Statement on the situation in Chile
The Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity expresses its solidarity with the people of Chile, its high school students and workers, in the exercise of their legitimate right to social protest and civil disobedience in the face of an increasingly delegitimized democracy and an extremely unequal society.
What has developed during the last few days in the city of Santiago, as a consequence of the rise in the price of public transportation, adds up to the rejection of a series of measures that make the life of the people of Chile more expensive while at the same time benefiting the private companies that control the resources and basic services in that country.
We denounce before the international community, the human rights organizations and the fraternal people of Chile, the criminalization of social protest that the government of Sebastián Piñera has undertaken, especially against children and youth who have taken part in the protests in the last few days, and who for that reason were labeled as “violent,” “vandals” and “delinquents,” who have been persecuted and brutally repressed, and we declare that these facts constitute serious violations of human rights.
Similarly, we strongly condemn the shameful measures taken by the government, which include the decree of a state of emergency resulting in the restriction of the right of assembly and free movement, measures that are characteristic of a dictatorship and that far from resolving the complex situation actually aggravate it.
There is strong support from the government to maintain the neoliberal model at all costs, part of a framework and a strategy that seeks to impose that model on a continental level, which leads to restricting the rights of the people, and then calls for a supposed dialogue without addressing any of the problems.
Finally, we call on intellectuals, artists and honest people of the world to demonstrate and condemn the crisis in Chile, while reiterating our support for the popular protests and our full solidarity with the social struggles to achieve a more just Chile for all.
Secretariat of the Network in Defense of Humanity
October 19, 2019
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