Hundreds of thousands of Chileans have carried out a massive labour strike and protests in several cities to demand structural changes to two remnants of the Pinochet regime: the educational system, and the fundamental law of the country, the Constitution.
What was envisioned three months ago as a student demand (for free and quality education), viewed today as a business, has been growing like a snowball and now it has become a claim by the whole of society, added to other urgent demands in a country deeply divided by class differences.
As has been explained in previous occasions, most of the elementary school education system and university studies have to be paid for in Chile. The student represents a customer, while the school is a private company that is subsidized with public funds.
The education services offered for free in very few centers is abysmal, and the quality rises according to the fees. A poor family that desires to include their children in a high-quality education system can do so only by getting a loan that would mortgage their incomes for the rest of their lives.
The government tried to solve the problem with reforms that did not change anything. It tried to lower interest rates for college credits without affecting the banks. Families would pay 2 or 3 percent while lenders would receive up to 5 or 6 percent, and the rest would be put by the state taken from the people’s money, which in fact, it’s the same thing and therefore it was rejected by the student movement.
Actually, it was precisely the executive’s stubbornness that started the widespread protests and brought the facts of the matter to other social sectors such as trade unionists, parents and trade associations of public employees and private workers.
Of course, demands increase as the movement grows. Today, the only requirement is to overhaul the educational system that hasn’t changed a bit in 20 years, following the military dictatorship’s rules.
To do so, a plebiscite needs to be carried out as the government or the parliament can’t make any decision. The government must let the people vote to stop beating around the bush. It is necessary to go to the root and change the Constitution of the nation.
According to the current laws, the referendum can only be called by the president with the support of two thirds of the Parliament, which is the same amount needed to change the Constitution of the nation and that is precisely the struggle being waged right now.
This means that in three months of protests, the facts go beyond replacing the marketed educational model and the situation aims to change the economic system to overcome inequalities.
As Chilean writer and journalist Ernesto Carmona stressed, the situation has gone from the classroom to the class struggle. On the one hand, more popular sectors are joining the struggle and clamours while on the other hand, the right-wing, the business sector and some traditional politicians are hiding behind Piñera.
The situation now is the acid test for the president and the society. What comes out of this will represent the kind of country that will be built over the coming decades for Chileans.
Via RHC