Protests paralyze southern Chile

[Judi Lynn]

Protests paralyze southern Chile

Submitted by WW4 Report on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 04:31. Protesters in the southern Chile region of Magallanes y Antártica Chilena have erected road blockades, halting traffic and leaving hundreds of foreign tourists stranded. The strike was triggered by a government plan to increase gas prices in southern Chile by nearly 17%. On Jan. 11, two young Chilean women were killed when a truck smashed through one of the blockades. Protesters have repeatedly clashed with police, who have used teargas to restore order. The crisis has prompted a cabinet shake-up, with energy minister Ricardo Raineri removed by President Sebastian Piñera for mis-handling talks with the protesters. (BBC News, LAHT, Jan. 15; BBC Mundo, Jan. 12)

Some 2,500 tourists and others are stranded on Tierra del Fuego, as passenger ferries linking the island to Punta Arenas are halted by the general strike. The city of Punta Arenas is itself effectively shut down, and routes in and out of Torres del Paine National Park have been blocked.

Workers at state-owned Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP) are threatening to cut off supplies of natural gas to Canadian ethanol producer Methanex if the Chilean government does not make concessions to residents. “The gas is for Magallanes first and then for private enterprise," said union leader Alejandro Avendaño. A second round of talks is set to begin in Punta Arenas between officials and the Citizens Assembly of Magallanes, which called the strike. (EFE, Jan. 15)

http://www.ww4report.com/node/9346

[Peace Patriot]

1. “The gas is for Magallanes first and then for private enterprise" --Chilean union leader

Great comment! A principle that should apply to all of Mother Earth's resources--they should benefit the people who live there FIRST and private enterprise second.

Prior to the turn of the last century, private corporations were merely entities chartered BY THE PEOPLE to perform some "common good" service, and were temporary entities whose charters could be revoked for any violation of that "common good" purpose and even without cause. Thus, if THE PEOPLE permitted private investors to build, say, gas pipeline infrastructure, and then unfairly started jacking up the price of gas beyond what local people could pay, that corporation could be de-chartered and its assets seized for the common good.

VERY unfortunately--tragically, disastrously--rich capitalist powermongers ("organized money," as FDR described it)--have managed to reverse those priorities, over the last century, so that private enterprise is king and the "common good" is a chattel, and have furthermore made themselves into everlasting monarchs, which live forever accumulating vast power and wealth, and whose "sacredness" cannot be challenged. Corporations have become the "monarchs" that the people of the Americas rejected in our several revolutionary wars for independence and democracy long ago.

The principle that this union leader articulated is the ORIGINAL principle of the founders of American democracy--which was as much a rebellion against the British East India Company as it was against King George, because the British East India Company and King George were one and the same. This also goes for the Spanish monarch's trade monopolies and equally bad sucking dry of the resources of its colonies in Latin America. The U.S. Revolution and the Bolivarian Revolution both sought independence from MONOPOLISTS-- tyrannical business entities operating under the color of unchallengeable "sacred" monarchies.

Bolivians famously fought this struggle, in recent times, against Bechtel Corporation, which corrupt rightwing government officials had allowed to take over the water system in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Bechtel proceeded to jack up the price of water to the poorest people, beyond their ability to pay, and even tried to charge poor people for collecting rainwater! The Bolivians' rebellion against this modern corporate tyranny spread to the whole country and resulted in a democracy revolution in Bolivia, the successful vote on a new constitution that protects basic human rights (including the right to water) and the election of Evo Morales and a "New Deal" government (like we had once here).

These southern Chileans seemed to be embarking on a similar struggle. But I haven't seen any recent news about it. I suspect that Pinera has managed to defuse the conflict. That seems to be the function of presidents in corporate-run "democracies"--or at least the ones where corporations are keeping their vulture claws more hidden (unlike in Bolivia, before Morales, or here, now). That was the way things were trending in mid-January (the date of the OP's reports).

Whatever the outcome in southern Chile as to the gas resource, we can be very sure that this struggle will arise again and again, everywhere that corporate entities have become monarchs and/or multinational imperial tyrants. This is the 21st century revolutionary struggle. And its main issue is the same as it was during the first American revolutions: Who owns the land and its resources--the sovereign people of the land, governing themselves and the land and its resources democratically, or intruding entities of "organized money" which consider themselves "sacred" and untouchable and have loyalty to no one--to no people, to no country--but, like the monarchs of old, are devoted entirely to their own self-aggrandizement.

[rabs]

2. This actually happened last month

The strike ended when Pinera rolled back the price increase of around 20 percent on natural gas. Punta Arenas is cold the year around and the people rose up and made Pinera back down.

Flash forward to today: Things are not going well for Pinera. There was a demonstration that attracted thousands in the city of Concepcion because of the slow pace of reconstruction of homes and businesses destroyed by the massive earthquake a year ago.

Vacation season ends on Feb. 28 in Chile, and expect there will be more protests (by civil servants, students and other groups) against the austere polices being imposed by the Pinera government.

Stay tuned.