Two student leaders travelled to the United States this week to accept the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award on behalf of the Chilean Student Movement, and to speak at North American universities about educational issues and student organising.

The award will be accepted today by Camila Vallejo of the University of Chile Student Federation, and Noam Titelman of the Catholic University Student Federation. In 2011, Vallejo was voted “Person of the Year” in Chile, “Time Person of the Year”, and one of Time’s “100 People Who Mattered”.

The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award is presented each year by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), based in Washington, D.C. It is named for Orlando Letelier, a socialist diplomat under the Salvador Allende administration and director of the IPS Transnational Institute, and his colleague Ronni Karpen Moffitt, an IPS development associate. The two were assassinated in Washington, D.C. on 21st September 1976 by agents of the U.S.-backed Pinochet dictatorship, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.

IPS Director John Cavanagh told The Santiago Times “We have been inspired not just by the action of the Chilean students, but by their ideas – ideas towards true democracy and changing the system so that it works for the many, not just the few.”

Vallejo and Titelman flew to New York on Monday to speak with students at New York University and the City University of New York. They will also meet with students at American University in Washington, D.C. and Harvard University in Boston.

In an interview with Democracy Now, Vallejo spoke of the award and its namesake, stating “Orlando Letelier was one of the first to warn about what would come with the implementation of neo-liberal policies during the dictatorship”. She cited education as one of the things formerly considered a basic right in Chilean society.

Chile has been rocked by massive student protests since 2011, which demand greater access to affordable university education, as well as greater structural changes to Chilean society. The demonstrations have drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters in Santiago and other major cities, and have been marred by violence.

Titelman told Democracy Now “all of this is happening because something is not working in this extremely privatised educational system.”

Buenos Aires city judge, Elena Liberatori, today ordered Esteban Bullrich, the minister for education, to hold negotiation talks with representatives of the student body that have orchestrated the recent school takeovers in the capital.

The meeting is scheduled to take place tomorrow at midday in the courts, under the supervision of public defence lawyer and ex-judge, Roberto Gallardo.

All previous attempts made by student representatives to initiate dialogue with the government have been rejected by Bullrich on the grounds that they would “skip the formal channels of communication” and show a lack of trust in the current methods.

For 16 days now, students have been occupying secondary schools all over the capital city in protest of plans to reform the curriculum. Almost 40 schools have been taken over and today the students showed no signs of letting up.

The students have organized a protest march which is due to take place tomorrow at 3pm. They will walk from the national ministry of education to the ministry of education for the city of Buenos Aires.

Today around 11.30am Chilean students restarted protests in front of the University of Santiago. The demonstration was initiated by the Asociation of Secondary School Students (ACES), Coordination of the Secondary School Students (CONES) and supported by the Confederation of the Chilean Students (CONFECh) and a few other social organizations in the country.

This morning’s protest turned violent within its first minutes. Several students intended to break down the barriers of the authorized line. Police reacted immediately with tear gas and water jets; students responded with stones and Molotov cocktails.

This student protest is directly connected with those that kicked off in May 2011. This time, the objective of the protest is to influence debates about the budget law for 2013, which the government plans to approve by the end of the month. Earlier this week, President Sebastián Piñera signed a tax reform that seeks to increase tax revenues by US$1bn annually in order to fund improvements in the education system. He has already approved a law that would reduce the interest on loans for university students from 6% to 2%.

One of the leaders of CONFECh, Noam Titelman, argues that the government should increase the public education budget rather than pretending to improve it.

SANTIAGO, Chile — On Thursday, this year’s third and largest student rally for education reform ended in violence. The estimated 150,000 that marched in front of the presidential palace to protest education cost and allocations of profit were met with water canons and tear gas.

The police and city mayor called the event that was organized by the Confederation of Chilean Students (Confech) the “most violent of the year”. They estimate that 250 protesters were detained and 20 officers injured. However, the protesters felt that the main message was consistent, despite the violence.

“Down with profit, up with fighting,” said Confech spokesperson, Gabriel Boric.

Yesterday’s event was the culmination of last week’s two-day protest that was organized by Confech as a response to a seven-month investigation of seven universities that were suspected of using profit to benefit the salaries of executives and directors. Along with salary irregularities, the committee in the Chamber of Deputies investigated whether the schools were outsourcing services and utilities for profit.

Deputy president of the committee, Alejandra Sepúlveda, spoke against the universities conducting their services similar to a business. “If a university makes profits, it is absolutely logical that you have to reinvest them into the university,” Sepúlveda said.

It was these suspicions coupled with President Sebastian Piñera’s inaction to eradicate Pinochet’s 1981 education model that sparked student protests:

“We want to say that while this happens, we will not be quiet. We went from a military dictatorship to a market dictatorship,” said Boric.

Despite the destruction of street lamps and the throwing of bottles and rocks at police from the hooded “encapuchados”, the students still felt the protest to be lighthearted.

Still, Cecilia Pérez, intendent of the metropolitca area, is calling for leaders of the student groups to be held responsible for the injuries and damages.

High school and university students finished a two day protest yesterday against profits in the Chilean education system. Almost 3000 high school students marched through the Chilean capital of Santiago in the demonstration organised by the Coordinadora Nacional de Estudientes Secundarios (CONES) on Wednesday, calling for the state to take a bigger role in Chilean education.

Private University students also took to the streets to campaign against profits in the higher education sector. The protest, which was supported by the Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile (CONFECH) comes a week after a Court Hearing in which seven Universities were accused of failing to maintain non profit status.

Wednesday’s march began as a peaceful protest but ended in the arrests of 35 students. The atmosphere became hostile when police arrived towards the end of the day and began attempting to disburse and question students.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera criticised the student movement at the G20 where he accused the students of spreading “misconceptions” and claimed that they were “heavily influenced by the communist party”.

Students claim that their education system is suffering from a lack of state regulation and accused the government of having few answers.

“Institutions are acting illegally, with no regulation from the state,” said the president of the Federacion de Estudiantes de la Universidad Santo Tomás.

Minister for Education, Harald Beyer responded by saying “we are increasing the funding system, we are increasing regulation, we are doing many things that point to an improved education system.”

The student movement in Chile, sometimes called the ‘Chilean Education Conflict’ launched in May 2011 as an opposition to the profit across secondary and higher education in Chile. Since then there have been 40 protests organised by student groups. State education in Chile was dramatically reduced under General Pinochet’s regime which ended in 1990 and now most universities are privately owned and a large proportion of secondary students attend private schools.

Students are angry about what they see as too much corporate involvement in education and are demanding more free and state run institutions.

The protests will culminate on the 28th of this month with a national student strike, also marked by the October municipal elections and the presidential year 2013.

As expected following comments last week, as many as 80,000 university students, professors, and secondary school teachers in several Chilean cities have stepped up their mobilisation around the demand for free, quality higher education.

After the movement for reform originally gained steam in May 2011, demonstrations and strikes broke out on a national scale. As many as 600,000 citizens from student, labour, and social organisations participated in protests during August 2011, intensifying pressure on President Sebastian Piñera as violent clashes with police became a persistent trend.

The basis of the education movement’s demands, represented in the Confederation of Students in Chile (CONFECH), centres around the sourcing of funds for tertiary education and interest rates on student loans. The majority of university students in Chile attend poorly financed state institutions, while a select few excel in prestigious private universities.

The demands for reform were never met last year, and while other protests concentrating on high energy costs in the Aysén region have already confronted the government in 2012, the education movement has not backed down.

“We will remain mobilised and this is a very clear demonstration that we have not gone home,” said the president of the Student Federation of the University of Chile, Gabriel Boric.

Though yesterday’s scheduled march in Santiago took place peacefully, several protesters afterward committed acts of vandalism and clashed with police, who dispersed them with water jets and tear gas. Similar marches were reported in Valparaíso, Concepción, Temuco, and La Serena.

The government has recently proposed a tax reform that would better enable the funding of state institutions, as well as eliminating the practice of Guaranteed Credit with the State (CAE), which has segregated university education by providing preferable interest rates for private institutions.

Currently, state universities in Chile operate in practice as private entities, charging tuition as high as private institutions. No free public university system exists, creating an opportunity divide that has driven the population to its biggest demonstrations since the country’s return to democracy in 1990.

So far, while the government’s proposals may address the demand for greater funding, protesters remain opposed to any reform that retains profit as motive in the public education system.

“The government’s proposal is an advance in the sense that it brings everyone to the bench,” Boric stated, “but it’s not enough, because there remains a profit, there is still authoritarianism, and there is still segregation.”

Chilean students clashed with police Thursday, after resuming protests that began last year and continued for seven months.

Agence France-Presse reported that police used water jets and tear gas to disperse about 5,000 people, who gathered in the central Santiago Parque Bustamante to resume last year’s student protests. Invited by Co-ordinated Assembly of Secondary Students (ACES), protestors campaigned for lower tuition fees as well as higher quality education in the secondary and post-secondary systems.

According to the Chilean daily La Tercera, the violence began around 10:45am yesterday, when masked men began fighting with police. Protesting students had gathered in the plaza half an hour earlier.

The newspaper points out that students had not been authorized to protest. It also says 103 people were arrested, and six police officers were injured.

According to ACES, about 10,000 people were at the protest.

“We hope that the government will authorize the marches and order the end of this repression,” said ACES spokesperson Maximiliano Salas. “We accept the fight of the most aggressive ones, because they have demands. We did not see the damage as excessive, but as self-defense against the police.”

Education minister Harald Beyer said the violence was “incomprehensible,” and not in “the spirit that I have seen in the establishments of the country.”

“What I have seen (…) is that the main interest is that this become a very productive year in terms of learning,” he said. “The demonstrations we’ve seen today do not reflect that spirit. And so, we find it regrettable – we do not understand the meaning of the protests.”

Student Protests

Beginning in May 2011, students began protesting the largely-private school system in Chile. The protests continued through December 2011, sometimes pulling out as many as 100,000 people. On August 4 alone, the BBC reports that there were more than 900 people were arrested in protests throughout the country, and almost 100 police officers injured.

Chile’s system is considered to be the best in Latin America in some respects, but few students have access to the high points of the system. Many poorer students are relegated to “shabby, under-funded state schools,” according to the BBC.

This Monday Chilean Police repressed a protest of secondary school students in the district of Providencia.

It began after Cristián Labbe, Mayor of the district, announced that five secondary schools occupied by students may be closed in the area. The demonstration was stopped with water cannons and 20 people were arrested.

The aim was to renounce Labbé. He is not only threatening to close the five occupied schools in the area, but he has also ordered a limit to the number of students able to enrol in the government plan to redeem the school year.

Labbé’s measures will affect 85% of the students in Provedencia, as well as students outside of the district. Those affected will not be able to enrol in any school in the province.

The students consider the new measures “illegal” and order justice. The students are now looking at the possibility of resorting to the courts with corresponding plans to meet with officials in order to reach an agreement.

However, Danea Díaz, voice for the National Coordination of Secondary Students (CONES), explained that students would abandon voluntary talks with the government if the mayor does not reverse his decision of closing the schools.

Furthermore, Felipe Bulnes, the minister of education, said Labbé had not consulted the Government before reaching his decision on Monday.

Cristián Labbé is a former Chilean army colonel, previously part of Dictator Augusto Pinochet’s security unit as well as belonging to the secret police during the dictatorship.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar, the news agency of AMARC ALC

The student movement in Chile has gained quite the momentum, with over 600,000 taking to the streets just last week. The Confederation of Stuents in Chile, or FECH, originally mobilised last year to protest against the Government’s ‘privatisation agenda’, burdening universities with the responsibility of financing themselves. Given the dire perceived consequences this would have on social mobility in Chile, unions and social groups have also joined the fight, calling for urgent reforms.

Strikes have been held, sit-ins have been staged and the public have rallied throughout the capital and country alike. Tension came to a head last week as a 16-year-old protestor was murdered; it transpired just yesterday, that the murder was at the hands of a police officer.

Given that Chile’s democracy is still relatively young (with Pinochet’s authoritarian rule ending just two decades earlier) the scope of the protest is hugely significant, for the country and region as a whole.

The Argentina Independent took to the streets of Buenos Aires to find out what Argentines really think about it. Do they agree with the students? How will the situation be resolved? And what does it mean for the future of their neighbour?

Nicolas, 26, public works

I think the fact that they are protesting is a really important thing, and its obvious they are doing the right thing. Its a difficult place to be doing it, but I think they need to keep going, getting stronger, getting more media attention and as a result other South American countries will support them.

I think Chile at the moment is very conscious of political changes happening throughout South America, with everything that’s been happening with protests in Brazil, in Bolivia in Peru, in Ecuador, with the public occupying a different political space to their governments. I think this is really the case in Chile, which, obviously has reached a very different political phase to that it was in before. They’ve seen how people have reacted to policy in other Latin American countries and emulated it themselves. Its a very fragile situation obviously, but people have to take risks if they want to bring about change.

Carolina, 31, Engineer

I think its important for students to have their opinion heard, and for us to listen to them, but there have to be limits. For people who are educated and intelligent there should be more respectful ways of protesting, without violence. They should voice their complaints and come to a decision without fighting. I hope that the government doesn’t react aggressively, or return to the way it behaved during the dictatorship.

Federico, 25, student

From what I understand, they are protesting for free public education, something like the model we have in Argentina. They want the government to allocate enough money for public education. I understand it perfectly. We have a great education system and they should follow something like it. I think they will come to an agreement, I don’t think it can carry on the way it is.

Marali, 18, film student

I’m completely in agreement with the students, because I think every young person has the right to learn, to be educated. It seems to me that it would be very sad if the clashes end in undemocratic policies- this happens often, that the government or police try to supress protesters and the democracy that they are fighting for by protesting is lost.

 
Pilar, 55, housewife

I don’t think it should be solved violently- violence from one side brings violence from the other, and that isn’t the way a democracy should function. There must be a solution, its a political problem more than anything else.

Members of the indigenous Mapuche tribe are filing a lawsuit to launch an investigation into the accident that left Julio Chewin, their community leader, in a critical condition. The leader was hit by a vehicle during student protests in Chile.

Family and friends of the victim, who are waiting for the Chilean justice system to take on their lawsuit, have criticised the authorities’ sluggishness.

They have likewise criticised media outlets that suggested Chewin was committing illegal acts at the time of accident, which occurred while he was participating alongside Chilean students, who had blocked off the motorway in Lo Hermida, a commune in the Santiago Province.

After the accident, protesters ran to his aid and took him to Accident and Emergency. Chewin is currently in a critical condition and will remain in the intensive care unit of El Salvador hospital.

His wife, Yvonne González, held the Chilean government accountable for violence against students and the country’s indigenous towns.

Chewin is a member of Radio Werken Kurruf, which broadcasts from the capital. His wife and daughter held an audiovisual interview, produced by the Interconexiones program which covers the everlasting conflicts endured by community radios in Chile.

Story courtesy of Agencia Pulsar (ALMARC) http://www.agenciapulsar.org/tapa.php