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Protesters of all ages rally to condemn the expulsion of secondary school pupils.
A small group gathered on Tuesday to protest the suspension of enrollment of 300 students from secondary schools in the municipality of Ñuñoa.
Photo by Jason Suder/Santiago Times
Ñuñoa’s Mayor, Pedro Sabat, suspended the students for their involvement in ‘tomas’ and protests, which reached a peak in Chile in August of last year.
In addition to the expulsion of the students, about 60 teachers have also had their contracts renegotiated or been laid off for supporting the students’ actions.
The protest, which began quietly and peacefully in Plaza Ñuñoa at 8:30 p.m., was coordinated by the Cordon Ñuñoa, the Citizen’s Assembly and the Association of Teachers.
In the beginning about 250 people gathered, but the crowd later grew to around 500 as the protesters spilled from the park area onto the eastern stretch of Avenida Irarrázaval blocking access to the road and stopping traffic.
Two police vehicles and about 20 riot police stationed themselves on the corner of Irarrázaval and Jorge Washington watching on as the motley crowd of teachers, parents, and students beat pans, shouted chants and taunted the officers with sardonic wolf whistles.
Bastián Ramírez, 16, spokesperson for Cordon Ñuñoa and one of the students expelled from his school by Mayor Sabat, told press that the number of students suspended in Santiago currently stands at 350 in total but is expected to rise when students begin to enroll again for the new academic year.
Ramírez was one of a few representatives of teachers and students that addressed the crowds. Side by side 16-year-olds and 65-year-olds screamed and shouted as Ramírez told the crowd: “We’re here for the public education of the municipality of Ñuñoa and for the nation.”
“Although there are other ways [to protest], go out on to the streets and fight for your rights. Education is a right,” he said, rousing the protesters shortly before they faced off against riot police.
Seemingly unfazed both by his own unjust expulsion and the chaos that erupted soon after the ‘official’ meeting escalated, Ramírez told The Santiago Times calmly “these protests are a routine for us now.”
Ramírez, who disappeared in the spray from a water cannon, represents a younger and even more politicized generation of students in Chile, says musician and activist Joaquín Figueroa.
“It’s going to be a very hard year [but] a very beautiful year because more people are involved in this fight,” Figueroa told The Santiago Times.
While the singer praised the increase in consciousness that university students have brought about in the last year over the education movement in Chile, he said “the movement does not belong to Camila [Vallejo] or to Georgio [Jackson].”
“The younger people have much more consciousness than the people that the media have put in their stories so far,” Figueroa said.
Figueroa was among several high profile musicians in attendance. Max Berrú of Chilean folk band Inti Illimani and hip-hop star Ana Tijoux also sang for the crowd, echoing Salvador Allende’s campaign mantra: “There will be no revolution without songs”.
Since schools and universities broke up for the summer vacation Chile has acquired its third Education Minister in one year and seen a shuffle in its student union leadership.
Issues such as education for profit are still far from resolved, however, and with Chile’s multimillionaire president considered by many to be more businessman than politician it will take a strong movement to continue the campaign into the future.
The protesters are resolved, however. “I’ve been fighting [for free education] for the last twenty years, since supposed democracy came to Chile, and I’ll be fighting for much longer,” Figueroa said.
In Santiago only 70 schools out of a staggering 700, the number recorded at the height of the education movement, are thought to still be in “toma,” leading many to believe that the movement may be winding down.
The clashes between police and protesters that followed the meeting in Plaza Ñuñoa suggest the opposite.
The students’ fight quickly turned ugly at when police mobilized vehicles and began spraying water cannons and firing tear gas to disperse the enthusiastic crowds.
Riot police maintained their presence in the area until about 11 p.m. as they chased protesters, some of whom had begun to throw rocks and glass bottles at the officers.
The speed at which violence escalated at this comparatively small, local protest shows that the education movement is far from over in Chile. Many, like Figueroa, hope to see it to its end.
“It [the education movement in Chile] is part of a world movement against neo-liberalism. It’s a world fight,” he said, “And we hope to fight a world fight.”
By Olivia Crellin (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
A small group gathered on Tuesday to protest the suspension of enrollment of 300 students from secondary schools in the municipality of Ñuñoa.
Photo by Jason Suder/Santiago Times
Ñuñoa’s Mayor, Pedro Sabat, suspended the students for their involvement in ‘tomas’ and protests, which reached a peak in Chile in August of last year.
In addition to the expulsion of the students, about 60 teachers have also had their contracts renegotiated or been laid off for supporting the students’ actions.
The protest, which began quietly and peacefully in Plaza Ñuñoa at 8:30 p.m., was coordinated by the Cordon Ñuñoa, the Citizen’s Assembly and the Association of Teachers.
In the beginning about 250 people gathered, but the crowd later grew to around 500 as the protesters spilled from the park area onto the eastern stretch of Avenida Irarrázaval blocking access to the road and stopping traffic.
Two police vehicles and about 20 riot police stationed themselves on the corner of Irarrázaval and Jorge Washington watching on as the motley crowd of teachers, parents, and students beat pans, shouted chants and taunted the officers with sardonic wolf whistles.
Bastián Ramírez, 16, spokesperson for Cordon Ñuñoa and one of the students expelled from his school by Mayor Sabat, told press that the number of students suspended in Santiago currently stands at 350 in total but is expected to rise when students begin to enroll again for the new academic year.
Ramírez was one of a few representatives of teachers and students that addressed the crowds. Side by side 16-year-olds and 65-year-olds screamed and shouted as Ramírez told the crowd: “We’re here for the public education of the municipality of Ñuñoa and for the nation.”
“Although there are other ways [to protest], go out on to the streets and fight for your rights. Education is a right,” he said, rousing the protesters shortly before they faced off against riot police.
Seemingly unfazed both by his own unjust expulsion and the chaos that erupted soon after the ‘official’ meeting escalated, Ramírez told The Santiago Times calmly “these protests are a routine for us now.”
Ramírez, who disappeared in the spray from a water cannon, represents a younger and even more politicized generation of students in Chile, says musician and activist Joaquín Figueroa.
“It’s going to be a very hard year [but] a very beautiful year because more people are involved in this fight,” Figueroa told The Santiago Times.
While the singer praised the increase in consciousness that university students have brought about in the last year over the education movement in Chile, he said “the movement does not belong to Camila [Vallejo] or to Georgio [Jackson].”
“The younger people have much more consciousness than the people that the media have put in their stories so far,” Figueroa said.
Figueroa was among several high profile musicians in attendance. Max Berrú of Chilean folk band Inti Illimani and hip-hop star Ana Tijoux also sang for the crowd, echoing Salvador Allende’s campaign mantra: “There will be no revolution without songs”.
Since schools and universities broke up for the summer vacation Chile has acquired its third Education Minister in one year and seen a shuffle in its student union leadership.
Issues such as education for profit are still far from resolved, however, and with Chile’s multimillionaire president considered by many to be more businessman than politician it will take a strong movement to continue the campaign into the future.
The protesters are resolved, however. “I’ve been fighting [for free education] for the last twenty years, since supposed democracy came to Chile, and I’ll be fighting for much longer,” Figueroa said.
In Santiago only 70 schools out of a staggering 700, the number recorded at the height of the education movement, are thought to still be in “toma,” leading many to believe that the movement may be winding down.
The clashes between police and protesters that followed the meeting in Plaza Ñuñoa suggest the opposite.
The students’ fight quickly turned ugly at when police mobilized vehicles and began spraying water cannons and firing tear gas to disperse the enthusiastic crowds.
Riot police maintained their presence in the area until about 11 p.m. as they chased protesters, some of whom had begun to throw rocks and glass bottles at the officers.
The speed at which violence escalated at this comparatively small, local protest shows that the education movement is far from over in Chile. Many, like Figueroa, hope to see it to its end.
“It [the education movement in Chile] is part of a world movement against neo-liberalism. It’s a world fight,” he said, “And we hope to fight a world fight.”
By Olivia Crellin (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times
About the writer
Olivia Crellin
Olivia recently graduated with a degree in English Literature from Cambridge University and has ventured to South America to improve her Spanish and dip her toes in the murky waters of overseas journalism.
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