Riots break out during massive student protest in Chile

(Perseus999/YouTube) More than 100.000 Chilean students and workers packed La Alameda, in the capital Santiago demanding free education for all during a cold and rainy day. The protesters walked in front of the Presidential Palace, La Moneda, and the Ministry of Education.

The Confederation of Chilean Students (Confech) accused the police of suppressing the massive march with attacks and tear gas, despite the fact that they had committed tehmeselves not to intervene.

The main motto of the chilean students protest is “In an unequal country we should all fight. Free public education to change society”.

Video by Reuters

Photos from the Santiago riots:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1409970

Chile: Student mobilizations and clashes in the streets continue full strength

(actforfreedomnow)

 

Jul162011

In Chile the student strike continues in full force with occupations, demos and clashes with the cops. Amongst the demands are constitutional changes for free public education but there is also a strong insurrectionist flame blowing through the youth of the land as “ecapuchadxs” (the hooded) seek total destruction of the establishment.

From Liberación Total,
translated from spanish by sabotagemedia:

Thursday July 14, a call out for a new national strike for education was answered as demonstrations were held in various regions. In Santiago a massive student demonstration took the Alameda without government authorization.

The first clashes and riots in Santiago were around 12:30pm. The hooded armed with stones, sticks, paint bombs and Molotovs began attacking police, along with destroying the the street signs, law enforcement responded with their water canons, mounted police and tear gas, breaking with the siege of security that is installed for each demonstration.

The transit through the Alameda and surrounding areas was kept interrupted and diverted for several hours, until past 17:00, the last incidents reported in front of USACH (University of Santiago de Chile) where there were barricades risen and clashes.

The riots spread to different places, at the intersection of Alameda Manuel Rodriguez were reported attacks to the Embassy of Brazil with Molotov cocktails after some cops took refuge inside.

Further along, the Alameda, Santiago’s main avenue was disturbed in continuous occasions with barricades where banks were also attacked, and at the hight of Republica Street an Army office was attacked resulting in their windows being destroyed. A car was overturned and burned in the intersection of Santa Isabel and San Isidro by subjects who fled.

Read more: http://actforfreedomnow.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/chile-student-mobilizations-and-clashes-in-the-streets-continue-full-strength/

Doesn’t neo-liberalism in Chile prove that the “free market” benefits everyone?

(infoshop.org) Chile is considered by some to be one of the economic success stories of the modern world. It can be considered as the first laboratory for neo-liberal economic dogma, first under Pinochet’s dictatorship and later when his regime had been replaced by a more democratic one. It can be considered as the template for the economic vision later applied by Reagan and Thatcher in the West. What happened in Chile was repeated (to some degree) wherever neo-liberal policies were implemented. As such, it makes a good case study to evaluate the benefits of free(r) market capitalism and the claims of capitalist economics.

For the right, Chile was pointed to as a casebook in sound economics and is held up as an example of the benefits of capitalism. Milton Friedman, for example, stated in 1982 that Military Junta “has supported a fully free-market economy as a matter of principle. Chile is an economic miracle.” [quoted by Elton Rayack, Not so Free to Choose, p. 37] Then US President George Bush praised the Chilean economic record in December 1990 when he visited that country, stating Chile deserved its “reputation as an economic model” for others to follow.

However, the reality of the situation is radically different. As Chilean expert Peter Winn argues, “[w]e question whether Chile’s neoliberal boom . . . should be regarded as a miracle. When confronted by such a claim, scholars and students should always ask: a miracle for whom — and at what cost?” [“Introduction”, Peter Winn (ed.), Victims of the Chilean Miracle, p. 12] As we will prove, Chile’s “economic miracle” is very class dependent. For its working class, the neo-liberal reforms of the Pinochet regime have resulted in a worsening of their lives; if you are a capitalist then it has been a miracle. That the likes of Friedman claim the experiment as a “miracle” shows where their sympathies lie — and how firm a grasp they have of reality.

Solidarity Actions for the “Bombs Case” Prisoners

(anarchistnews.org) Since February 21, the ten people locked up and awaiting trial for the “Bombs Case” used by the Chilean state to attack the anarchist struggle, have been on hungerstrike.

The week of April 14-21, they called for international solidarity actions, and were obliged in Seattle, Olympia, Montreal, Madrid, Barcelona, Nottingham, Krakow, Buenos Aires, Santa Cruz (Bolivia) and elsewhere.

On April 28, the Chilean consulate in Barcelona was occupied and hung with banners as another group of people cut the street outside. The police reacted forcefully and identified a number of people but in the end no one was arrested. The statement about the action concludes, “Finally, with this small gesture we wish to send warm greetings to the comrades in prison for the bombs case, to the Mapuche prisoners, and to all those who resist this prison society that tortures and murders.”

Around the same time, word arrived that the comrades in Chile were ending their hungerstrike. We are awaiting an official announcement from the prisoners themselves, but the news is good: their case has been closed, which means no one else can be charged in the “Bombs Case” and they will be released from prison awaiting trial, either to house arrest or provisional liberty.

Below are the names of the comrades who were on hungerstrike, and translations of communiques for several solidarity actions.

Andrea Urzúa
Mónica Caballero
Rodolfo Retamales
Felipe Guerra
Camilo Perez
Carlos Riveros
Omar Hermosilla
Vinicio Aguilera
Francisco Solar
Pablo Morales

Seville, Spain – Santander bank attacked in solidarity with Chilean comrades

(angrynewsfromaroundtheworld) 22/04/2011 – Indy Madrid – Thursday night 21, while the religious zealots of the city of Seville celebrated their Maundy Thursday, a group of stubborn anarchists decided to attack a subsidiary of Banco Santander to express our disgust with the process of repression which takes place in Chile (“bombas caso”) imprisoning our brothers in ideas for already 8 months.
Enjoying the sound of rain and the darkness of the night we stoned the windows breaking them, as well as the screens of ATMs by putting them out of service, before leaving this message as a tag on its front :
Freedom for the anti-authoritarian prisoners in Chile!
The bombs case is a frame up!

Source: http://sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/04/seville-spain-santander-bank-attacked.html

Chile – Anarchist Prisoners Radicalize their Hunger Strike

(325.nostate.net) On Tuesday, April 19th- the prisoners of the Bombs Case, in their 58th day of hunger strike, decided to RADICALIZE THEIR HUNGER STRIKE in the following way:

-Refusal to drink liquids or isotonic sports drinks.
-Only drink water.

Their demands are:

-Freedom now.
-End to the Anti-Terrorist Law process.
-End to the remand.
-End to the Anti-Terrorist Law and to the system of anonymous witnesses for the prosecution.
-Anti-prison rights grievances.

The comrades demand the change of the Anti-Terrorist Law in the following way:

-End to the undercover witness.
-End to the unanimous vote -in the Appellate Court- for parole.
-End to the triplicate sentences capacity.

The 14-A prisoners demand the following mediation methods:

-Visit of the Santiago’s Archbishop, Ricardo Ezzati, in the Cárcel de Alta Seguridad (High Security Prison) and in the Centro Penitenciario Femenino (Female Penitentiary Center).
-Conformation of a working team to change the Anti-Terrorist Law with results, at the latest, on Wednesday April 27th.

If, on that date (April 27th), the Archbishop of Santiago doesn’t go to the prisons, the comrades will begin a DRY HUNGER STRIKE (don’t eat or drink ANYTHING).

Flyers: 1 & 2 (In English)

PLEASE, SPREAD THIS NEWS & RADICALIZE THE FIGHT ALONGSIDE OUR COMRADES IN CHILE

DESTROY ALL PRISONS & BORDERS – FOR INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY & REVOLUTION

Source: http://325.nostate.net/?p=2196