Year of The Boomerang

The demo passes along Alameda in front of the presidential palace La Moneda

The biggest demonstration since the end of the dictatorship took place yesterday, with tens of thousands of people, the majority school and university students, taking over the city to march against the education reforms that the Piñera administration is planning to implement. I turned up at Plaza Italia at 10.30 in the morning and wandered around the crowds of schoolkids armed with drums, banners and horns, some in costume, some in facepaint, the damp, cold air thick with the heavy essence of anticipation and carnival noise. Spirits were high, a jubilant atmosphere had taken hold as the collective energy of the masses surged all around.

We were there about an hour before the march began and I managed to get a perch on the partition that divides La Alameda to improve the view. For a good forty minutes vast crowds streamed by on both sides and hundreds of colourful banners dominated the view. It made its way all the way down to the centre and was a total triumph for all involved. Whether this kind of massive show of public dissent will have any affect over the goverment's policy remains to be seen.

I've written a fair bit about the spirit of protest in Chile so this time let's look at the media take on things. Well, unsurprisingly, the tiny spasms of violence that occurred between police and protesters were swiftly picked up on by the mainstream media. In spite of Chile bearing witness to one of the proudest and strongest displays of public solidarity in its history, many networks felt it necessary to focus on the negative. Like in the UK, most TV channels operate as government tools of propaganda and seek to undermine those that oppose and threaten the status quo of the system. Therefore a huge and utterly inspiring demonstration of national fellowship is presented in a negative light wherever possible. It's not surprising but it highlights the bullshit that the media spews from its biased rectum.

Another thing was the dispute over how many souls had turned out to express their contempt for the government's plans to maintain the norm that sees Chile as one of the world's most economically divided countries. Obviously, one route out of this is education which doesn't suit the ruling classes. It was reported that 80,000 attended the protest but other organisations put it at double that number. When you're in such a throng it's virtually impossible to make a reliable estimate of numbers but you can at least get an idea of the scale of things and this was absolutely immense. It is in the authorities interests to downplay the size of things and portray the protesters as in a minority.

The government is getting nervous about the tsunami of dissent and opposition that has been unleashed. This is clear from the announcement made that no more demonstrations will be permitted along La Alameda, Santiago's principal thoroughfare that cuts through the heart of the city and passes La Moneda. It will be interesting to see what the reaction will be of los carabineros should crowds still mass there in order to peacefully observe their right to protest. The military police force is not renowned for its tolerance of such things and it could be that we will once again see peaceful protesters being teargassed, as seen in the documentary Imagenes de una Dictadura, and would support the opinion that rather than a democracy, Chilean society is today living in a post-dictatorship.

Here's a link to the Facebook page of Movimiento Surda, featuring a marvellous gallery of images from a monumental day:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150247400243872.346843.51829283871