By: Kayhan Int’l
"Neoliberalism was born in Chile and will die in Chile” has become a rallying cry for the movement underway against the dictatorial rule of President Sebastian Pinera, who is seen by the people as an American stooge and an incarnation of the infamous fascist military dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Recently, Pinera during a nationwide speech, deliberately echoed Pinochet’s catchphrase by calling the Chilean citizens "enemies”, especially the one million-plus who took to the streets of the capital Santiago last Friday afternoon in protest to the neoliberal system the regime was implementing against their will.
The spark for the revolt that started October 14 was a 30-Peso increase to the subway fare in Santiago that further increases the cost of living and marginalizes and disenfranchised the population, leading to greater social and economic inequality.
The regime’s response has been brutal, and it has declared a state of emergency across much of the country. Tanks are out on the streets of Santiago to break the movement, which decries Pinera’s loyalty to the US.
The movement is not limited to the Chilean capital, but has also spread to other cities and towns, such as Valdivia, Temuco, and the Araucania region.
According to observers, people are fed up, whether on the left or the right, with the crony capitalism and corruption that has enriched people just like Pinera and those that surround him.
The people resent that their country has become an experimental laboratory for free-market economics imposed on Chile by the United States.
It should be noted that the US, after overthrowing the democratically-elected socialist President Salvador Allende in a 1973 coup, had brought military general Pinochet to power, which means the country has become an American workshop.
Recently, Pinera during a nationwide speech, deliberately echoed Pinochet’s catchphrase by calling the Chilean citizens "enemies”, especially the one million-plus who took to the streets of the capital Santiago last Friday afternoon in protest to the neoliberal system the regime was implementing against their will.
The spark for the revolt that started October 14 was a 30-Peso increase to the subway fare in Santiago that further increases the cost of living and marginalizes and disenfranchised the population, leading to greater social and economic inequality.
The regime’s response has been brutal, and it has declared a state of emergency across much of the country. Tanks are out on the streets of Santiago to break the movement, which decries Pinera’s loyalty to the US.
The movement is not limited to the Chilean capital, but has also spread to other cities and towns, such as Valdivia, Temuco, and the Araucania region.
According to observers, people are fed up, whether on the left or the right, with the crony capitalism and corruption that has enriched people just like Pinera and those that surround him.
The people resent that their country has become an experimental laboratory for free-market economics imposed on Chile by the United States.
It should be noted that the US, after overthrowing the democratically-elected socialist President Salvador Allende in a 1973 coup, had brought military general Pinochet to power, which means the country has become an American workshop.
Washington also shares in the death and disappearance of tens of thousands of Chilean people during the Pinochet era, when two hundred thousand citizens were fortunate enough to have fled their homeland.
While the economy has collapsed and the living conditions for ordinary people slipped from bad to worse, the regime and its cronies have prospered by looting the country’s wealth, as directed by the US.
The reign of terror, however, has now emboldened the people who having lost their fear of the state are coming on the streets, even if it means death at the hands of the security forces.
It is unfortunate that the western media has provided little coverage of the legitimate demands of the Chilean, in contrast to its portraying of the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia, as anti-people, because the said countries refuse to kowtow to US policies.
Even Human Rights Watch has been one-sided concerning the mass movement in Chile against Pinera, and has called for the swift prosecution of the protestors, instead of supporting the Chilean people’s call for the creation of a Constituent Assembly, so they can set up a new, democratic constitution, and discard the current one that was imposed under Pinochet.
Irrespective of US support for Pinera, the protesters have sworn that they will not be silenced until their demands are met. In other words, Chileans citizens say they have had enough and want nothing short of profound democratic changes.
While the economy has collapsed and the living conditions for ordinary people slipped from bad to worse, the regime and its cronies have prospered by looting the country’s wealth, as directed by the US.
The reign of terror, however, has now emboldened the people who having lost their fear of the state are coming on the streets, even if it means death at the hands of the security forces.
It is unfortunate that the western media has provided little coverage of the legitimate demands of the Chilean, in contrast to its portraying of the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia, as anti-people, because the said countries refuse to kowtow to US policies.
Even Human Rights Watch has been one-sided concerning the mass movement in Chile against Pinera, and has called for the swift prosecution of the protestors, instead of supporting the Chilean people’s call for the creation of a Constituent Assembly, so they can set up a new, democratic constitution, and discard the current one that was imposed under Pinochet.
Irrespective of US support for Pinera, the protesters have sworn that they will not be silenced until their demands are met. In other words, Chileans citizens say they have had enough and want nothing short of profound democratic changes.
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