand a better future.
The Struggle Continues�
� Organisation for the Rights of the People (ADEPU)
� Mapuche Cultural Centre (MAWIDA)
� Organisation in Support of the Mapuche (GAPCHE)
� Chilean Popular and Indigenous Network.
Australia, 11 September 2001
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