Chile: Constitutional Accusation, the opposition´s new false illusion

On Tuesday 11 deputies of the “opposition”, the PC (Communist Party), FA (Broad Front), the PS (Socilist Party) and the PPD (Party for Democracy), among other parties, signed a document to present a Constitutional Accusation against Piñera. Contradictorily, those who ascribe to the accusation were part of the “pact for peace and a new constitution” with the government or endorsed the process. This is a new illusion of the opposition to cement the path of institutionalizing one of the demands most heard in the streets: Piñera must go.

Tailored to Pinochet’s inheritance.

Amid the outbreak, Piñera declared war against the mobilized people, a State of Emergency with soldiers in the streets violating human rights through torture, rape and murder of those demonstrating throughout the country. A whole scheme to maintain power through an internal war, which was defeated by popular mobilization.

In that process, the “opposition” began to speak of an Accusation, a parliamentary policy promoted initially by the PH (Humanist Party) and the PC. Already in those days, PC president Teillier said that “it may not be won in the Chamber or in the Senate, but the representatives are going to have to say clearly if they are in favor of the violation of the Constitution.”

The accusation mechanism is based on the Pinochet Constitution:

* The Review Commission is drawn, in this case the PS, PC, DC (Christian Democracy) and UDI (Independent Democratic Union) will each have a representative, having to analyze arguments together with experts and the defense of the accused to later present them in the Chambers.

* In the Chamber of Deputies, the accusation needs a favorable vote of 50% + 1. There are 155 representatives, so 78 would have to be in favor. The composition is that 83 declare opposition, including Christian Democrats.

* In the Senate, the law of 2/3 operates. Of the 43 senators, 29 would have to support the Accusation, and there are only 23 opposition senators.

In essence, Teiller’s words are enlightening. If there is no possibility to move forward, the Constitutional Accusation works in fact as a lifesaver for Piñera. It is a maneuver of self-promotion of the Communist Party, knowing in advance that it will fail.

Congress, the opposition and the “pact”: Piñera´s lifeline.

The November 12 general strike generated Piñera’s days of greatest instability. Faced with this scenario, the entire political regime set out to act as a lifeline for the government and state institutions. The political parties of the opposition and the right agreed on a “pact for peace and a new constitution”, a response to the strength displayed by the mobilization and the paralysis caused by the strike.

The subsequent image was of the Broad Front and the entire Opposition sitting next to the right to announce a road map for constitutional change. Their objective: to impose a “normalization” by pursuing one of the demands most felt in the streets, a new constitution, within the margins of the institutional causeways inherited from Pinochet.

The Constitutional Accusation intends to divert another of the central slogans of the mobilization, “Piñera must go”, in the same direction, trying to sow illusions in institutional paths to channel demands. This responds to a key objective of the regime: to take politics out of the streets and conceal them in Congress. In short, to demobilize.

Both policies benefit Piñera´s survival, by trying to grant the stability he needs to overcome the crisis and funnel it through the institutions inherited from Pinochet. This is the main point of agreement between all current political representatives.

They respond to the change in the correlation of forces in favor of the streets. Piñera staggered. That is why, starting with the “pact,” its spokespersons participate in a virtual co-government. One is Gael Yeomans of the Broad Front and another is Mario Overflow of National Renewal (RN). Both have been installed through Congress, a lever of the regime in the current crisis.

General strike for the pact and Piñera to leave

The main obstacle to a social overflow is the criminal policy that the Broad Front has taken up of collaborating with the Piñera government, which is responsible for human rights violations. It is in absolute contradiction with now raising the Constitutional Accusation. The PC criticized some elements of the pact, but it does not motorize the action of the trade union and student organizations in which it has a leadership role, such as the CUT and Social Unity, adopting a passivity that is functional to the regime´s maneuver and the continuity of Piñera.

It is an orientation contrary to the self-organization of assemblies and councils that sustain the political debate of the streets, a scenario that drives the protests day to day. The general strike has proven to be a key tool for advancing our demands. The strikes of October 22 and 23 pushed Piñera’s war plan back, forcing him to grant concessions. With the November 12 strike, he had to recognize the need to change the Constitution. A third strike would undoubtedly be more effective than a Constitutional Accusation to oust Piñera.

It is necessary to move forward in the coordination between self-organization, independent unions, port workers and workers in general to demand that the CUT and Social Unity call for a general strike until doing away with the pact, Piñera and the rest of them, without hesitation or false illusions. Paralyzing the country and mobilizing provide the only guarantee to achieve these objectives and to prepare the way for those who have never governed to govern.

These proposals are in tune with building a new anti-capitalist left to overcome the acts of the parliamentary left that is already part of the old regime. A different alternative is needed, born in the heat of the revolution. From Movimiento Anticapitalista, we invite you to contribute your efforts to this path and build these proposals with us.

Movimiento Anticapitalista