Chile's Student Protests.

After Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship ended around twenty years ago, it left a legacy of neo-liberalism controlled, at first, by the US. Chile was in fact the testing grounds for neo-liberalism. Chile's education system is thus now the second most expensive in the world after the US. Many students cannot get an education and many others cannot afford to finish.

Following the example of Argentina a few years back, where the country eventually achieved free tertiary education; the Confederation of Students of Chile has been at the forefront of student protests and occupations since the breakdown of negotiations with Pinera's government. Since April this year, but with more emphasis this semester, 100 high schools and a dozen universities have been shut down by protests. There have been 132 protests this year in Santiago alone. Since, the government has proposed a bill that would criminalise student protests, which sparked a 48 hour general strike shutting down the country. Reports say 70% of Chileans agree with the aims of the student movement.

Protesters according to a friend of mine are “prepared to give up as many months of study as it takes to see real change happen” in the country. Some universities have been in 'lock-in/out' for up to 80 days, other groups of students have taken part in hunger strikes. Marches take place weekly across the country, in the capital Santiago marching to the presidential house.

The opposition have raised three points aiming for a “new agenda”, these include equality, “inclusive development" and a new constitution. However in the past the main party of the opposition the “”Socialist”” party has said they “did not have the support of all political sectors to advance from profit-based education, to education that is free […] and for all”. The student bodies are aware of this as the largest strikes that hit the country went against the socialist government in 2006. The socialist government, moreover, was in power from 1990 to 2010, without achieving any change in the education system.

The protests have in many cases been non-violent, but not predominantly. The only protests the government allows are the ones tagged non-violent, but these often break down into rock throwing form the students and charges, rubber bullets and teargas from the police. Journalists and civilians are routinely beaten up in the process. 

Interestingly Pinera became a billionaire while Pinochet was repressing Chile's working classes.

Unlike New Zealand, education is not a given in a country that's already poorer than most. Chile according to the GINI index is one of the most unequal in the world. This is due to Free Market Rule.