Chile Shaking
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A new conservative government came into power this week in Chile. It will find itself having to be more "socialist" than the former socialist coalition if it wants to keep what appears to be a fragile social order. Here's my editorial in The Nation on Chile Shaking:
The most treacherous aftershock of Chile's devastating earthquake was the yawning divide between rich and poor--a fissure that has been mostly papered over by several decades of denial and delusion. One needed look no further than the Twitter torrent gushing from the broken country within hours of the temblor. As swarms of desperate Chileans sacked and emptied the shelves of every market and pharmacy in the hardest-hit, isolated southern region, there was a virtual tsunami of tweets, laden with class- and race-charged epithets, demanding that the army shoot to kill all "delinquents," along with a flurry of nostalgic pleas for a return to military dictatorship.
Indeed, with the veneer of social order crumbling almost as fast as the half-million to 1.5 million homes of wood, adobe and other substandard materials, outgoing President Michelle Bachelet ordered tank regiments and thousands of combat troops into the affected areas, producing chilling scenes, reminiscent of the Pinochet era, of nervous conscripts pointing their rifles at the backs of detained "vandals." At one point an eighteen-hour-a-day curfew was clamped down on the battered city of Concepción, as if its population were suspects rather than victims. More....
March 12th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Terrific piece, Marc.
But this paragraph needs unraveling:
Some leveling of the playing field during her four-year presidency–including investment in housing and some pension reform–earned termed-out Socialist Bachelet extremely high popularity ratings. But that wasn’t enough to stop an electoral victory earlier this year by right-wing billionaire Sebastián Piñera–the first time a conservative had been elected president since 1958.
****So tired were Chileans of the ineffectiveness of the Concertación in producing social change, they elected the man least likely to give it to them. Desperate people commit desperate acts–at, and away from, the polls.****
How is/was Bachelet a ‘Socialist’? And when a ‘right wing billionaire’ gets elected is is really because the majority of the people are so desperate they will vote against their own self interest? Isn’t this scenario the same that gets repeated HERE and in Europe? I, personally, have never believed there is not a web of organization between the elections of fat cats and right wing free market greed heads in various countries. Its a global economy as is the political field and that usually dictates elections.
Much pressure in a thousand different ways can be brought to bear to influence an election in a country where it is deemed important for the big biz and big money boys to be able to work the “room” (resources, deals) to their favor.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:23 am
A noodle and a Google of Chile’s natural resources:
http://www4.cord.edu/bae/keup/projects/chile/resources_of_chile.htm
whoa…just discovered there is such a thing as the CIA WORLD FACT BOOK. And corresponding website.
Chile’s economy is so tied to global industry they will be at the mercy of…wouldn’t they?
March 12th, 2010 at 8:23 am
they will ‘always’ be at the mercy of…
March 12th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Mercy indeed!
1.5 Litres of Concha y Toro Xplorador costs $6.99/bottle at COSTCO meaning it leaves Chile at about $2/bottle.
This election will insure that COSTCO shoppers will continue to enjoy this bargain created by the empire.
Over the the next five years (the term of Sebastián Piñera) the cost of Xplorador will rise to about $8.25 at COSTCO and will leave Chile at about $2.50/bottle.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
lol. oh vino!
similar happens in Florida around citrus. utter garbage in the supermarket chains (at least in California one could get abundant good citrus, artichoke etc) the citrus is mooshy and moldy and the lemons–despite a tree in most people’s yards– HORRIBLE and overpriced.
Anyway, it seems the ‘elite’ in Chile would all be tied in some fashion to the huge amount of businesses that export Chile’s natural resources and if a so called ‘socialist’ (how much so is what would be interesting to find out) was getting in the way or more aggressive business deals needed to be made then the money boys will find a way to get back in the drivers seat.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
and here it is:
http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/sebastian-pinera-chiles-billionaire-president-47036.aspx
March 12th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
even better:
http://cliftonchadwick.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/sebastian-pinera-becomes-president-of-chile-today-enters-changed-political-landscape/
March 12th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Totally and perhaps inappropriately off-topic on this thread, but Kudos ! – the illustrious daughter gets featured on The Atlantic’s site:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/features/view/feature/Sicha-and-Vargas-Cooper-on-Lady-Gaga-900
March 13th, 2010 at 7:52 am
reg, you’re always off topic, motherfucker
March 13th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Kiss my ass, you brain-dead, nihilistic little worm.
March 13th, 2010 at 9:40 am
“reg, you’re always off topic, motherfucker”
Yeah, exactly–pointing out the awesome achievements of the host’s daughter is offensively off-topic.
Keep being classy and irrelevant, “sergio”.
Thanks for the link, reg. Marc–your brilliant and funny daughter continues to impress.
March 14th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
I have a suggestion for Sergio and Third Charmer: start a blog called “Why We Hate Marc Cooper and Reg.”