By Camilo Parada Ortiz and Maura Fajardo Gálvez, constituent candidates
The political earthquake of the recent elections changed the political situation in the country, the 30-year parties, the right and the former Concertación marked their decline, while the “independent phenomenon” and the anti-capitalist left stepped up to the electoral arena. The new stage opened after the rebellion continues its course with more challenges and opportunities.
No survey or “expert” of the bourgeoisie could decipher the collapse of the regime that led to the elections and its results. Apparently the opinion of the representatives of the order were still waiting for the country´s fairy tale that they are used to, the same tale for export in which two years ago Piñera was encouraged to pose Chile as an “oasis” or, in the 90’s, the Concertación showed off with the “jaguars of Latin America.” Slogans that exemplified capitalist stability imposed after the historical defeat that the dictatorship and the transition to democracy had meant.
So if we talk about ideologies, false ideas tend to vanish when the class struggle deepens. The irruption of the mass movement on October 18, 2019 in the first place made those fairy tales fall, while the limits of the possible were destroyed. It was a change of such magnitude that it opened a new stage in recent history, tuning Chile into the continental “normality” of crisis and rebellion.
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In that context, the elections of May 15 and 16 show that the course of the rebellion continues; albeit with evident inequalities, the country’s left turn was expressed. It was characterized by the disapproval of the parties of the “30 years” and secondly, as a counterpart, the emergence of the independents who were the election´s “surprise” by occupying decisive spaces in the Convention. Who are they? All those who are not under the wing of the traditional parties of the regime and had to gather their own sponsorships to run in the elections. In this phenomenon, the People’s List stands out, which, with an ambiguous program and figures of the uprising, channeled a large part of the vote. The lists of social movements that had candidates elected also stand out. In turn, the anti-capitalist left was part of this space, in which the participation of our organization, the Movimiento Anticapitalista, and our candidacies stood out.
The elections modified the political map of the country and although we are still in the midst of events, the dynamic indicates that the process continues, since: a) the vote has a programmatic component in which the challenge to the capitalist-neoliberal model is central; b) the right wing failed to occupy a quorum of 1/3 to stop the initiatives in the Constitutional Convention; c) the economic and health crisis further accelerated the break with the model and the new Chile adds the characteristic of social pressure in the face of unpopular offensives.
That is why the panorama changed, in tune with Latin America and the world, the pre-revolutionary stage is expressed. Possibilities are opening up to advance in strengthening anti-capitalist alternatives, which will only be possible to develop if we are able to intervene in real processes without sectarianism, identifying their limits, but also without isolating ourselves politically. In addition to the characteristics exposed, we must also add that today the mass movement begins a new experience with the “independent phenomenon” and in turn, the reserves of struggle are still present to advance in radical transformations as demonstrated in the elections. This perspective begins with the demand for the freedom of the rebellion´s political prisoners and declaring the CC a free and sovereign Constituent Assembly to discuss absolutely everything.
The challenges are to avoid the expectations of change being diluted and therefore, to accumulate organized forces with a transformative strategy, that is why to close we leave an extract of our open letter to the independent elected representatives, to the People’s List, to the social movements and the anti-capitalist left:
“We salute you and look with optimism at the challenges that arise and from hereon, the Movimiento Anticapitalista and the social space that we promote make themselves available to work side by side to strengthen the ideas of change in the Constitutional Convention, while we forge spaces for the popular will to have a democratic channel and the elected representatives are great spokespersons for the people´s voices. Sustaining the path taken, coming together in unity and forging political activism will be central to the challenges of the present. We believe that it is possible and necessary to urgently promote assemblies, forums and all kinds of spaces for popular self-organization to sustain and strengthen the Constituyent action of the coming months, with a democratic and respectful method, we can give the electoral force a superior content of organization and program.”