A little light: Chilean Winter

(Editor - Welcome to the final article of 2011 - part three of a series of articles just for wintry December, looking for a little light as the dark nights get colder. We will be back on 2nd January, in our usual Monday evening slot. A big thanks to all of the readers who visited the blog through 2010-11 and we hope to see you again in 2012.)

Whilst the Occupy protesters worldwide regroup, they can take hope from the success of other peaceful protests taking place elsewhere around the world. In particular they can look to the influence of the events of the Chilean Winter throughout the past year.

For eight months these protests have now been running - lead by students of Chilean universities. In that time (in spite of the aggressive tactics deployed to break them up) the movement has had a real affect upon public policy - even getting so far as to have spokespeople from the movement enter sit down negotiations with ministers and even the President (IBT, 2011).

One student spokesperson in particular, Camila Vallejo Dowling, has become something of a symbol for the movement (Margolis, 2011).

"You have to recognise that beauty can be a hook. It can be a compliment, they come to listen to me because of my appearance, but then I explain the ideas. A movement as historical as this cannot be summarised in such superficial terms.

"We do not want to improve the actual system; we want a profound change – to stop seeing education as a consumer good, to see education as a right where the state provides a guarantee.

"Why do we need education? To make profits. To make a business? Or to develop the country and have social integration and development? Those are the issues in dispute."

Camila Vallejo Dowling, in the Guardian; 2011.

However, she is just one of several leaders of a movement driving demands for better education, standardised education and fairer state financing (Jones, 2011). And these protests have support - attracting as many as 250,000 people (Sehnbruch & Donoso, 2011).

In the face of such a well supported movement, better education, cleaner politics and fairer finance are demands that can't be ignored forever. In Chile the senate education committee recently approved a bill that will seek to restrict profit seeking education establishments seeking state entitlements - one of the major demands of the student movement (Nunez, 2011). Breakthroughs can be made.

Even in nations under diktat, the demands of people have won out through peaceful protests - even in the face of hostile authorities. Tunisia, Egypt, and Chile have all shown the power of popular movements to be a force for good. They have also shown the willingness of young people to 'get political' when they perceive an avenue through which their voices might be heard. Both of these are modest but solid sparks of hope in the midst of dark times.

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References:
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+ IBT's 'Chile's student leader Vallejo arrives for a meeting with President Pinera at the La Moneda Presidential Palace at Santiago'; 3 September 2011.

+ Mac Margolis' 'Hard-Left Heartthrob'; in The Daily Beast; 3 October 2011.

+ Jonathan Franklin's 'Chile's Commander Camila, the student who can shut down a city'; in The Guardian; 24 August 2011.

+ Oliver Jones' 'Camila Vallejo and the Chilean Student Protests -- how to actually change policy'; in Asylum; 9 November 2011.

+ Kirsten Sehnbruch & Sofia Donoso's 'Chilean winter of discontent: are protests here to stay?'; in OpenDemocracy; 21 August 2011.

+ Maria Paz Nunez's 'Comisión de Educación del Senado aprueba proyecto que pone fin al lucro y pasa a discusión en la sala'; in Politica; 31 August 2011.

(Ed - For the not-polyglots, I suggest a trip to Google translate when checking non-English sources)