The Chilean Oasis was a Mirage
Translated article written by Martin Arias, published by El Desconcierto (02.11.2019). Find the original article here.
Chile, 1971. After a long process of negotiating with large North American mining companies, copper was nationalised by the first elected socialist president in the world. But this was a fleeting joy, since that — for the US in the midst of the Cold War — this was an unpardonable offence, just as bad, or worse than having a socialist country in their backyard. Nationalisation hence became another nail in the coffin of this Chilean experiment; one which took too many decades — of blood, suffering and struggle — for the betterment of the quality of life for its workers and population. Like so many other instances before, and in so many other places, the empowerment of the working class provoked the wrath of those accustomed to centralising power. So on the 11th of September, 1973, with much help from the US, the Unidad Popular was replaced by one of the bloodiest dictatorships on the continent.
During the seventeen years of the civil-military dictatorship, Pinochet established the most hard-line neoliberal reforms seen in the world. The setting was perfect, people terrorised by the prospect of death, being ‘disappeared’, and tortured, the people were made neutral by the vengeance of the military, backed up by the Chilean oligarchy. They were in no condition to impede the total privatisation proposed by Milton Friedman and his Chilean students from the Chicago School of Economics (the Chicago Boys). These transformation took place in a country split in two: where workers were obliged to compete according to the logic of social darwinism in order to survive on their own; while the elite enjoyed the profits and benefits of their new business in the recently privatised sector of basic services.
State terrorism was justified by the slogan of the macroeconomic resurrection during this period, so beginning the early construction of the “Chilean Miracle”. However, in 1975 there was a major macroeconomic crisis, conveniently forgotten about by the Chicago Boys, which obliged Pinochet to allow the them to participate in government. Additionally there was the major international macroeconomic crisis of the 1980s, which hit the country hard. Although Chile was not the most unfortunate country during this period, the rate of unemployment, economic growth and inflation was scandalous enough [1] to bring the terrorised population to the streets with mobilisations that ended with the departure of the dictator. Mining multinationals and direct foreign investment returned with the arrival of democracy in 1990. During this decade Chile was consolidated as the “poster child” for new liberal economy, thanks to a rapid and sustained macroeconomic growth rate and stability. This thrilled Friedman and dazzled other Latin American nations, also “neoliberalised” and indebted by the IMF through the imposition of structural readjustment policies.
Due to the simultaneous rise of the “Asian Tigers”, Chile also adopted a its own metaphor, self-proclaimed as “The Jaguar of Latin America”, a branding used to sell themselves abroad as a serious, politically and macro-economically stable and developed country — unlike its more tormented neighbours. Chile embraced globalisation, becoming the country with the most signed free-trade agreements in the world. This consolidated its undisputed leadership in the production of copper — essential for expanding economies. This international image contrasted with what was going on internally: a growing concentration of revenue, labour precarity, increase in families vacated from proper accommodation, centralism and wounds still open from the terror of the dictatorship — due to the impunity of many guilty politicians, citizens and military. With these contrasts, Chilean society slowly grew more and more tense.
The governments which followed the dictatorship governed “within the possible means”, which failed to diminish any of these problematic issues. On the contrary, the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia [2] failed to fulfil their promise to bring back happiness to the Chilean people, evident in the delays to put war criminals on trial; the extreme open trade; and the deepening of the privatising process in key sectors such as education, health and pensions. As this was carried out, the governments only widened the already abysmal cracks of various sorts. In today’s Chile, 1% of the population holds a third of the income — in light of this, it is considered one of the most unequal countries in the world.
Despite this, the current right-wing government has continued to sell Chile internationally as an “oasis” in the midst of a Latin America becoming more and more rebellious in the face of social injustices, as president Piñera said some weeks ago. But the magnitude of the latest protests have made it clear that this social “oasis” was in reality a “mirage”, proven by the strength of the massive mobilisations never before seen in the country. Unlike the Concertación governments — apt in the quelling of social movements — the arrogance and ineptitude of a government consisting of a conglomerate of right-wing parties has served as the perfect social catalysts to unleash the rage accumulating since 1973. More than anything due to the characteristics of their leader, president Piñera.
Piñera has a dark history: being a fugitive of the law for the Banco de Talca scam; facing various accusations for workplace harassment, nepotism and use of privileged information; creation of zombie business and other forms of tax evasion. In addition to being a Harvard doctorate, his praise of neo-nacionalist governments such as Bolsonaro and Trump, and his overriding style of doing business and politics, we have a character that encompasses all that dispossessed Chilean society detests. That is, an amoral businessman that made a fortune during the dictatorship by taking advantage of legal gaps or his position of power. Part of that group of people who exists above the law, that are sent to ethics classes when they are caught guilty of grave economic crimes, and that are determined to neglect any kind of improvement in social justice.
So, after two years of a government that boasted of reducing social advancements, it met its limit with a new rise in public transport fares. This led to an upheaval of the Chileans people, to mass evasion of metro fares which resulted in the a post office in Santiago going up in flames. And even more gas was thrown on these flames when it was revealed that the president was idly enjoying pizza in a rich neighbourhood while all this was happening, to then shortly after declare an immediate state of emergency. This then results in a political incapacity to respond to the demands for structural change, on top of a militarisation of the conflict. Piñera announced a war against the mobilised people of Chile on national television, leaving the military in charge of some of the most important cities of the country. This management of the crisis was a reminder of the painful events of the dictatorship, especially considering the alarming amount of violations of human rights by the armed forces. Today social media platforms show thousands of unarmed citizens — children and adults — injured by the police and the army, some of which have passed away. Today, they have caught arrests occurring in the middle of the night by civilian cars, of people still yet to be found. Today, the National Institute for Human Rights has received reports of sexual harassment of tortured and battered women. Today, right in the 21st century, the practices of a supposedly surpassed dictatorship still continue.
However, today the Chilean people also decided not to turn back, and continue to upheave the streets en mass in order to demand structural reforms — as shown by the sea of more than a million protesters on the 25th of October and at the marches following that. Beating on kitchen pans and spoons, the manifestations don’t cease, and don’t intend to cease, while there still exists Chileans and their flags. “They have taken so much that they left us without fear” can be read on much of the protestors’ signs, the same people who challenge the night curfews or the weapons that they point back at with their pans. The people have unmasked the idea of a stable Chile, unveiling at an international level this mirage, and it reveals a territory of economic, social and urban violence that unceasingly deepens. In the words of Victor Jara, murdered by the dictatorship, today the Chilean people are organised and they demand a new social pact formulated in a new constitution, which puts an end to the inequality imposed and exacerbated since the dictatorship, a substantial and historical change that guarantees their binding participation in the construction and defence of their legitimate “right to live in peace”.
[1] In 1982, the unemployment rate reached 22% (Castañera, 1983), the growth rate was -14.4% and the inflation rate was 9.9% (World Bank data).
[2] The coalition party consisting of left, centre and right wing political parties which formed the opposition to Pinochet’s regime (Translator’s note).
[3] https://www.ft.com/content/980ec442-ee91-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195
