A good
example for the Latin America and Europe
globinfo
freexchange
The
good news come from a South-American country that became the first
lab-rat of neoliberalism, four decades ago.
(http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2013/09/september-11-1973-start-of-global.html)
Chile shows the road for change and hope through the power of its
people.
From
Foreign Policy in Focus:
“In
2011, students in Chile made headlines when they launched a
nationwide strike lasting almost eight months. The trigger was
high tuition costs that drove students and their families into
debt. There were coordinated marches in all major cities. At some
universities students took over buildings. The marches took on
almost a carnival atmosphere with students engaging in 'kiss-ins'
and pillow fights. Before long, the marches became multifaceted.
Opponents of the massive HidroAysén dam project in Patagonia
joined in. Students and trade unions joined forces when workers
staged strikes and marched in Santiago and other major cities.
Tasha Fairfield, an assistant professor for the London School of
Economics’ Department of International Development, said the
strikes were pivotal. 'The student movement played a critical role
in creating political space,' Fairfield said. It 'dramatically
changed the political context in Chile and helped to place the
issues of Chile’s extreme inequalities centrally on the national
agenda.'”
“More
than two thirds of the population supported the student movement
and its demands for education reform. The students consistently
rejected the government’s attempts to appease the protesters as
grossly insufficient. Their goal was free university tuition.
President Sebastian Piñera, the first conservative president
since the 1988 plebiscite that ended General Augusto Pinochet’s
dictatorship, saw his ratings plummet to the lowest of any leader
in the post-authoritarian era. Ordinary Chileans had made clear
that they wanted to see changes in their society. This set the
stage for Michelle Bachelet to run for election in 2013.”
“Isabel
Allende (from the Socialist Party), daughter of Salvador Allende,
became the first woman president of the senate. Several student
leaders, including Camila Vallejo (of the Communist Party) and
Gabriel Boric (an Independent), launched political careers by
winning their bids to join the Chamber of Deputies. The left was
swept into power by a wave of public support and gained strong
majorities in both houses of the National Congress. [...] The
government put together a package that would raise corporate
income taxes from 20 percent to at least 25 percent and close tax
loopholes for companies and wealthy business owners. The changes
promised to bring in an estimated $8.3 billion each year. The
government pledged to put half of these funds toward providing
free education for all Chileans by the year 2020 and to roll back
the for-profit schools that emerged during Pinochet’s
dictatorship. The remainder would be used to improve the health
care system and other social programs.”
“Although
many of the protests of 2011 — the year of Occupy Wall Street —
have faded, Chilean students and workers managed to win many of
their demands. This experience offers important lessons for
popular movements struggling for similar goals around the world.”
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It
is characteristic that the struggle has started from the student
community and the youth, and this shows why the systemic
establishment in Greece tries to suppress the student community:
http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/11/official-ultimate-goal-fascistization.html
The
battle in South America is hard as the Western neoliberal bloc tries
to take under control most of the countries in the region, against
the new "threat" of the Sino-Russian bloc. Although
Argentina shows signs of resistance - trying to escape from the
international banking cartels that pushed the country one more time
to default - by approaching Russia, Venezuela recently fell into the
trap of the cartels after the recent oil war.
(http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-02/how-goldman-sachs-became-broke-venezuelas-loan-shark)
Nicolás
Maduro is certainly not as charismatic as Chávez was, but should had
take better advantage of Venezuela's position inside OPEC, being also
one of the first members of the organization. Russia should also
approach Venezuela, especially after the latest decision by - the
manipulated by the US oil industry and the Saudi monarchs - OPEC
(http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/11/the-oil-war-on-russia.html),
which harms the interests of both countries.
Venezuela
must also take advantage of Brazil's position inside BRICS and form
with, as many as possible, Latin American countries a strong
coalition against brutal Western corporate and financial monopolies.
In
any case, beyond the battles and games in the geopolitical arena,
Chile's example shows that people are a key factor for significant,
or even radical, changes in every country. European countries should
take advantage of this example, as eurozone became the new laboratory
of the most cruel form of neoliberalism, while change in the European
political scene appears to be substantial and fast.
(http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2014/11/european-leftist-domino-already-started.html)
If not now, when?
Read
also:
..september 11th, 1973....Alliende'...there were 6 hours of video, 2 years after ("Bloody September")...summarily "disappeared", along with Pinochet's others...let's also recall Milton Friedman's, "Chicago Boys", sent to deal the military dictatorship replacing democratically elected Alliende' his end-game...neocons' favorite Randite...
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