Chile Solidarity in Britain : Resistance, Rights and Refuge, 1973-2000

The Chilean military’s violent overthrow of Salvador Allende’s democratically-elected government sent shock waves around the world and sparked a global solidarity movement. This book traces that international campaign to Britain, where politicians, trade unionists, students, women’s rights movements, religious groups and journalists protested human rights abuses in Chile, and stood in solidarity with the Chilean people.

Offering the first history of this international movement, this book shows how the British, especially the working class, acted for a cause far beyond their shore and linked human rights abuses in Chile to politics and society at home. Exploring themes of internationalism, exile and resistance, alongside a wealth of testimonies from key political players and displaced Chilean refugees as they coped with life in exile, Solidarity from Chile to Britain explores the motives and practices that underpinned this movement, and reveals the impact and legacies it had on British political, social and cultural life.