(en) Chile, Solidaridad #22 - Melissa Sepulveda*: "Our policy horizons have to be a revolutionary deeply concerned" (ca, pt)

In the initiation day of Bachelet government, we spoke with Melissa Sepulveda, president 
of the DATE, to elucidate what the main guidelines and perspectives of the student 
movement are. ---- In midsummer, as are we all talking about the Festival de Vi?a, we met 
in a DATE almost empty but already the hub of our colleague, as we have seen, it is 
required by the media. ---- Melissa acknowledges the debt that the student movement is 
transcendental and address: say and define what "quality" in education or what content we 
speak. And it is here that a libertarian woman can make a difference and set the tone in 
the debate, because not enough education in which we can access all the same, whether that 
education is going to continue playing the same vices of capitalism and patriarchy.

Melissa, How are you glimpse the political stage with the new government of Bachelet?

Michelle Bachelet comes with a very clear role that has to do with the environment that 
exists here in Chile, a scenario where social movements are shaking up the structures that 
were installed in the dictatorship and which has started to be a challenge to all capacity 
institutionalism. Then she picks up the demands of the social movement and says give
solutions. But the truth is that there is a structure of institutions left by the 
Constitution of 80, which remains very strong pillars therefore required, to calm the 
waters-a transformation of both institutional locks and the policies that have lifting the 
Coalition come and right. And this is the sense that it has around Bachelet, and since the 
Coalition is very delegitimized socially, require this replacement with the "New Majority" 
and join the Communist Party to give a new face to the coalition, and this is because the 
vast majority of Chilean society and realized that they continued the project of 
dictatorship, there is no differentiation between the right project and the Coalition. So 
now come with this new look and this head is a very popular character who has a lot of 
support and especially the grassroots, it's Michele Bachelet.

Considering this, we knew from before the scenario is complex, this mask has Bachelet 
taking the slogans of social movement. However, the appointment of the cabinet is to put 
into question the real will there by the New Majority of these transformations. Basically, 
this is something that allows us to think that there will be a continuity model, 
independent of the reforms to be made. For as reforms are considering, if you read the 
details, you realize that it is not a program that seeks to end neoliberalism in any case. 
If one looks at the political level who are giving approval to the Bachelet government are 
the main business sectors that give explicit support and fund his campaign, one of the 
millions who has been. Then there signals fed to the appointment of Minister of Education, 
Nicol?s Eyzaguirre, who was finance minister who implemented Lakes and Credit with State 
Guarantee, worked at the International Monetary Fund, was on the board of Channel 13, 
owned by Andronicus Luksic. Then he has a history linked to the business and management 
world and absolutely advocate a continuation of the neoliberal model in education. In 
appointing the Undersecretary of Education spent quite similar. So this answers a very 
economistic look.

"Within that we must be able to distinguish which demands can be achieved with the 
mobilization that demands are our minimum threshold for mobilization and really mean to 
take away a piece neoliberal system in education and other areas."

Probably what happens here is that you try to solve the great slogan that is what 
resonates as "free education", but under terms that are not yet very clear. Surely the 
design will remain single, commercial and not an integral transformation of the 
educational model is what we have said, since this is not enough to provide free without 
changing the access system has today higher education, or be held without changing the 
primary and secondary education without leaving the standardization of processes, as is 
the SIMCE, PSU, etc test. It should really start thinking about what the needs you have in 
education are Chile, and also understand that something fundamental is that education is 
not a neutral process, can not be, and therefore we have to think about where we want you 
to go education. Today education is a competitive, individualistic conception in deep 
relationship with the labor market, the curricula are oriented in that direction and
increasingly incorporating the Bologna Process and the Tuning Project are reforms that 
allow greater mobility between houses of study, allowing shorten and lengthen the 
undergraduate to graduate also commodify higher education and increasingly being linked to 
business needs.

Where do you think are the main challenges?

The difficulties have to do with the cabinet. The difficulties are in our capacity to 
fight as libertarians unit. But not just libertarians, but the left in general, because we 
are so few that have sectarian or political isolation at the moment is the biggest mistake 
we can make, because we run many risks. Mostly run the risk of being as reactionary policy 
of "government solves social demands." Which has always been used by the Coalition or the 
Communist Party, who say that "the left ends aligned right."

Then everything will depend on the clarity we have in our policy proposals. Here's a giant 
challenge because under President Pi?era enough with the slogan, enough to have positioned 
the subjects, having put in confrontation with the neoliberal project embodied by the 
right. So that contrasted very strong and united movement. And contrasted sharply with the 
model of education that sees education as a social benefit, which was coming installing 
this social movement. Now that distinction is not so clear, and that the Communist Party 
will likely play a central role because they still have a lot of insertion into the social 
movement and has the largest workers' organization that exists nationally, have the 
Teachers , are former student leaders in Parliament, so the weight they have now is great.

Given this scenario, how do you see the articulation of the student movement?

In the next CONFECH and we will make decisions about how we will address the relationship 
with the government, we expect a much more interactive relationship than it was with the 
government of Pi?era. They have already announced that they will have an approach to the 
student movement, they will submit their bills to the student leaders and people of the 
world of education before Congress, then for all that you have to be prepared and we see 
that there is no fed challenges. On the one hand we think that this 4-year cycle that are 
now unable to disarm the social movement. That independent of the reforms, whether 
favorable or not to the popular field, one of the fundamental tasks must be to strengthen 
grassroots organizations, political and social, allowing us to project the independent 
mobilization cycle education is closed or AFP, or renationalisation, or any of the other 
demands that have raised social movements and in some form or another will be answered. 
Probably there will be a change, it may be nothing more than a reformulation as this is 
what has become our history closings political cycles.

So if we allow disband the social movement in a time and get something or mobilization is 
finished, it will be finally give the game back to the government and governance climate 
having achieved nothing in particular . Therefore, our political horizons have to be
beyond have to be a profoundly revolutionary question, you must be a question that 
basically unattainable. And within that we must be able to distinguish which demands can 
be achieved with the mobilization that demands are our minimum threshold for mobilization 
and really mean to take away a piece neoliberal system in education and other areas. And 
all this is not yet clear because it requires technical effort, a lot of knowledge, to 
take a giant step that has never given the left, to make available to people who are
designing a popular program and there are several answers from the world education. Also 
CONFECH and student organizations are a backbone of the popular movement right now, 
because they have an established national organization, so the CONFECH must play a key 
role and we already have been clear in saying that the bet is multisectorality both to 
address education from a multisectoral perspective, so that the student movement is able 
to host own demands as other social sectors. And that, finally, is a class identity, but 
perhaps say those words. And it should be so clearly in the content so that the shape is 
not a problem, and we can also use closer to the popular world language.

by The Bad
[Published in the Solidarity No 22]


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* Melissa Sepulveda, a medical student of 22 years, militant Libertarian Students Front 
(FEL) and libertarian feminist "La Alzada"