Demonstrations across Chile fight profiteering in education.

Largest student protest of the year draws 150,000 to march


Thursday, 28 June 2012 22:54

Written by Kevin Kunitake

Demonstrations across Chile fight profiteering in education.

The Chilean student movement brings out an estimated 150,000 people in the name of education reform. Photo by Kevin Kunitake/The Santiago Times.

Rain slowed, but did not stop massive files of students, workers and protesters as they marched past the presidential palace to protest education costs and profiteering Thursday. The Confederation of Chilean Students (Confech), the university student organization that coordinated the protest, estimated the number of protesters at 150,000.

The Chilean student movement has been relatively quiet this year compared to when it emerged in 2011. Thursday’s protest may be an indicator that the dormancy was only temporary.

“The government is right to be worried because we are dealing with a minister who bows to business,” said Confech Spokesperson Gabriel Boric at the march’s closing ceremony. “We want to say that while this happens, we will not be quiet. We went from a military dictatorship to a market dictatorship.”



In Chile, the majority of education costs are borne by private citizens. Confech and other student organizations have called for the government to take a more active investment.



In addition to the movement’s broad call for education reforms, many protesters specifically spoke against profiteering in the educational system. At least seven universities are under investigation for taking money from the instruction and putting it into the pockets of its directors and executives.



This was the movement’s third major protest of the year, but first sanctioned route past La Moneda presidential palace. It was also the biggest of the three, according to the Confech estimate.



An overwhelming majority were students from both private and public universities and varying grade levels. Others included grandmothers, teachers and workers, all supporting the movement.



“I’m glad I’m here,” public high school student Marco Vargas told The Santiago Times. “I see some of my neighbors and friends from private school and thought I saw an old teacher here too. We’re all out here in the cold.”



The march went down Santiago’s main street, La Alameda, where protesters clashed with water cannons and tear gas, and passed Universidad de Chile where a banner of solidarity draped over its entrance.



Moving in front of La Moneda, protesters unfurled a huge Chilean flag that reiterated the movement’s message of free quality education. The march continued, eventually culminating outside Parque O’Higgins for a closing ceremony and concert.



“Today we have reason to be proud, it was a great march,” Boric said in his closing remarks. “Down with profit, up with fighting.”



After the closing ceremony, hooded black-clad anarchists called “encapuchados” started destroying streetlights, setting them on fire and throwing bottles and rocks at the police. But other than a few violent spurts, including the destruction of an unoccupied bus by the “encapuchados,” the march was lighthearted.



Protesters kept eyes on police, but danced alongside marching bands and watched in awe at performers walking alongside them. Vendors sold lemons, a makeshift remedy for tear gas, but also cookies and sandwiches. Overall, the violence did not overshadow the movement’s message, as it often has in past marches.



Still, police called the protest "the most violent of the year." According to police records, 250 protesters were detained and 20 officers were injured.*



Other cities in Chile, including Valparaiso and Concepción, held marches Thursday fighting for the same grounds.



By Kevin Kunitake (kunitake@santiagotimes.cl)

Copyright 2012 - The Santiago Times 2012



*Editor's note: this passage has been added as an update.







http://www.santiagotimes.cl/national/education/23994-largest-student-protest-of-the-year-draws-150000-to-march#.T-2g9wJKpe4.twitter



About the writer







Kevin Kunitake



Kevin is an undergraduate at American University in Washington, D.C., studying journalism and international studies. He is in Santiago on his semester abroad studying Spanish and Latin American politics.











Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/







"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs