Nee, dit wordt geen vage Vretecool-fantasie, helaas, dit is bittere ernst. Waar grote delen van Zuid-Amerika gebukt gaan onder economische en sociale onrust, bleef het in Chili rustig. Er waren weliswaar fitties met Bolivia, over een zeehaven, en problemen met droogte, klimaatverandering, maar verder was het vooral schijnbare voorspoed en dat 4300km lange land.
Helaas, een prijsverhoging van metrokaartjes, 30 pesos, was midden oktober de vonk in het kruitvat vol volkswoede. Woede om de extreme 30 jaar ongelijkheid in geld en kansen, een grondwet die grotendeels nog stamt uit de tijd van de dictatuur, de almaar ergere corruptie, de voortdurende uitholling van de democratie en het gebrek aan toekomst voor de jonge generatie.
Normaal zijn de Chilenen de meer ingetogen Zuid-Amerikanen, maar nu even niet. Boos en machteloos gaan ze de straat op. Onze vrouw in Chili, Jimena Con Jota, nam haar camera mee tussen de demonstranten in Santiago en stuurde deze foto’s, voorzien van een persoonlijk commentaar.
Jimena, over naar jou. Kom er maar in!
No son 30 pesos, son 30 años” / “It’s not 30 pesos, it’s 30 years
Santiago, Chile
Dear friends,
I share with you photos of my Chile in Revolution, where men, women, children, students, workers are protesting peacefully … for our basic rights. And despite the strong police repression we have, in which many have lost an eye or have been arrested and tortured … we continue on the streets, shouting, touching our pots and pans … with music, with union, HOPE … For a better future for ALL.
Why do we march and manifest? We march because we are tired of the abuses, of the increases in the high costs of education, health, for theft with pensions, for a new Constitution.
This Revolution was started by high school students who massively evaded the Metro ticket one day after a $ 30 pesos hike. This movement was started by them and was followed and supported by thousands and thousands of families, retirees, men, women, children throughout the country; who has been playing casseroles for two weeks and gathering in squares, parks and avenues; with activities of all kinds to support the movement.
This Revolution belongs to normal people who have to pay high costs for education, health, life. We are the vast majority who do not have the privileges of a few and we march because we are tired of so much inequality, of so much abuse, corruption and theft by governments, politicians, businessmen and corporations.
And despite the State of Emergency in which we were the first days with Touch of Stay and military in the streets; and in spite of the current and constant police repression, those who shoot directly in the eyes of the protesters … We continue in the streets. The police with their weapons … and us with our cooking pots and pans, our songs, our dances, our HOPE and UNION. We are not afraid, we are peaceful and we are millions!
And this is the most beautiful of this Revolution, we are the people, without colors or parties or political divisions. It is moving to see all this, because after a long military dictatorship Chile was radically divided into two blocks, the Left parties block and the Right parties block. Now WE ARE THE PEOPLE demanding changes, improvements, justice, equality.
They are not 30 pesos of the Metro’s rise, they are 30 years of a system that has squeezed the lives of the people of this country.
On November 1, women dressed in black, with a White handkerchief and a white flower went for a walk on the main avenue of Santiago. We walk hand in hand and in silence, in mourning for all the women who died and disappeared in dictatorship and for all those who have been arrested, tortured, abused and killed in democracy. We were many who walked that day, with deep respect and pain for those who are not here. We march for them, for us and for our daughters and granddaughters.
We march in silence, without fear, demanding Justice.
Mooi artikel.
Daar houd ik dus niet van.
Gare lay, da’s wel mooi.
Prima stukje.
Probleem is dat er niet direct een oplossing is. Verkiezingen leveren in dit soort landen vaak gewoon meer van hetzelfde op. Een rijke upperclass geeft echt niet zomaar z’n privileges en invloed op. Geld stuurt de politiek.
Of de pleuris breekt uit (ja, het kan nog veel erger) waarbij uiteindelijk het leger moet kiezen tussen volk of staat; waarschijnlijk het laatste.
Of het wordt heel langzaam telkens een beetje beter, net genoeg om de betogers wat kalmer te houden en net niet te snel voor de diegenen die hun geldstroom op zien drogen.