ChDI launches first manifesto in support of social movement in Chile

Today, Tuesday November 19, 2019, from the Chilean communities abroad we have a message for the people who live in Chile: Without justice there is no peace. As a community of Chileans abroad, we greet and deeply appreciate this transversal awakening, after 30 years of postponing social demands and unresolved precarization, which have been caused by the neoliberal model installed in our country since the civic-military dictatorship of Pinochet.

The social awakening, triggered by acts of civil disobedience and the massive demonstrations that – in these 30 years – have been led by high school students demanding public, quality and non-sexist education. An awakening that they spontaneously joined:

• The feminist collectives, which are permanently fighting against patriarchal violence and the unequal sexual division of labour.
• The groups for sexual diversity and their fight to defend their rights, for diversity and against discrimination.
• The historic struggle of the Mapuche people, victims of an imposed state policy by successive official post-dictatorship governments. A policy of criminalization to their legitimate claims and complaints of usurpation of land and natural resources, which puts in danger – not only their own people – but all people. A community exposed to the application of national security and anti-terrorist laws, inherited since the Pinochet dictatorship, setups, militarization of their territories and assassination of their social and political leaders.
• The communities that have come out to claim their right to dignity.
  Fighting against the invisibility and marginalization produced by a system individualist and classist.
• The workers of today and yesterday who demand a pension system public and solidary, humane working hours and dignified salaries.
• The workers of the land, environmentalists, protectors of the seeds and so many more that from the grassroots organizations have been opposing
  firmly to the signing of the TTP11 .

We have seen in these massive demonstrations, all these people and many others that were never there before. Those who no longer believed in collective power and much except that things could change.

Today, everyone, everyone is in the streets screaming, from Putre to Puerto Williams, from the sea to the mountain range, the urgency of deep changes that will make us walk towards the construction of a diverse, fair and supportive Chile.

From abroad, we have seen the images that fill us with emotion, joy and pride, but also of concern. The victims that this awakening has left are a cost too high, and we believe that state institutions, as well as governments and international institutions, have not been able to rise to the occasion to condemn the political, military and police violence unleashed by a totally arrogant, deaf and not very empathetic government.

It is in this scenario that, as Red Chile Despertó Internacional, we declare the following:

 

1. We reject a “peace agreement” without the incorporation of all the social actors that have been at the birth of the legitimate social and policy demands of our people. We believe that it is harmful for the democratic health this exclusing event held between four walls by the same sector responsible for the crisis.
2. We condemn a “peace agreement” in a context that guarantees neither truth nor justice in the face of systematic human rights violations. Signed by the very same people responsible for a government that has exercised indiscriminate repression, leaving – to this day – an intolerable toll of 26 fatalities, more than 200 eye mutilations, cases of torture, arbitrary detentions, disappearances, sexual abuse and rape of children, young people and women according to official figures from the National Institute of Human Rights – INDH. These acts have been denounced and condemned by organizations such as Amnesty International, the Chilean Medical Association, the Chilean Red Cross, the Medical-Legal Association, the Emergency Health Services, the INDH and the International Observation Mission on the Human Rights Situation in Chile, composed of nine international organizations
3. We reject a “peace agreement” that excludes the young people of our country, who have played a fundamental role in this awakening of the new Chile. We firmly believe that the participation of these actors must be guaranteed, granting them the right to vote from the age of 14. First, because it was this group who, in a responsible manner, positioned itself consistently in the face of the social crisis that is plaguing the country. Second, because it will be this generation of young people who will grow up and be directly affected by the implementation of a new fundamental charter. They will be the ones who will assume the task of making the relevant changes to it. Thirdly, because we are convinced that young people are mature enough to participate in this process, as stated in the Criminal Law on Juvenile Responsibility, which establishes with remarkable clarity that from the age of 14 people have the capacity to respond to the law for their actions. Certainly if they are criminally responsible for their actions, they are so to assume a leading role in building the foundations of the new Constitution.
4. We demand that direct participation in the constitutional process demanded by the citizens be guaranteed. Our grassroots groups have important criticisms of the “Agreement for Social Peace and the New Constitution” because of its ambiguities and the absence of elements such as gender parity and inclusion of native peoples. There are also criticisms about the date of implementation. We believe it is necessary to advance towards a Plurinational and Parity Constituent Assembly, which promotes citizen participation through concrete actions. That promotes training, discussion and decision-making from territorial assemblies, town councils, social movements and other sectors of civil society. Making us participants with full rights as Chileans abroad. Recognizing our assemblies and town halls in the different countries we live in, including the structural problems that also affect us abroad and the work of the state bodies that represent us outside national territory.
5. We are distrustful of a “peace agreement” where an absence of guarantees of equal access to the media for all future candidacies to the constituent assembly prevails. As well as an absence of control bodies over the financing of campaigns, which would ensure that economic interests would not exert undue influence on the democratic process. We see with great concern the absence of sufficient guarantees to be able to carry out this popular and civic process with meetings, conversations, demonstrations and free votes, without the existence of coercion, intimidation and repression actions by the intelligence and police agencies.
6. We join the call for the creation of a Committee on Truth, Justice and Reparation for all cases of victims of political violence by State agents, in which we commit our support as an international platform.
7. Finally, we demand that Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echeñique be brought to trial in due process, for his responsibility in systematic human rights violations, for his political and judicial responsibility and as the highest authority in the country at the time of the events. To Andrés Pío Bernardino Chadwick Piñera, former Minister of the Interior and Public Security of Chile; to Mario Alberto Rozas Córdova, General Director of the Carabineros; to Gonzalo Fernando Blumel Mac-Iver, current Minister of the Interior and Public Security of Chile; Ricardo Martínez Menanteau, Commander in Chief of the Army; Javier Iturriaga del Campo, head of the National Defence for the Metropolitan Region; Julio Leiva Molina, Commander in Chief of the Chilean Navy, as well as to any other person in line of command with criminal and political responsibilities. In the same way, we believe that it is absolutely necessary to hold legally and ethically responsible the role played by the media that have been complicit, misinformed and unethical during this period of mobilization.

The street has been clear, we add to that outcry: WITHOUT JUSTICE, THERE WILL BE NO PEACE; AND WITHOUT PEACE, THERE CAN BE NO AGREEMENT.

Red Chile Despertó Internacional
146 cities, 32 countries, 5 continents.
Communities organized abroad in support of social demands in Chile.
Tuesday Noviembre 19, 2019.

 

Access the document (Spanish): 2019-11-19 -MANIFIESTO ChDI – Final