“What are the lessons that Chile can teach us in Puerto Rico and the US? That protesting can be effective, that you cannot toy with a people tired of abuse, and that by creating truly representative democratic processes you can make change.”
"The Struggle Continues." Murals like these are found all over a Chile trying to end a legacy of dictatorship. Murales como estas se encuentran en un Chile tratando de poner al fin un legado de dictadura. Photo: Karina Claudio Betancourt
“Felix and the neighbors of Lo Hermida said they were inspired by the organizational model of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez” The students were the face of the uprising, but trans feminist women and LGBTQIA+ people were also a part of the Chilean dissidence that made itself felt in the streets for several weeks in the former Plaza Italia until Piñera finally agreed to a process to change the Constitution of Chile, which had been written in the 1980s under the Pinochet regime. During these massive protests, thousands of young people were arrested.
The Constitutional Assembly has approved several important initiatives, including declaring Chile a plurinational state, with legal recognition of the Mapuche community and the Afro-Chilean community; a new definition of a family not limited to a cisgender men and cisgender women and children; the right to self-identify so that trans and non-binary persons can choose on their identification cards; education with a gender perspective; and finally, the elimination of the senate, to be replaced by...