Chile: Thousands of students march for better education, against privatization
- El Mostrador photo
[Translations of two articles, the first from La Jornada of Mexico City, the second from El Mostrador of Santiago, Chile, both from July 1. See originals here and here and related articles here.]
Hundreds of thousands of students demand education reforms
Confrontations with police result in 38 arrests, 20 injuries to cops
By Enrique Gutiérrez
Santiago, June 30 – In one of the largest demonstrations of the past 20 years, some 200,000 Chilean students rallied today at La Moneda, the presidential palace, to demand reform in public education and to reject privatization, resulting in isolated confrontations with the police, with at least 38 arrests and two dozen injuries to police officers, and a warning from the president, businessman Sebastián Piñera, that strikes and demonstrations will not improve the educational system.
“Un pueblo educado jamás será engañado” [“An educated people will never be deceived”], “Queremos educación pública gratuita y de calidad” [“We want free, quality education”] shouted the students, among whom were high school and university students as well as professors. “We want the government to understand that this is a political movement, that what we are fighting for is better education,” asserted student leader Camila Vallejos.
“Y va a caer, y va a caer… la educación de Pinochet” [“And it will fall, and it will fall… Pinochet’s education system”] was another chant. The figure of Pinochet was prominent on posters, since it was during the dictatorship that the current educational system was instituted, as was the figure of the former president, Michelle Bachelet of the socialist party, who left the problem unresolved during her administration, leaving it for rightist Sebastián Piñera, whose approval rating is at its lowest (36 percent) since he assumed office 16 months ago.
“This has been historical. Nothing like this has been seen since the return to democracy (in 1990),” commented Giorgio Jackson, a student leader.
“We hope the authorities are up to the challenge of recovering a public education system now. So far, we have not seen any transforming measures in this system and so citizen pressure is going to continue,” the leader added.
Participating in the protest were students and professors from high schools and public and private univesities who came together to demand more funding for education, which currently stands at four percent of the Gross National Product, as compared to the seven percent recommended by the United Nations Foundation for Education.
Faced with the protests, which took part in other cities as well, Piñera asserted, “Strikes, demonstrations are legitimate but education will not improve with strikes or demonstrations; it will improve with work, with studies, with responsibility, with commitment.” He affirmed that soon, once calm has returned, he will release his education plan, which will incorporate students’ proposals.
An earlier poposal by the government was rejected as inadequate by students and the Consejo de Rectores.
Minister of Education Joaquín Lavín, widely criticized by students and opposition legislators over his failure to initiate a dialogue, accused the student movement of becoming “politicized,” and of taking on a “more ideological” nature with the additional participation in the protests of other groups like state and healthcare workers.
The violent incidents ocurred at the end of the massive demonstration when groups of youths attempted to loot some businesses and approached the Brazilian embassy, across from the Ministry of Education. The police responded with water cannons, tear gas and officers on horseback to disperse the demonstrators.
Chile has 3.5 million grammar and high-school students and one million higher education students. Private loans to finance higher education carry high interest rates, resulting in students carrying debts when they finish their educations comparable to those of mortgages.
The conflict has dragged on for more than three weeks, with more than 200 high schools and some 30 universities being occupied by their students.
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Student movement demonstrates power
Organizers claim 400,000 demonstrators across the country
Shortly after 4:00pm, the Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile (Confech – Confederation of Students of Chile) and the Colegio de Profesores [a group of professors] made a count of the demonstrations called as part of the Paro Nacional de Educación [National Education Strike], which took place on Thursday along with the Asamblea Coordinadora de Estudiantes Secundarias [Coordinating Assembly of High-School Students].
According to the organizers, there were at least 200,000 people in the noon march along the Alameda and more than 196,000 taking part in massive demonstrations in other cities, like Valparaíso and Concepción.
“This was a grand and monumental day. This gives us a signal and establishes that this is a citizen movement for public education,” asserted the president of the Colegio de Profesores, Jaime Gajardo.
One spokesperson for Confech, president of the Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad Católica [Federation of Students of the Catholic University], Giorgio Jackson, stressed that there were more than twice as many gathered today in the center of the capital as at the demonstration of a week ago.
The march last week had been considered the largest in the past 20 years. Political scientist Patricio Navia wrote on his Twitter page that “never in the democratic period have there been so many opponents on the street since the right led marches against Allende.”
“It is something historical and it was absolutely successful. The only problem was that there were so many of us and we moved so slow, but it was extremely important in the history of Chile and this marks a turning point and calls on the political class to make the strengthening of education a state policy.”
Jackson also indicated that this weekend Confech will meet to decide what steps to take next, but warned that what is not in question is whether they will continue the mobilization. “We will not set the mobilization aside because they are trying to divide us or trying to wear us out. We are going to stand firm until we get what we want,” Jackson said.
Interior Minister Ena von Baer questioned the demonstration, declaring, “We would love to have all the energy we saw in the streets today channelled into sitting and working to improve the quality of education. The government has shown forcefully its desire to reach a consensus, but this is going to be very difficult if the students keep taking their positions to extremes. The truth is that intransigence doesn’t help anyone.”
Similarly, the president accused the students of being politicized and aimed his criticism at the Concertación [the opposition coalition], asserting that “a large part of the responsibility for the situation of education today is theirs,” calling on the opposition to “listen a little more to what the students are saying.”
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“Me Gustan los Estudiantes” (“I Like Students”) was composed in the 1960s by Chilean singer Violeta Parra. Her recording of the song is here in MP3 format and the lyrics follow.
Me gustan los estudiantes
¡Que vivan los estudiantes,
jardín de nuestra alegría!
Son aves que no se asustan
de animal ni policía,
y no le asustan las balas
ni el ladrar de la jauría.
Caramba y zamba la cosa,
¡que viva la astronomía!
Long live students,
The garden of our joy!
They are birds that aren’t frightened
By animals or police,
And they aren’t afraid of bullets
Or the barking of the dog pack.
Caramba y zamba la cosa,
Long live Astronomy!
¡Me gustan los estudiantes
que rugen como los vientos
cuando les meten al oído
sotanas y regimientos.
Pajarillos libertarios,
igual que los elementos.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
¡que vivan los experimentos!
I like students,
Who roar like the winds
When priests’ soutains and regiments
Are thrown over their ears.
Freedom-loving birds,
Just like the elements.
Caramba y zamba la cosa,
Long live Experiments!
Me gustan los estudiantes
porque levantan el pecho
cuando le dicen harina
sabiéndose que es afrecho,
y no hacen el sordomudo
cuando se presenta el hecho.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
¡el código del derecho!
I like the students
Because they raise their breasts
When they are told it’s flour
When it’s only chaff,
And they don’t feign deafness
When faced with the facts.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
The Code of Law!
Me gustan los estudiantes
porque son la levadura
del pan que saldrá del horno
con toda su sabrosura,
para la boca del pobre
que come con amargura.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
¡viva la literatura!
I like students
Because they are yeast
For the bread that will come
From the oven, with all its goodness,
To feed the poor,
Who eat in bitterness.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
Long live Literature!
Me gustan los estudiantes
que marchan sobre la ruina.
Con las banderas en alto
va toda la estudiantina:
son químicos y doctores,
cirujanos y dentistas.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
¡vivan los especialistas!
I like students
Who march over the ruins.
The whole student body goes by
With their banners raised,
They are chemists and doctors,
Surgeons and dentists.
Caramba y zamba la cosa
Long live the Specialists!
Me gustan los estudiantes
que con muy clara elocuencia
a la bolsa negra sacra
le bajó las indulgencias.
Porque, ¿hasta cuándo nos dura
señores, la penitencia?
Caramba y zamba la cosa
¡Qué viva toda la ciencia!
Tags: Camila Vallejos, Chile, Confederacion de Estudiantes de Chile, education reform, Giorgio Jackson, Joaquin Lavin, Paro Nacional de Educacion, privatization, Sebastian Pinera, student movement