Ariel Dorfman was a culture adviser to Socialist President Salvador Allende. The night before the 1973 coup d’état in Chile, he was supposed to be working, but he switched schedules with a colleague.
Thus, he managed to dodge the horror that took the palace of La Moneda at dawn on September 11 and the following day, which would end with the death of Allende and dozens of collaborators.
From there, Dorfman left for a long exile, during which he taught at the universities of Berkeley and Duke, in the USA. Today, he lives between Chile and Washington, the American capital.
Born in Argentina to a Chilean family, the writer is now also a US citizen. Dorfman, 79, is concerned about the second round of the presidential election in his country. “We can take a huge step backwards, it is almost unbelievable that this can happen, after so much walking and with so much suffering”, he says, regarding the possibility of victory by the ultra-rightist José Antonio Kast.
Author, with Armand Mattelart, of “To Read Donald Duck”, a classic on Latin American anti-imperialism, he also wrote political novels and essays. he spoke to leaf by phone from the US.
The latest polls give Boric a slight advantage over Kast. How do you see the current picture of the dispute? It is important to recognize that Boric, in the effort to move towards moderation, has made important strides, admitting mistakes in past criticisms he had made to the center-left. It is part of a political maturation process for such a young candidate. You have to see how much his inexperience and these same setbacks won’t erode his image, but this is the path he should take.
But we cannot underestimate the collective fear behind so many voters who will cling to the idea of choosing a candidate who guarantees order, maintains bans on immigrant arrivals, and is against abortion law and diversity laws. This collective fear, in a society that has had three years of friction, tension and mess in the streets, is very strong and could tip in favor of Kast.
Boric’s change of speech to be tough on drug trafficking and delinquency will be efficient? If his plan for attacking this problem is similar to Kast’s, of intolerance, of sending more troops, of laying down more penalties and hoping that this will resolve the issue, then no. Drug trafficking needs and should be debated by the left, but the focus should be on strengthening communities so that they themselves reject drug trafficking. This is done by strengthening access to health and education, investing in the economy. The answer must come from a state-supported community.
What are your expectations regarding Boric? Alongside him are millions of Chileans who vote and will vote for him not to return to the authoritarianism of the past, and for that he will be watched and accompanied by the memory of those who died fighting for a moment, an alternative, like this, to change Chile. Boric emerges as the person who said it was possible to organize the State that social dissatisfaction rejected on the streets in 2019. But this is a very difficult task, due to the breadth and depth of the demands.
E Cast? The vote for Kast is from Chileans who don’t want to look at history, who don’t want to criticize that period — and that matters very little to them. I have the impression that this is a very basic vote, from someone who asks for security in a routine with an organized economy and without conflicts either with the Mapuche to the south or with the immigrants to the north. They want this problem solved at all costs. These are people who don’t think it’s necessary to change everything, because they’re afraid of what will come next.
Will the Constituent Assembly feel any effect in an eventual victory for Kast? Yes, it is one of the things that, for many Chileans, did not have to change. For this sector of society, the fact that women and Mapuches, like the president of the Constituent Assembly, Elisa Loncón, have power opens a window of uncertainty and fear. Also because at the root of this issue is a fundamental problem in Chile, the unfair distribution of land for so many years.
Are you in favor of those still protesting in the streets for Piñera’s resignation? No. We fought for a long time for democracy and for the right to choose and we have to get him out of there by vote, because that’s how democracies work. Given the scenario that the right that can remain is Kast’s right, it is more than necessary to find the way to strengthen the moderate and democratic right, that of names that are now linked to Chile Vamos, Ossandón, Sichel and de others. It is not necessary to demonize a right that has democratic values, it is part of Chilean democracy. We have to repudiate the right of the caves that Kast represents.
What dangers do you see in a victory of Closet? He is a dangerous figure. Chileans managed to turn their unrest into a constitutional election, and now that body is working. The fact that Kast continues with a campaign to hinder the work of the Constituent Assembly, to delegitimize it, is terrible for the country. It may discourage people from voting in the referendum to pass the [nova] Constitution, and then we will have to go back to being governed by the Charter of Pinochet. It’s a complete delay.
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Ariel Dorfman, 79
Born in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, he grew up in Chile and also has American nationality. He is a professor of literature and Latin American studies at Duke University in North Carolina and the author of several works. Among them, the bestseller “To Read Donald Duck” (1977) and “Superman and His Chest Friends”. He served as cultural advisor to former Chilean president Salvador Allende.
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