Terra
25th February 2012, 14:19
Hey all,
Would like to draw your attention to a southern region of Chile.
Have been trying to find out what is going on down in the town/city called Coyhaique which is the capital of the 11th region of Chile on the 45th parallel. An old friend, whom I have not seen/heard for years has over the course of the last week been sending out worrying messages from there via FB. He moved there years ago after meeting and marrying a local Chilean lady there, and is now rather concerned for his family.
The MSM aren't really covering it. A few stories are out there, some lead to other protests though.
The best info seems to comes from this (http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/24/chile-aysen-region-and-the-call-for-decentralization/) blog.
Protests, road blocks, and clashes between protesters and police continue as citizens of the Aysén region of Chile demand change. Global Voices contributor Elizabeth Rivera reported on the social movement behind the mobilization earlier this month and summarized their demands:
Their demands have been compiled in a petition list with 10 points [es] which basically ask for subsidies to balance food, water, electricity and fuel costs; quality health and education; employment equity and retirement pensions based on regional needs; greater citizen participation in the decisions that affect the region including natural resources exploitation; better access and infrastructure.
For many, the conflict in Aysén boils down to one problem affecting the whole country: centralism. “Santiago is not Chile,” is a phrase commonly used among Chileans who often feel ignored for living outside of the capital. Many of these Chileans have to move to Santiago to access better employment and basic services like healthcare due to a shortage of doctors in the regions.
As a result of a heavy focus on the capital, Santiago has been developing at a much faster pace than the rest of the country. Even the media's attention focuses on the capital, giving little air time to issues happening in the rest of Chile.
The protests in Aysén have brought centralism to the forefront of the national conversation, prompting several Chilean bloggers to weigh in on the issue.
Blogger Danae Mlynarz Puig [es] looks ahead to what might happen this year in Chile. She begins her post mentioning the social movement in Aysén:
We remain active in terms of social demands; these days, Aysén is mobilized in the far south of our country demanding decentralization, in an extremely centralized country where it seems that everything happens in Santiago. The outbreak of Aysén reminds us of what we experienced earlier in Magallanes, Easter Island, Calama and other cities, where the inhabitants of these territories mobilized to demand greater involvement in their problems from the central government, revealing the enormous territorial inequality that we live in Chile and the almost total lack of decentralization.
In El Quito Poder [es], Salvador Muñoz says that the problem of centralism is not new:
The people of Aysén claim that no government has taken care their demands. The problems of Aysen, Coyhaique, Magallanes, Tocopilla, Dichato, Calama and all towns and cities of Chile are the same. As noted by the Citizen Assembly of Magallanes in a statement of solidarity with the Aysen movement, “Aysen and Magallanes claim an end to government and coporate centralism, which drowns the regions for the benefit of the capital, which gives us no participation in public policy decisions and prevents us from achieving effective regionalization and decentralization.”
On a similar note, blogger and journalist Gabriel Sanhueza Suarez [es] says that the conflict in Aysén reveals a systemic problem:
The problem of Aysén is much deeper than trying to address sectoral demands … or silencing the protests by sending special forces.
It is a systemic problem, which involves radically rethinking the way we understand the country, removing the centralism chip forever. And above all to think and implement bold policies to transform regionalization from a demagogic slogan to a reality that will allow us to have a fair Chile in all the corners of its territory.
Finally, Kaos en la Red [es] published a post by Patricio Segura from Aquí Aysén [es], a blog written from Aysén that has been covering the movement. Patricio ensures that this social movement wants to influence all Chile, not just Aysén.
[…] the Social Movement for the Aysén Region should not be viewed merely as a revolt by and for the people of Aysén. It involves a lot of the country which we want to build, where the particularities of each citizen, of each territory, are considered. Our issue is real decentralization, true equity, true respect, all of which cannot be compromised in the market.
The people of Aysén don't want a barbed wire fence around the region to keep every one else away. We want to be a contribution to Chile and the world, with what we are, with the common good present in this vast and beautiful land, but we don't want to die trying.
Here's a few clips that I found on YT.
qedsBIXLRro
0dz2zXtKuhQ
RTS6lSTNjr4
t0Bc_vy6JwY
9hlCeIuSluY
You get the idea... :(
If anyone can help me translate what they are saying, just to confirm things I would be grateful, just a simple synopsis would be great, I think I get the gist though.
Also, if you come across any breaking news please let me know, so I can pass it on to him.
Seems the same as everywhere else round the world, but this is how the authorities are treating them there right now. Anonymous have some vids coming out of Chile, but again I do not understand the lingo.
Many thanks for your time,
Best wishes,
Would like to draw your attention to a southern region of Chile.
Have been trying to find out what is going on down in the town/city called Coyhaique which is the capital of the 11th region of Chile on the 45th parallel. An old friend, whom I have not seen/heard for years has over the course of the last week been sending out worrying messages from there via FB. He moved there years ago after meeting and marrying a local Chilean lady there, and is now rather concerned for his family.
The MSM aren't really covering it. A few stories are out there, some lead to other protests though.
The best info seems to comes from this (http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/24/chile-aysen-region-and-the-call-for-decentralization/) blog.
Protests, road blocks, and clashes between protesters and police continue as citizens of the Aysén region of Chile demand change. Global Voices contributor Elizabeth Rivera reported on the social movement behind the mobilization earlier this month and summarized their demands:
Their demands have been compiled in a petition list with 10 points [es] which basically ask for subsidies to balance food, water, electricity and fuel costs; quality health and education; employment equity and retirement pensions based on regional needs; greater citizen participation in the decisions that affect the region including natural resources exploitation; better access and infrastructure.
For many, the conflict in Aysén boils down to one problem affecting the whole country: centralism. “Santiago is not Chile,” is a phrase commonly used among Chileans who often feel ignored for living outside of the capital. Many of these Chileans have to move to Santiago to access better employment and basic services like healthcare due to a shortage of doctors in the regions.
As a result of a heavy focus on the capital, Santiago has been developing at a much faster pace than the rest of the country. Even the media's attention focuses on the capital, giving little air time to issues happening in the rest of Chile.
The protests in Aysén have brought centralism to the forefront of the national conversation, prompting several Chilean bloggers to weigh in on the issue.
Blogger Danae Mlynarz Puig [es] looks ahead to what might happen this year in Chile. She begins her post mentioning the social movement in Aysén:
We remain active in terms of social demands; these days, Aysén is mobilized in the far south of our country demanding decentralization, in an extremely centralized country where it seems that everything happens in Santiago. The outbreak of Aysén reminds us of what we experienced earlier in Magallanes, Easter Island, Calama and other cities, where the inhabitants of these territories mobilized to demand greater involvement in their problems from the central government, revealing the enormous territorial inequality that we live in Chile and the almost total lack of decentralization.
In El Quito Poder [es], Salvador Muñoz says that the problem of centralism is not new:
The people of Aysén claim that no government has taken care their demands. The problems of Aysen, Coyhaique, Magallanes, Tocopilla, Dichato, Calama and all towns and cities of Chile are the same. As noted by the Citizen Assembly of Magallanes in a statement of solidarity with the Aysen movement, “Aysen and Magallanes claim an end to government and coporate centralism, which drowns the regions for the benefit of the capital, which gives us no participation in public policy decisions and prevents us from achieving effective regionalization and decentralization.”
On a similar note, blogger and journalist Gabriel Sanhueza Suarez [es] says that the conflict in Aysén reveals a systemic problem:
The problem of Aysén is much deeper than trying to address sectoral demands … or silencing the protests by sending special forces.
It is a systemic problem, which involves radically rethinking the way we understand the country, removing the centralism chip forever. And above all to think and implement bold policies to transform regionalization from a demagogic slogan to a reality that will allow us to have a fair Chile in all the corners of its territory.
Finally, Kaos en la Red [es] published a post by Patricio Segura from Aquí Aysén [es], a blog written from Aysén that has been covering the movement. Patricio ensures that this social movement wants to influence all Chile, not just Aysén.
[…] the Social Movement for the Aysén Region should not be viewed merely as a revolt by and for the people of Aysén. It involves a lot of the country which we want to build, where the particularities of each citizen, of each territory, are considered. Our issue is real decentralization, true equity, true respect, all of which cannot be compromised in the market.
The people of Aysén don't want a barbed wire fence around the region to keep every one else away. We want to be a contribution to Chile and the world, with what we are, with the common good present in this vast and beautiful land, but we don't want to die trying.
Here's a few clips that I found on YT.
qedsBIXLRro
0dz2zXtKuhQ
RTS6lSTNjr4
t0Bc_vy6JwY
9hlCeIuSluY
You get the idea... :(
If anyone can help me translate what they are saying, just to confirm things I would be grateful, just a simple synopsis would be great, I think I get the gist though.
Also, if you come across any breaking news please let me know, so I can pass it on to him.
Seems the same as everywhere else round the world, but this is how the authorities are treating them there right now. Anonymous have some vids coming out of Chile, but again I do not understand the lingo.
Many thanks for your time,
Best wishes,