Chile’s youth lead rise in militancy
THIS YEAR’S anniversary of 9/11, when General
Augusto Pinochet seized power in a military coup in Chile in 1973, has
coincided with mass movements of student and workers. Indeed, these have
been the biggest protests since the end of Pinochet’s rule.
Of course, most commentators have concentrated on
the consequences of the attacks on the twin towers in New York a decade
ago. Yet, following the ‘first’ 9/11 thousands were slaughtered, while
many more were tortured and suffered horrific repression. The coup was
planned from the headquarters of the CIA and the White House, in
collusion with the ruling elite and armed forces in Chile. No US
presidential apology has ever been made for what was unleashed on the
workers, students and ordinary people of Chile. What took place still
shapes the lives of the mass of Chilean people, and had consequences for
the international working class and all those exploited by capitalism,
while the aftermath of the attacks on the twin towers continue to be
felt by the workers and poor in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and around
the world.
Under the iron heel of Chile’s
military dictatorship, the neo-liberal policies of privatisation, open
markets, deregulation and private pension schemes were tested out. They
were then applied by the ruling classes internationally. The
‘Chicago Boys’,
economic students of Milton Freidman, arrived in the aftermath of
Pinochet’s coup. Military rule, which lasted
until 1990, gave way to a series of capitalist coalitions, all with
neo-liberal policies which continued where the military regime left off.
The Chilean economy has been held up as a model
globally. Economic growth averaging more than 5.5% per annum has been
used to justify the extreme policies. That growth has been based on a
high and rising price of copper, which accounts for 15% of GDP, and the
export of timber, wine and agricultural produce. Last year, Chile joined
the list of OECD ‘rich nations’. It has also become one of the three
most unequal societies in Latin America. Over 50% of the national income
is held by less than 20% of the population.
The mounting anger and frustration finally erupted
in the tremendous struggle of hundreds of thousands of youth in recent
months, culminating in mass protests on 30 June and 20 August when over
500,000 took to the streets. This movement followed mass protest in the
southern region of Magallanes which saw ports and airports blockaded by
local people fighting against rising gas prices.
For months, university and secondary students have
occupied universities and schools, held massive demonstrations,
‘kiss-ins’ and other forms of protest to demand a free and decent
education system. They have confronted vicious repression which saw one
16-year-old killed by state forces. This youth movement enjoyed the
overwhelming support of the population – 85% according to one opinion
poll.
The inadequacies and inequalities in the
predominantly privately-funded education system are widely recognised.
The University of Chile, the main ‘public university’, receives only 14%
of its funding from the state. The average student leaves university
with a debt of $45,000! Two government ministers have made lavish
profits by securing contracts to provide equipment and infrastructure to
private schools.
Copper workers called a one-day strike.
Significantly, this took place on 11 July, the anniversary of the
nationalisation of the copper industry by Salvador Allende’s Popular
Unity government, which preceded Pinochet’s rule. Dockers and other
workers declared their support. Students called for nationalisation and
organised protests in support of the strike. Yet union leaders dissuaded
workers from attending.
Reflecting the mass pressure, however, the CUT union
confederation was compelled to call a two-day general strike on 24/25
August. Unfortunately, this opportunity was squandered by CUT leaders.
For 20 years the CUT leadership has acted as an appendage of the
Concertación, the governing alliance between right-wing Christian
Democracy and the formerly social-democratic Socialist Party of Chile.
The youth perceive the CUT as just another establishment institution.
To simply call a strike from above is insufficient.
With no campaign in the workplaces or local communities to prepare the
workers and boost their confidence, and without a clear plan to defend
victimised workers, many felt too intimidated to take action. The
consequences of neo-liberal policies mean that the preparation of a
strike is vitally important. In the private sector many workers do not
even have a contract. Working on a daily or hourly basis they can easily
lose their jobs.
Even in the public sector, an estimated 50% of
workers have no contract. This makes the job of building effective trade
unions even more difficult. Teachers, for example, are dubbed
‘professores taxistas’ (taxi teachers). They teach for a few hours in
one school then rush off to another for a few more hours and have no
contract at all. As a result of these difficulties, and with a
leadership that is not prepared to fight, the strike had a limited
impact despite enjoying massive sympathy amongst the population.
Building workplace committees of struggle and local community assemblies
is a crucial task and forms part of rebuilding the workers’ movement.
Concertación governments have defended the interests
of the rich and resulted in a growing alienation from the political
institutions bequeathed by the dictatorship. All of the main political
parties have defended the same or similar policies. The electoral system
is designed to maintain the two main political blocks in an almost
deadlocked parliamentary system. The so-called ‘binominal’ system –
designed by General Jarulselski in Stalinist-era Poland – makes it
impossible for any party to get elected if it is outside the two main
blocks – the ‘centre-left’ or the far-right.
The once-powerful Communist Party (PCCh) has acted
as an ‘adviser’ to the Concertación and has done everything possible to
become accepted by it. It was rewarded at the last election with three
seats in Congress as part of this neo-liberal coalition. The alienation
is reflected in the fact that 75% of young people do not even register
to vote.
Dissatisfaction with the Concertación and the
absence of any alternative resulted in the victory of the right-wing
coalition headed by Sebastián Piñera. Like most of the leading political
caste, he is part of a dynasty: his elder brother was a minister under
Pinochet, his father was the Chilean ambassador to the UN between
1964-70. The election victory of this arrogant billionaire, however,
acted as a whip of counter-revolution and unleashed the accumulating
anger and frustration. Seeing a new generation engaged in struggle marks
the end of the so-called ‘stability’, which the Chilean ruling class has
boasted of since the end of the military dictatorship.
The alienation of young people towards the system
and its institutions was reflected in a very pronounced reaction against
the idea of political parties. And the role of the PCCh has re-enforced
this mood, which was also present in the youth movements in Spain and
Greece. This is in spite of the fact that some student leaders are PCCh
members.
The PCCh even runs its own private university, so it
is no surprise that it has been viewed in a similar light as the
establishment parties. Following the peak of the movement, a layer of
youth, grouped around a radical organisation, SER (Secretaría de
Educación Rebelde), organised occupations of the offices of political
parties, including the PCCh. The PCCh denounced them as right-wing
agents! SER commentated in a press release that the PCCh denounces what
it does not control: "They did this to Che and the MIR [Movimiento
Izquierda Revolucionaria] in the past".
This does not mean that the movement is
‘apolitical’. The youth demanded the nationalisation of the copper
industry, free and decent education, and opposed the ‘commodification’
of education. However, they reacted against the idea of a political
party because they have had no experience of a party which genuinely
represents their interests. While this was a complication in the
movement it also represents the initial reflex of a new generation which
has moved into struggle for the first time.
The need is posed for an organised force, a new
political party, which can channel the determination of the youth to
fight for change. In the course of further struggles, significant layers
can begin to draw this conclusion. Marxists need to assist this process
by drawing on past experience and explaining what a genuine party of the
workers and youth would fight for and how it would be different to the
existing parties that defend the system.
New battles loom in Chile. Remembering the first
9/11 and drawing the lessons from that bloody defeat can assist the new
generation to prepare for them. They can also prepare the way to
overthrow the capitalist system and usher in a genuine, democratic,
socialist alternative.
Tony Saunois
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