#pinera

The protests in Chile

For months now the city center has been taken over by the social movement. Everything is sprayed with graffiti, some places are burned down. The very floor is missing, since people take out the stones to throw them at the cops. You see people wearing goggles and gas masks against the tear gas. Cops patrol the center in low frequency, coming in with armored vehicles and tanks throwing water and tear gas. Also groups of police officers in full montour with shields, helmets and sticks march through. There are groups of masked “rebels” running out of their way, but then throwing rocks after them as they pass in an endless game of cat and mouse. 

Following the fifth increase of metro prices in Santiago in just 2 years, students started jumping the tourniqets without paying and many people followed. This quickly turned havoc with people burning down metro stations, robbing supermarkets - the government declaring the state of emergency and sending in the military. Their use of force was excessive and quickly condemned as such. Many people lost an eye through rubber bullets or tear gas grenades, there is footage of police threatening and hurting people, and police have been accused of causing fires to have a reason to extinguish them. Since then the government has been trying to appease the masses by firing half the ministers, raising pensions by 20% etc. and promised to give the people the option of a new constitution. But protests did not stop.

There are some grand marches with huge groups of people (Marcha del million), or same on women’s day. And the most action is on weekend nights. But even in the other times it is not really calm, often these are now teenagers who have taken up the cause. It seems it has become something of a group activity or a game. 

According to Chilean media these are often kids from the suburbs or outside who have been marginalized in general. They are not relucant to destroy inner Santiago, because it is not their home - they never felt it was their city to begin with. When asked what they are doing, they are “fighting for their rights”. While in the beginning the feeling was very much that police was using excessive force, now some people are wondering why the police is doing nothing at all to stop them wondering to what excess this will lead. “The police should be able to distinguish between peaceful protest and pure rioting and act accordingly”. 

Even as the German media are writing to explain what’s going on in Chile, they write about the 99% who are the victims of this inequality: Prices levels are close to those in Europe - salaries are a fraction. Everything is privatized: Health care, education, natural resources. The precious little water of Chile is drained for exportable agricultural produce like avocados and wine or used in the mining of Lithium for car batteries - the resulting pollution stays. 

And they write about the 1% who live in the nice parts of Santiago: Barrio Italia, Los condes, Vitacura. These are the parts where I and my friends lived.

But how is a society reformed? How is inequality reduced? How is nature preserved?

As the past decades clearly show: Without massive protests nothing will change. But the hefty protests have turned all economic indicators South. Investor confidence, currency value, production. Many people struggle and are off even worse than before. Arguably the negative impact on the overall pie has been so great that even negotiating a bigger slice would ultimately result in less. 

While clearly for a social justice this system does need to change, and there is no lack of ideals where it should be headed - what is missing are the specifics: What changes must be made? How can they be achieved? And who can lead this effort?

Despite government measures, protesters would not stand down. They would be outside, they would protest and they would wear masks against the tear gas. 

Until Corona hit this planet and changed the streets. People demanded a lockdown to protect. Face masks went from forbidden to mandatory. The protesters gave up the city center they had occupied for months and cleared the famous Plaza de la Dignidad. And...as if to prove he is not the man for the job, Chile’s by now hated billionaire President Pinera used this first night to ignore the lockdown rules, travel to the Plaza, take a picture of himself and post it on twitter.

#pineraculiao

Check out this amazing exhibition about the beginnings of the social movement in Chile: