Embedded Files
Isabella Phillips | 26 September 2025
◇ British History | Communication History | Chilean History| Political Activism
When on the 11 September 1973, Chilean president Salvador Allende was overthrown by a military coup, the news reverberated across the world. Allende was the first democratically- elected socialist president in Latin America; a stark contrast to the military general Augusto Pinochet who replaced him. Within days of the coup, activists across the world called out the highly problematic dictatorship. They soon established solidarity groups which gained strength as human rights abuses, including torture and murder, committed by the Junta (1973-1990) became widely known.
Britain was connected to Chile from the start of Pinochet’s regime by the number of exiles who settled here at the time. Almost 3,000 Chileans arrived in Britain after being expelled from their home country. [1] This facilitated the transfer of unadulterated information on Pinochet’s crimes. Exiles’ first-hand-accounts stimulated activist movements in Britain beyond and contributed towards the establishment of the Chile Solidarity Campaign (CSC) in1973.
The CSC was first active at a national level, but became regionally integrated across the country over time and by 1975 had over sixty local committees. [2] Their operations were as diverse as the organisation itself, and included organising demonstrations, petitioning, fundraising and even hosting concerts for exiled Chilean musicians. As Bowen has argued, the CSC took a broad approach to their activism precisely so they could appeal to as many groups of people as possible.[3]
In political activism, the framing of a cause for the public is central to its success. For the CSC, they had to be able to engage the public using narratives which were relatable and thus spurred action. Some communications were framed to capture the attention of workers, emphasising the connections between unions in Britain and Chile. This was effective; workers were a key element of the transnational resistance. For example, in 1974 Scottish employees at a Rolls Royce plant refused to work on the jet engines belonging to the Chilean airforce.[4] The articulation of Chile solidarity activism through the language of human rights was equally significant. This allowed the solidarity movement to avoid being perceived as solely a leftist effort and appealed to the emotions of the wider public. The Chilean Committee for Human Rights (CCHR) was set up to consolidate a more apolitical appearance and to avoid restricting their work.[5]
In both cases, the format through which the public received the information on Chile was hugely influential on the impact the movement could have. Considering the linguistic and cultural barriers that existed, imagery was an instrument to connect two countries which were otherwise geographically isolated from one another. Visual communication was at the crux of CSC efforts to compel the British public to take action, and apply pressures to government in turn.
Through examining archival collections related to the Chile Solidarity Campaign, it is clear that visual protest was used diversely. Posters, leaflets and even badges were just some of the visual mediums the campaign used. The repetition of recognisable symbols such as the raised fist or Chilean flag acted as visual prompts that helped to engage people throughout the campaign. Brysk has discussed similarly how symbolic politics is able to ‘inspire, consolidate and deepen social transformations’.[6] This certainly was the impact of visual material produced by the CSC.
An example of how visual communication was used is the poster pictured above. Sourced from the Warwick Digital Collection, the piece was produced by the CSC and advertises a march that occurred in 1984. The artwork displays a statue of a soldier toppled by protestors who together are destabilising it. Underlying this design is a message that the Pinochet regime is not undefeatable; the statue, and thus the dictatorship, may still be brought down through solidarity efforts across the world.
To its strength, the poster gives agency to the individual, and calls them to utilise their political power by attending the march advertised. For the CSC, demonstrations were one of the most successful forms of resistance. The same year as the coup, 10,000 protesters were believed to be present at a march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square in London.[7] This artwork seeks to encourage the public to demonstrate in the same way once again.
Eleven years into Chile’s dictatorship, sustaining motivation behind CSC in Britain was undoubtedly challenging. ‘One more push for freedom’ encapsulates the need for CSC to motivate the public and ensure they participate in the fight. This was not least because the Conservative government from 1979 undid much of the accomplishments achieved in the first years of the CSC’s existence. Convincing the public that their activism was not in vain was a necessity for all visual communications at this time.
This next piece, also obtained from the Warwick Digital Collection, conveys how the success of CSC in Britain was influenced by leader attitudes. As governments shifted, so too did policy towards Chile. This poster shows a drawing of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pinochet, both smiling to one another. Thatcher ‘dramatically changed policy towards Chile’, undoing her predecessor Harold Wilson’s efforts to condemn the Junta’s abuse.[8] Pinochet is depicted presenting her with a badge that reads ‘Britain Does Not Appease Dictators’. Thatcher restored arms sales with Chile after 1979 and returned a British ambassador to the country, thus the irony embedded in the artwork is clear.
This poster was made in September 1985, a point when CSC were struggling both against the Junta and the actions of the British government. This poster condemns the Conservative government’s decision to be amicable with Pinochet’s dictatorship. The British public are encouraged not to be complicit with these decisions, and to continue their activism by attending the demonstration advertised.
Visual communication thus held a unique space within the Chile Solidarity Campaign in Britain. When attempting to communicate the injustices occurring under Pinochet, language barriers meant that imagery and artwork were strategically drawn upon. Symbolism, repetition and framing of recognisable issues were essential in engaging the public with CSC activities. Across the seventeen-year-long dictatorship, imagery was the most powerful tool to evoke emotion and allow the public to connect with the Chilean experience of injustice and abuse.
Isabella Phillips is a third year History student within the School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities at The University of Sheffield.
References
[1] S. Hirsch, ‘The United Kingdom: Competing Conceptions of Internationalism’ in K. Christiaens, I. Goddeeris, and M. Rodriguez Garcia (eds.), European Solidarity with Chile, 1970s-1980s (Lausanne, 2014), p. 156.
[2] Ibid., p. 147.
[3] A. Bowen, ‘“Taking the Broad Spectrum”: Human Rights and Anti-Politics in the Chile Solidarity Campaign (UK) of the 1970s’, Journal of Social History 54.2 (2021), pp. 623-43.
[4] D. Featherstone, Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism (London, 2012), p. 129.
[5] Bowen, ‘“Taking the Broad Spectrum”’, p. 631.
[6] A. Brysk, ‘“Hearts and Minds”: Bringing Symbolic Politics Back in’, Polity 27.4 (1995), p. 584.
[7] P. W. Kelly, Sovereign Emergencies: Latin America and the Making of Global Human Rights Politics (Cambridge, 2018), p. 95.
[8] G. Livingstone, Britain and the Dictatorships of Argentina and Chile,1973-82: foreign policy, corporations and social movements (Cham, 2018) p. 99.
[9] Ibid., p.43.
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