
The Socialist 5 October 2011
Fight for jobs!

As BAE threatens cuts... Fight for Jobs!
Miliband's fruitless dreams of a 'better capitalism'
Labour Party conference - No way forward given by 'reclaim Labour' speakers
Tory conference farce - Carry on cutting!
Manchester: Thousands say no to cuts
Glasgow: Prepare for 30 November strike
London union leaders call for electoral challenge
Poplar and Liverpool: 'If you fight, you can win'
North-west construction electricians meet
Construction electricians invade Kings Cross station
Extract from Jarrow Marchers Blog: Day 1 & 2
Danger: young people's futures at risk
Students join the socialists as fury grows over cuts and fees
USA: Occupy Wall Street struggle spreads
Irish trade unionists meet to launch Activists Network
Chilean students in fifth month of protests
Join the fightback: come to Socialism 2011!
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Chilean students in fifth month of protests
Iain Dalton, Youth Fight for Jobs Yorkshire organiser
The last five months have witnessed the biggest social movement in Chile since the fall of former dictator General Pinochet. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in a series of demonstrations and last month, Chilean workers staged a two-day general strike. On the back of the Arab Spring, the Chilean youth is rising.
After 'the other 9/11', when Pinochet took power in a bloody coup in 1973, Chile was used as a test bed for neoliberal policies - with Milton Friedman's Chicago Boys being unleashed, ordering cuts and privatisation on a massive scale. In Chile only 45% of students are able to attend a publicly run school and most universities are privately run.
The result is a picture of the horrors that could come to Britain if the Con-Dem plans for education aren't stopped. Even Chile's publicly funded universities only receive 14% of their funding from the state and charge massive amounts in tuition fees. Student debt averages at around $45,000.
Many teachers are dubbed 'taxi teachers' as they have no contract and have to rush from one school to the next to give individual lessons. Such is the spread of neoliberalism through every part of Chilean society even in hospitals you have absurdities such as 100% surcharges for babies who aren't born on time!
While the western media has focused on the more 'gimmicky' protests such as a mass 'kiss-in' outside the presidential palace or dressing up in super hero costumes, this is only a small part of the story.
Schools and universities have been occupied, mass demonstrations take place on a regular basis. From the off, links have been built with ongoing workers struggles including a one-day strike in solidarity with the students by copper workers in July. The Chilean TUC (CUT) was forced to call a two-day general strike in August.
The right-wing government of Sebastian Pinera has been forced to announce several concessions, including £4 billion of new funding for the education system as well as lowering interest rates on student loans and the dismissal of the education minister in July.
But as yet the government hasn't budged on the fundamental issue of taking the whole of the education system into public ownership and the movement continues with 180,000 demonstrating on 23 September.
Like the M-15 movement in Spain, young people are rejecting the mainstream parties. While Pinera's approval rating languishes at a meagre 26%, the opposition Concertacion coalition is on only 16%. The Communist Party finds similarly low support from young people, not least because it actually runs one of the country's private universities!
The mood may be anti-party, but it isn't un-political. Protesters have taken up demands including for the nationalisation of the copper industry to pay for the full financing of a publicly owned education system.
Only by such measures, taking the key sectors and industries into public ownership can the vast inequalities under capitalism in Chile and around the world be ended.In this issue
Socialist Party news and analysis
As BAE threatens cuts... Fight for Jobs!
Miliband's fruitless dreams of a 'better capitalism'
Labour Party conference - No way forward given by 'reclaim Labour' speakers
Tory conference farce - Carry on cutting!
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Manchester: Thousands say no to cuts
Glasgow: Prepare for 30 November strike
London union leaders call for electoral challenge
Poplar and Liverpool: 'If you fight, you can win'
Socialist Party feature
Socialist Party workplace news
North-west construction electricians meet
Construction electricians invade Kings Cross station
Socialist Party youth and students
Extract from Jarrow Marchers Blog: Day 1 & 2
Danger: young people's futures at risk
Students join the socialists as fury grows over cuts and fees
Socialist Party review
International socialist news and analysis
USA: Occupy Wall Street struggle spreads
Irish trade unionists meet to launch Activists Network
Chilean students in fifth month of protests
Socialist Party events
Join the fightback: come to Socialism 2011!
Home | The Socialist 5 October 2011 | Join the Socialist Party
Related links:
Chile: A defeat for the right!
Southwest London Socialist Party: The revolt in Chile
West London Socialist Party: Lessons of the 1973 military coup in Chile
New pamphlet: constituent assemblies and the revolutionary programme
Tories target universities in free speech shakedown
Socialist Students conference - postering
Strike back for free education
Conference - Sunday 28 February
Johnson's 'road map' for schools: Act together to protect safety
Southern new members meeting - a vivid illustration of the appetite for socialist ideas
The NEU's 'big announcement' - lessons need to be learned
Why you should come to Socialist Students online conference
Socialist Students open letter to Rent Strike network
How militant trade unionism defeated the 1971 Industrial Relations Act