Town halls organised in ‘first act of revolution’

SANTIAGO: Harnessing the same energy that has galvanised millions of people to take to the streets in protest, a spectacle unseen since the bloody fight against a dictatorship three decades ago, Chileans have organised town halls to take the country’s future into their own hands.

Neighbours who had scarcely spoken to one another prior to the breakout of unrest two weeks ago are now engaged in a profound debate about the political path they want to carve out for their country. It is a scene playing out in neighbourhoods across the country of 17 million.

“The first act of revolution is to get together with others because the system wants you alone, it wants you to be an individualist,” said Cristian Diaz, one of roughly 1,000 people who gathered on a balmy afternoon on Saturday in the Yungay neighbourhood in central Santiago.

More than 10,000 people assembled at different town halls in the last week alone, according to the Social Unity Roundtable, a civil society umbrella organisation that represents different student, workers, sexual rights and environmental groups.

The meetings seek to find resolutions to the profound inequalities that are driving unrest that has killed at least 23 and injured more than 2,000, with more than 7,000 arrested. The cost to the country is estimated at $3 billion (about 91 billion baht) in damages and lost earnings.

Polls have shown that the majority of people strongly support the protests, but not the damage to the country’s infrastructure, businesses and transport systems. “This is incredible to see so many people in the plaza, united by the same cause, debating,” said Mr Diaz. “It’s what we always wanted, what we always dreamed about, that people got to know each other, got to know their neighbour’s name.”

Using a loudspeaker, townhall organiser Pablo Selles directed people into the four corners of Yungay’s main square. Those residing in the southwestern part of the neighbourhood were directed to that part of the square, and those in other sections to their own corresponding corners.

“What do we want to do and who do we want to do it with?” were questions Mr Selles asked the groups to consider. A focus of discussions was whether the 1980 constitution imposed during the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet should be torn up and replaced with a new version.

Critics of the constitution complain that it fails to guarantee basic rights such as public healthcare, is not representative of modern Chile and does not promote a participatory democracy. Opposition parties have backed calls for a new constitution but it is unclear whether they will attract broad political backing.

A 53-year-old grandmother named Carena, who declined to give her last name, said at the age of 14 she participated in street protests against the Pinochet regime. She said her fight continues. “We need to keep protesting, even if we die trying.”