Tag Archives: Protests

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By Jonathan Idrovo

Co-Authors: Alannah Giannino, Judy Wooley, Samantha Flax

Chilean protester calling for a new constitution. Credit: Marianela Jarroud/IPS

When General Augusto Pinochet took power over Salvador Allende on September 11th, 1973, starting a 17 year dictatorship that forever changed the political and social landscape of Chile. A regime that was synonymous with cruelty, the Pinochet era ushered in vast reforms that still hold today. These reforms have not only shaped the lives of many Chileans today, but have become the target of much controversy.

The Pinochet Agenda

Augusto Pinochet was in power from 1973-1990. According to an article by Marianela Jarroud, he introduced free-market policies, privatized and decentralized essential services, such as healthcare and education, that had been provided free of cost by the state. He also pioneered the use of pension funds and allowed them to be controlled by private companies. This kind of agenda is very much geared towards the idea of allowing the people themselves to choose where they’d like to go to school instead of it being a program that is offered by the federal government. Although this idea seemed positive to Pinochet, it created a large amount of opposition from Chileans. When these educational reforms were adopted in 1981, 78% of primary and secondary school students were in the public school system. This percentage of the Chilean population were never exposed to the concept of having to pay for their education, and the push to bring privatized education was very unpopular.

According to an interview, 57-year-old Pilar Mella says “The worst thing was the municipalization of primary and middle schools…he municipalities with the most money dedicate more funds to education, giving rise to high levels of inequality.” What Mella is saying is that creating a private market for education causes a large gap to be created between the rich and the poor. Theoretically, the schools that are the most successful will be filled with students whose parents pay top dollar for their children to be there, while the students at the bottom are struggling to get through their education program in a failing school.

 

Universal College: A Thing of the Past

During Allende’s term as President of Chile, college students were treated to free-tuition schooling after completing 12 years of primary and secondary schooling with no need for pre remedial college courses upon entry. This was a luxury and an idea that allowed every Chilean student to attend college without any worry after graduating from secondary schools. But once Pinochet stole power from Allende and overthrew him, free tuition was on the chopping block. Now, not only did students have no free tuition, but they now had to take college admissions exams. This proved troublesome for students that were from poor backgrounds, as they struggled to pass these exams due to the lower quality of the schools they attended. Andrés Fielbaum, the president of University of Chile Student Federation told IPS, “What the dictatorship did was transform education into just another merchandise.” Pinochet’s free-market policies transformed the education system into an auction that provided the highest bidder with the highest chance of receiving a quality education with a good chance of getting into college while the poor have little to no chance.

   

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/08/student-protests-in-chile/100125/

New Face, Same Government

Although the regime of Pinochet has ended, it’s clear that in 1990, there was little hope for a change to his policies over education. The center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy, which governed the country between 1990-2010 didn’t do anything to lessen the effects of the Pinochet agenda. The party ended up strengthening his policies by introducing invented shared financing, which works like the student loans programs that are being used in the United States. This concept ended up bringing private banks into the affairs of education, creating an even greater rift between the rich and the poor students of Chile. There has been a massive amount of backlash from students in Chile, asking and protesting for a more affordable education program or a return to tuition free college.

Many of these riots have been met with police force, which has widened the tensions between students and the government. Here are a few examples of these situations:

                        

               

It is clear that there is a very serious struggle between students and the police force in Chile. The possibility of any kind of education reform is very slim due to some of the legislation placed into law under Pinochet.

Pinochet’s ghost holds down the future of Chile

In 1980, Pinochet rigged the election process and passed a new constitution for Chile, which included legislation to approve lifetime senatorial seats and the binomial system. This system created a two seat system for each district in Chile, which is identical to the two senator seat system we have in the United States. This system, however, ensures that the two strongest political forces maintain political power over each sector. In this case, Chile is under the control of the two largest parties: the Coalition of Parties for Democracy and the right-wing Coalition for Change. These parties have a strong alliance with each other, which ensures little to no change for the Chilean people. The only way to remove this system is to have a supermajority in Congress, something that hasn’t happened since 1990. The younger generation of students have had enough of this though, as Fielbaum also states, “We aren’t afraid of politics or of dissent, because we know that it is the way we will build a different country…And that is where our conviction for definitively eradicating Pinochet’s legacy is born.” Most of these students were born into a world where this situation was already occurring. Many of them seek to end their own burdens while others don’t want to grow up in the world that their parents did. Either way, the student generation of Chile is looking to find a way to end the grasp that Pinochet still has on their education.

   

 

Questions:

What were some of the main concepts of Augusto Pinochet’s agenda that directly affected the education program in Chile?

Privatization and commodification of education, which had previously been tuition-free for students. 

Why was privatization of public schooling seen as a negative for the majority of the Chilean population?

Many could not afford to pay tuition themselves– Additionally, the public schools, due a drastic cut in funding, did not equip students with the knowledge needed to pass entry exams for university. 

What political groups are in power?

The Coalition of Parties for Democracy (left-wing) and Coalition for Change (right-wing)

 

Pinochet’s Policies Still Rankle in Chile

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/08/student-protests-in-chile/100125/

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Author: Yura Yokoyama

Edited by: Marissa Heuser, Leah Cohen, and Joseph Geidel

Indigenous people`s environmental protests are going on and being ignited all over the world in this capitalistic era. Bolivia, which is one of the poorest and naturally richest countries in Latin America, is also confronting the contradiction between protecting indigenous environmental rights and prioritizing its rapid economic progress. It seems that this contradiction pervades many aspects of the environment such as concessions of water, mining, and forest protection. In order to explicitly capture the big picture of environmental affairs happening in Bolivia, three cased were selected as follows; Cochabamba water war, Conamaq Indigenous movement, the TIPNIS protest.

Cochabamba Water War

Cochabamba Water War Protests. (Hasfura, 2016)

The Cochabamba water war will probably be one of the famous protests by the local people. It happened in 1999 in Bolivia. The catalyst that fueled the local`s protest was Law 2029. Enacted by the government under president Banzer in 1999, this law was established to privatize water concessions in Bolivia. Various citizens, ranging from lower class to upper class, in Cochabamba joined the demonstration against the law because all of a sudden, they lost the right to manage their water. Water, that used to be public. Communities in Cochabamba had their own way of water management and distribution, so this law meant that the government disregarded their view of water as public good and indispensable communal property for their lives. Therefore, this incident is one of the most internationally well-known political events related to the exploitation of basic human rights conducted by government. The discussion about this protest is whether government can privatize publicly shared property such as water without considering the locals` needs and conventions. However, in 2009, Evo Morales banned the privatization of water on the ground that human rights include access to water. Therefore, due to his administration their situation was improved.

Conamaq Indigenous Movement

Conamaq Protestor. (Peralta, 2014)

Responding the unequal exploitation, Conamaq Indigenous movement, which has actually been active since 1997, represents the negative side of the government under Evo Morales Nilda Rojas, who is the current Conamaq leader opposed the Mining Law. She strongly claimed, “The government has created a parallel organization because we don’t support their laws which are against Mother Earth and the Constitution”(Peralta, 2014). What she meant by a parallel organization is that the government kicked the Conamaq out of its office in La Paz in order that it could establish the new organization supporting the government called pro-MAS Conamaq that supported the government`s decision and adheres to the government. This unequal political incident shows the down side of the government. When it comes to the exploitative principle of the Mining Law, being supported by MAS (Movement Toward Socialism party) this law, in fact, is the cause of this indigenous environmental movement in Conamaq. Not only does this law grant the concession of the use of public water to members of the mining industry who are conducting water-intensive and toxic operation, for immoral reason it also deprives the rural communities in Conamaq of the access to the public water on the purpose of farming (Peralta 2014). Moreover, unequally, this law has the biding power to criminalize protest against this mining operation. Recently, in 2016, Evo Morales have proclaimed the increase of the government` control over the mining sector by changing the mining law. Bolivian government has already have 39% of all mining operations. continuing low oil prices and the increasing public works investments of the Morales government may alter the government’s approach to private and foreign investment, especially in the mining sector.(Hasfura 2016).

TIPNIS

TIPNIS Protest. (Achtenburg, 2011)

Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) is home to more than 12,000 indigenous people; the Yuracaré people, the Trinitario-Mojeño people, and the Chimane people.  The TIPNIS conflict has marked a historic victory of those lowland indigenous groups that marched against the construction of controversial highway that would gone across indigenous territory and national park, which is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in Bolivia. The road was supposed to be made on the purpose of improving transportation and distribution in order to proper economy. However, due to the sever protest, in 2011, Morales had no choice but to assign an agreement regarding the abolishment of the construction of the highway in order that he would not lose his credibility by indigenous people. Below is a short video clip of the TIPNIS marchers:

Summary Factoid Questions:

Q: What is the name of law which prospered the privatization of the public water in Cochabamba?

A: Law 2029

Q: What is a name of law that suffers people in Conamaq from the mining sector?

A: the mining law

Q: Why did the TIPNIS protest happen?

A: It is because the government tried to construct the highway running across ecological indigenous land.

Works Cited

Achtenberg, Emily. “Road Rage and Resistance: Bolivia’s TIPNIS Conflict”(2011), nacla. Web.22,2017.

Coleman, Thomas. “Who Owns the Water? An Analysis of Water Conflicts in Latin American and Modern Water Law,” intersections 12, no. 2 (2012): 1-19. Web 22 Feb, 2017.

COHA, “On Water Scarcity and the Right to Life: Bolivia”(2013), Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Web 22 Feb, 2017.

Hasfura, Astrid, “Bolivia’s new mining laws and the future of private investment” (2016), Global Risk Insights. Web 22 Feb, 2017.

Peralta M, Pablo. “Bolivia’s Conamaq Indigenous Movement: “We will not sell ourselves to any government or political party” (2014), UPSIDE DOWN WORLD. Web. 22 Feb, 2017.

 

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Author:  Marissa Heuser

Co-Authors: Leah Cohen, Yura Yokoyama, and Joseph Geidel

Background information:

The rates of violence towards women in Bolivia is truly frightening. In 2012, the Pan American Health Organization published a report entitled “Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: A comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries” (Bott 2012). The results found that, among the surveyed countries, Bolivia had the highest rate of intimate-partner violence against women. A staggering 53.3% of women in Bolivia, that were ever married or in a union, reported “any physical or sexual partner violence ever” (Bott 2012). On average intimate partner violence affects “30% of women worldwide” (WHO 2013). Bolivia is shockingly higher than the worldwide average.

 

MDG : Gender violence in Bolivia : rally against abuse and domestic violence in La Paz

A sign from a protest rally against domestic violence and assault. Reading: No Mas (No more) (Shahriari 2015)

It was reported by Bolivia’s Vice-Ministry of Equal Opportunities that, “nine out of 10 women in Bolivia fall victim of some kind of violence, and 87% of them suffer that violence in the family” (Justiniano 2015). Bolivia also has an appallingly high femicide rates. Femicide is the killing of a woman or girl on account of her gender. From January-October of 2014 there were a reported 103 femicides. That means that about every 3 days, a woman is murdered in Bolivia (Justiniano 2015).

In February of 2013, Hanali Huaycho, a national television journalist was murdered by her husband who was a police officer. It was discovered that Hanali had made 14 different complaints to the police about her husband abusing her. However not a single one of her complaints was ever investigated. Her tragic and preventable death invoked outrage across the county. Protest marches were organized demanding better rights for women and for something to be done about the rampant domestic violence in Bolivia. (Freitag 2013)

Related image

Women in Bolivia march in protest of Hanali Huaycho’s death. Holding signs that read Yo Soy Hanali or I am Hanali (Rivas 2014)

Public outrage and demonstrations were successful in capturing the government’s attention. On March 8th 2013 President Morales passed the “Comprehensive Law to Guarantee Women a Life Free of Violence“. Here is a brief summary of the law:

“The law is extremely ambitious and comprehensive, with provisions for educational and awareness programs, practical measures to prevent reoccurring violence, plans to rehabilitate offenders, detailed descriptions of 15 different types of violence against women, and strict sanctions against offenders” (Andean Information Network 2013)

Anyone wishing to learn more about the law, can watch this short video for a comprehensive overview:

The Gender Movement Today

It has been nearly 3 years since Morales signed the law designed to protect women. One would hope that violence rates would have decreased and women in Bolivia would be safer than they were. However that is not the case…..

This is a quick video about the current state of violence against women in Bolivia. It features an interview with an abuse victim who is living in a women’s shelter. Another important part of this video is when the lawyer was interviewed. She said that only about 10% of laws are actually enforced. The abusers have little to fear and the victims have everything to lose. (The video itself states some statistics that are different than what my research showed. I was unable to locate their sources so I am not sure about the validity of their information.)

Even after the “Comprehensive Law to Guarantee Women a Life Free of Violence” was passed in 2013, violence continues to plague the lives of Bolivian women. Some people blame the police for not enforcing the law and turning a blind-eye to abuse suffered by women.

But the situation isn’t hopeless! The Colectivo Rebeldía, Oxfam Bolivia and the Women’s Coordinator came together in February of 2017 to create a campaign aimed at young people in Bolivia. The campaign, titled, ACTÚA, detén la violencia (ACT, stop the violence) focuses on violence that is often found in young people’s relationships.

The campaign was officially launched on February 14, or Valentine’s Day, with messages of what love should be.

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Si te amenaza o manipula, no te ama. ¡El amor libera no atrapa! #ActúaDetenLaViolencia which translates to: If he threatens or manipulates you, he does not love you. Love free does not catch! # ActtoStopViolence   (ACTÚA, detén la violencia 2017)

The campaign,”aims to tackle the indifference of the friend of someone in a violent relationship or perpetrating violence in a relationship…Using public and peer pressure, the campaign hopes to decrease violence in young relationships” (MENAFN 2017)

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We Are Going To Break Chains (ACTÚA, detén la violencia 2017)

ACTÚA, detén la violencia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has a great Facebook page full of empowering messages like the one above.

This campaign represents a new hope for women in Bolivia. By educating youth about the realities of domesticate abuse, ACTÚA, detén la violencia, could influence the future. Research showed that “nearly half of urban youth (men and women) promote sexist beliefs that normalize violence. This includes ‘the way you dress provokes rape, ‘jealousy is part of love or ‘if you really love, you forgive violence” (MENAFN 2017). ACTÚA, detén la violencia is actively fighting to dispel these ideas and teach Bolivian youth that violence is not love.

https://www.facebook.com/ActuaDetenLaViolencia/videos/739136796267445/

This Facebook video posted by ACTÚA, detén la violencia, shows a social experiment. A couple is having a loud argument in public and the man is being abusive and violent.  About 300 people walked by and saw the abuse, how many people do you think intervened to help the girl?

Summary Factoids

What percentage of Bolivian women reported any physical or sexual partner violence ever?

Answer: 53.3 %

In what year did President Morales pass the “Comprehensive Law to Guarantee Women a Life Free of Violence”?

Answer: 2013

 

 

References:

ACTÚA, detén la violencia. (2017, February). Retrieved February, 2017, from https://www.facebook.com/ActuaDetenLaViolencia/

Andean Information Network (2013, March 21). New Law Mandates Harsh Penalties and Broad Services to Address Violence Against Woman in Bolivia. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://ain-bolivia.org/2013/03/new-law-mandates-harsh-penalties-and-broad-services-to-address-violence-against-woman-in-bolivia/

Bott, S., Guedes, A., Goodwin, M., & Mendoza, J. A. (2012). Violence against women in Latin America and the Caribbean: a comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries (pp. 1-186) Washington, D.C.: Pan American Health Organization.

Freitag, V. (2013, August 3). Bolivia’s women hope for an end to the violence. Deutsche Welle

Justiniano, R. M. (2015, October). Violence results from patriarchal attitudes. Development and Cooperation. Retrieved from https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/latin-america-bolivia-reports-most-cases-violence-against-women

MENAFN (2017, February 14). LA PAZ, Bolivia: St Valentine’s Day: Celebrating Healthy Relationships Challenging Violence. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://menafn.com/1095255331/LA-PAZ-Bolivia-St-Valentines-Day-Celebrating-Healthy-Relationships-Challenging-Violence/

Rivas, M. (2014, September 17). Declaran alerta municipal ante la ola de violencia intrafamiliar . La Razón . Retrieved from http://m.la-razon.com/ciudades/El_Alto-declaran-alerta-municipal-violencia-intrafamiliar_0_2127387269.html

Shahriari, S. (2015, January 8). Bolivia builds women’s independence to curb domestic violence . The Guardian US . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/08/bolivia-women-independence-gender-domestic-violence

Shahriari, S. (2015, April 30). Bolivia struggles with gender-based violence. Al Jazeera America. Retrieved from http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/30/bolivia-struggles-with-gender-based-violence.html

WHO. (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Geneva: World Health Organization.