The people´s rebellion continues its course despite the government’s efforts to decompress the outbreak, the country’s militarization stage was gunpowder for the people´s repudiation, generating strong social responses, Santiago lived a historic march with over 1.5 million people, while in other regions the massive demonstration denied the signs of fatigue and strongly expressed the desire for Piñera to resign. From the politics of the speech of war to the attempt to “normalize” with cosmetic reforms, the government has been unable to halt the rebellion. Thus, the scenario is still open to dismantle the inheritance of Pinochet and build a new country, a situation in which each political sector intervenes with strength to maintain the pillars that they built in the last 30 years.
Piñera´s replacements
On the Monday after the historic march, Piñera, accompanied by a broad media operation that aimed to normalize of the country, called for the resignation of his cabinet, very much in tune with his previous public commitment to the “social agenda.” The hated Interior Minister Chadwick was replaced by Gonzalo Blumel. The change sought a young face of the “progresive” wing of the right wing EVOPOLIS. The spokeswoman Cecilia Pérez was replaced by Metropolitan Mayor Karla Rubilar, who debuted hours later blaming alleged guerrillas for the damage experienced the same day. The ministers of Finance, Economy and Labor, among others, were also replaced.
The gamble lasted just a few minutes for the joy of Piñera, because around La Moneda there were protesters being repressed by Special Forces and throughout the afternoon there was a strong demonstration throughout the country that continued in subsequent days. The social uprising maintains 80% rejection of the government, in the streets you can hear “Piñera must go” and “new constitution”. The government invoked all anti-democratic laws to support itself through the military, so is this democracy or not? The replacements will not be enough against the people´s will that calls for substantive changes, sufficient indicators for the Government to resign, something basic and elementary if we want to talk about “democracy”.
Cosmetic changes, social pacts and constitutional reforms to the rhythm of Pinochet’s democracy
What is in crisis is the complete system that was forged by blood and fire during the dictatorship, and was consolidated in the years of the “transition.” The Derehca, Concertación along with the ex- Nueva Mayoría that the PC joined, governed all these years without marking differences with wild neoliberalism. “It´s not 30 pesos, it´s 30 years” is the slogan that holds all those who have administered neoliberal capitalism protected by the Pinochet Constitution responsible.
In this context, the similarity between those who are part of the problem is the need to keep the political regime as intact as possible and avoid at all costs that the privileges they have built for them and for those they represent fall apart. That is why Congress has remained in session even while Piñera militarized the country, constituting an institutional support for the government in this crisis. That lever of governance protected by all, from the PC-FA to the UDI, is measured in relation to the 1980 Constitution which, in turn, allows the Constitutional Court to act unilaterally against any measure that is dissociated from the Constitution by declaring it “unconstitutional”. These shackles inherited from the dictatorship are the margins within which those who sit in Congress are subjected.
That objective factor that operates within the framework of governance of the country has a parallel in what each political force says. In the case of the FA, they have made a receptive mattress against the social agenda for the government by maintaining sessions as normal. While together with the PC they want to address the crisis via a Constitutional accusation against Piñera, channeling the crisis through the regime´s margins. The problem is that it requires 78 of 155 votes in the Chamber of Deputies and 29 of 43 in the Senate. That is, it must be supported by the right to be successful. Already the president of the PC, Guillermo Teillier admitted that they do not have the votes.
That instrument is in tune with the policy of “dialogue without exclusions” as an attempt by the PC, the FA and sectors of the former Nueva Mayoría to implement a “new social pact” – a sign that the CUT agitates in Social Unity. All this crosses the tensions of the new constitution that echoes in the mobilized majorities, therefore a policy of channeling changes without the mobilized people, an attempt to demobilize and manage the discontent in an institutional way.
Beyond certain statements in the media, the truth is that they clarify their position by maintaining isolated actions at the level of mobilization, without continuity of the effective strikes and depending the dialogue with the government even while it was assassinating the people. False illusions to keep the old regime from falling.
Social self-organization to impose a Constituent Assembly.
Protected democracy is based on the decisions of a few, today the people have demonstrated with strength the social reserves to forcefully impose their will. It is that path that must be strengthened to overcome any attempt to redirect the current social energy within the margins of the inherited institutional framework of the dictatorship.
For the people to decide, we must overthrow Piñera and the whole Pinochet heritage, paralyze Congress, because it is an organism that does not represent the majorities. This has already been expressed in the streets. Therefore, we must call, via social mobilization, a constituent process to refound the country. To achieve this, we must carry on like the port workers, making the general strike effective, extending it to all the unions. Encourage mass mobilization that puts repression in check and, above all, strengthen each instance of self-convened deliberation as a decision-making body in this process, coordinating the self-organized assemblies at a national level, as an engine and lever for the Constituent Assembly, without any interference from those who have been part of the institution.
In this perspective, it becomes necessary to discuss in depth what we need, the construction of a revolutionary political alternative that is willing to make the necessary possible. We make those proposals available to you and invite you to join Movimiento Anticapitalista.
Movimiento Anticapitalista