Chile Is In Revolt
As of mid-October, the citizens of Chile have been protesting. These protests include many different important matters. Because of these protests, the military and police have been using excessive force by killing, mistreating, gassing, and detaining many citizens. Last month, the government had agreed to create a new constitution. These protests have been going on for about a month now, but no changes have officially been made yet.
These protests all started when a group of secondary students in the capital, Santiago, had protested against an increase in metro fare. The increase of this fare was for 30 pesos, or $0.04, which made many people unhappy. Since then, the protests have increased with more demands. Protests had started to spread all around Chile, from Santiago to Antofagasta. The citizens of Chile are demanding a constitutional assembly, higher pensions and wages, affordable healthcare and better education for everyone. Even though many citizens are being killed for these protests, they have promised to stay in the streets until their government meets their specific demands for changes and improved social conditions. Despite the thousands of people protesting, many people here didn’t even know that these protests were going on.
According to an Instagram poll, the majority of Eastside students hadn’t heard about these protests in Chile. 86% of students didn’t know about them. Others had heard of the protests, but largely through social media.
“I haven’t been watching the news about them but I have seen it mentioned on Instagram before,” says Eastside student Emily Leon.
Savannah Lopez, another Eastside student, hadn’t heard of the protests. And she thinks she can explain why others hadn’t heard of them either.
“I think it’s because people are more worried about other things that aren’t really as relevant,” says Savannah. “People are more worried about celebrities and what’s going on in other people’s lives but don’t focus on what’s affecting other countries.”
“This is important to people because they believe that they should be getting the same type of education, healthcare, and wages as us,” she adds.
Since the government of Chile has agreed to create a new constitution, a plebiscite, which is a direct vote on an important public question, will be held in April 2020. This is still months away, so not much is expected to change very soon. Still, media reports that 80% of Chileans support replacing this dictatorship-era constitution. The Chilean people want justice for all the harm and human rights violations that the government, military, and police have brought upon citizens.
