Conspiracy You Can Believe In

In 1973, the democratically elected socialist government of Chile under Salvador Allende was toppled by a far-right coup. What followed was 17 years of oppression under a reactionary, sadistic military dictatorship. Through decades of investigations, court cases, and declassification of records, we know now how the Pinochet regime came to power: through the CIA and the U.S. State Department. SOURCES: The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability by Peter Kornbluh https://thenewpress.com/books/pinochet-file The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein https://naomiklein.org/the-shock-doctrine/ The True Verdict on Allende by E. Bradford Burns https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/true-verdict-allende/ The ‘Chicago Boys’ in Chile: Economic Freedom’s Awful Toll by Orlando Letelier https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-chicago-boys-in-chile-economic-freedoms-awful-toll/ Giant Rally Marks Allende Anniversary by Jonathan Kandell https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/05/archives/giant-rally-marks-allende-anniversary-professional-workers-strike.html

On November 11, 1975, Gough Whitlam was removed from office as Prime Minister of Australia. He was dismissed by his own Governor-General, John Kerr, a man who held what was largely believed to be a ceremonial position as the representative of the British Crown. The Dismissal would spark decades of debate in Australia. But recently unearthed records show that Kerr did not act on his own. He had the full support of the country's conservative establishment, encouragement from US and Australian intelligence, and advice from Buckingham Palace. SOURCES The Palace Letters: The Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam by Jenny Hocking https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-palace-letters-9781922310248 The Dismissal: 40 years on by Paul Daley https://dismissed.moadoph.gov.au/hashtag-dismissal-1975.html The Dismissal - 10th Anniversary by Australia Channel 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm8HFJ9ZC8U The Kerr Palace Letters - National Archives of Australia https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/kerr-palace-letters In the 1970s, a Soft Coup Removed Australia’s Left-Wing Prime Minister by Guy Rundle https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/07/gough-whitlam-dismissal-letters-john-kerr-australia Gough Whitlam’s Government Was the Victim of a Right-Wing Coup by Conor Flynn https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/06/gough-whitlam-australian-labor-party-right-wing-coup-john-kerr Rundle: proving the CIA-backed conspiracy that brought down Whitlam by Guy Rundle https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/11/25/rundle-proving-the-cia-backed-conspiracy-that-brought-down-whitlam/ CIA, Kerr, Barwick and 1975 by Humphrey McQueen https://labourhistorycanberra.org/2016/07/cia-kerr-barwick-and-1975/ Australian House of Representatives Debates - 4 May 1977 http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1977/19770504_reps_30_hor105/ CIA Issue Enters Australian Crisis by Fox Butterfield special to the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1975/11/06/archives/cia-issue-enters-australian-crisis-whitlam-says-an-opposition-chief.html How Australia Won Universal Healthcare - and How Workers Saved it with a General Strike by Anthony O'Donnell https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/08/australia-universal-health-care-whitlam-administration-medibank-medicare-alp-actu-strike

On November 13, 1974, a nuclear lab technician named Karen Silkwood was reported dead in a single-car accident just outside Oklahoma City. Silkwood was on her way to meet a reporter from the New York Times to deliver evidence that her employer, Kerr-McGee, was hiding records of defective nuclear fuel rods. This evidence has never been found. Shortly after the crash, Karen's friends and co-workers began to question the official record of her car accident. Further investigation would reveal that her death might not have been an accident after all. SOURCES: The Killing of Karen Silkwood: The Story Behind the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Case by Richard Rashke https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1193179.The_Killing_of_Karen_Silkwood Karen Silkwood: The Case of the Activist's Death by Howard Kohn https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/karen-silkwood-the-case-of-the-activists-death-52287/ Karen Silkwood Remembered 1946--1974 by Tony Mazzocchi, BMWE Journal, November/December 1999  https://www.bmwe.org/journal/1999/12dec/b04.htm Paper in Nashville Dismisses Writer Linked to the F.B.I. by David Burnham, New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/08/archives/paper-in-nashville-dismisses-writer-linked-to-the-fbi-newspaper-in.html

In the 1890s, the two-party system in Alabama nearly cracked open. A brutal economic depression and a rising wave of labor agitation and agrarian unrest helped create a viable new party: The People's Party. Learn how the Populists nearly took power in Alabama, why they failed, and what their legacy means for the modern South. To support the striking UMWA miners of Warrior Met Coal, visit https://umwa.org/news-media/news/support-umwa-miners-on-strike-at-warrior-met/ SOURCES: Populism to Progressivism by Sheldon Hackney http://uapress.ua.edu/product/978-0-8173-8532-3-Populism-to-Progressivism-In-Alabama,4881.aspx?skuid=2200 Birmingham Coal District Strike of 1908 by Encyclopedia of Alabama http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/Article/h-1478 Arsenal for Democracy - American Money: Part IV The Cross of Gold http://arsenalfordemocracy.com/2021/10/04/american-money-part-iv-the-cross-of-gold-arsenal-for-democracy-ep-398/ Subtreasury Plan by James L. Hunt, NCpedia https://www.ncpedia.org/subtreasury-plan Ambushed in Eufaula: Alabama's forgotten race massacre by Kyle Whitmire https://www.al.com/news/2022/01/ambushed-in-eufaula-alabamas-forgotten-race-massacre.html

In 1901, 155 delegates gathered in Montgomery, Alabama to create the dumbest constitution in American history, then ratify it through a sham election. This is the story of Alabama's state constitution, still in use to this day. SOURCES: Alabama's Shame: The Historical Origins of the 1901 Constitution by Wayne Flynt https://www.law.ua.edu/pubs/lrarticles/Volume%2053/Issue%201/Flynt.pdf Populism to Progressivism by Sheldon Hackney http://uapress.ua.edu/product/978-0-8173-8532-3-Populism-to-Progressivism-In-Alabama,4881.aspx?skuid=2200 Reconstruction Constitutions - Encyclopedia of Alabama http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-4192 The less you make, the more you pay: Alabama’s taxes remain upside down by Chris Sanders of Alabama Arise https://www.alarise.org/news-releases/the-less-you-make-the-more-you-pay-alabamas-taxes-remain-upside-down/