By Joaquín Araneda, Movimiento Anticapitalista
The Piñera government received another blow with the declaration of inadmissibility of the petition filed in the Constitutional Court to stop the third withdrawal of 10% of the AFPs. A new failure generated by popular pressure, the call for a strike on 30A, internal debates and possible ministerial resignations. With the government weakened, it is time to follow the example of the dockers: make the strike effective to defeat Piñera and put in place emergency measures for the workers.
The scenario dazzled the crisis in the Chile Vamos bloc, the unpopular policy of going to the TC weeks before the elections of May 15 and 16 did not find an echo in the right wing as a whole, a fact that was ratified in the votes of the House of Representatives and the Senate. That is why, acknowledging receipt, Piñera had to go back on his “anti-retirement” discourse and on Sunday, through Cadena Nacional, he proposed his own withdrawal of 10% of the AFP. Similar in form to that of the parliamentary opposition, it would incorporate the return of capital to the insurance companies of the funds in the hands of the business community and the State, ratifying his commitment to the AFPs.
In terms of dialogue to face the internal crisis, the government had to face meetings since last Thursday to close ranks in its own bloc, an act that it certified while speaking to the country together with the candidates of the right wing and its ministries, Evopolis being the only one absent. And at the same time, that dialogue that, poll in hand, in the first place, faced Chile Vamos, needed in the same way to “cook” the proposal with the opposition, starting with the former Concertación to decompress the social boiler, although it did not succeed because of maintaining the search to stop the project of the Congress from the TC and also, because the government project was not drafted, therefore, it would take longer than expected, according to the own representatives of the opposition.
The last voice came through the anti-democratic TC, which did not want to support with benzine the fire of popular condemnation that has been growing in the last few days, increasing Piñera’s agony by denying him the appeal. A hard setback that demonstrates, once again, the critical moment of a government that bets on maintaining the profits of the big capitalists in a context of deep economic crisis. After hours of this sentence by the Court, Piñera had to face a new National Broadcast to announce that he will enact the withdrawal of 10% from Congress, having to give in and not to resort to the “veto” that meant uncertainty about his permanence in power, stating that “they are not deaf” to accept the defeat by beating he is receiving these days. Once again, the path of mobilization is clear, with the force of the streets any government can be bent, now the decisive thing: it is key to maintain the general strike so that it goes away and that the crisis is not paid by the working people.
The dockers are leading the way: to make the strike effective and to set up an emergency program for the workers.
The popular pressure, the entry on the scene of the dockers, who paralyzed 25 ports in the country and decisively confronted repression, and the call for a general strike, were the central factors to see Piñera’s new failure. At this point, his remaining in power responds to the needs of the Pact and that the discontent be channeled through institutional channels on the eve of the elections, for this reason the opposition does not promote measures that make the capitalists pay for the crisis, but its maxim responds to self-financing with social security savings, while in the face of a government that violates human rights, with null approval and that strives to preserve the interests of a minority concentrated in power, they do not seek its departure, the majority keeps silent on the continuity of the government, for its part the CP, is pushing again the Constitutional Accusation, trusting in parliament (and the 2/3 it needs for it to be achieved! ), instead of promoting the strike called by the CUT.
For our part, we believe that there is an alternative if we trust in the social forces and that, if we rely on the path taken by the dockers, we not only give strength to #FueraPiñera but we can also impose a real emergency program that responds immediately to the urgent needs of our people:
- Quarantine without hunger. Taxes on large fortunes to finance a basic universal emergency income for all of us who live in the country, not less than $550,000.
- A single, free and universal health system. Centralize the entire health system, personnel and infrastructure in the hands of the State and with control of health workers to effectively address the pandemic. Cancellation of patents and state production of vaccines.
- Repression is not health. End the curfew, eliminate the power of supervision of the repressive apparatus, enough of human rights violations against our people. Dissolution of carabineros and free political prisoners.
It is evident that there is enough strength to go for more than a retreat, that the demands of October continue to set the agenda and that, therefore, the social movements, the unions, activism and all the left that is for radical changes, for transforming everything, we have to move forward jointly in the fight for these points and to define the situation in favor of the majorities.
The experience of our continent and the world is clear, half-measures and parliamentary and institutional formulas are not enough to defeat the right wing, we must bet on mobilization and popular organization and from there constitute a political alternative to oppose the old structures.
From the Anticapitalist Movement we invite you to build together to strengthen this path.