Has Chile defeated neoliberalism? (with Marcelo Casals)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chile has a proud tradition of protests, but the unrest of 2019 was different. More than a million people took to the streets to protest their nation’s vast inequality. The uprising made international news, unseated a neoliberal dictatorship, and led to the election of a new president—but did it also create lasting change? Chilean historian Marcelo Casals catches us up on the latest developments in Chile’s battle against neoliberalism. Marcelo Casals is an independent scholar based in Santiago. He holds a PhD in Latin American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and recently wrote an article for Dissent Magazine titled, ‘The End of Neoliberalism in Chile?’ Twitter: @Palquelea The End of Neoliberalism in Chile? https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/the-end-of-neoliberalism-in-chile Gabriel Boric: From student protest leader to Chile’s president: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59694056 ‘Chile Woke Up’: Dictatorship’s Legacy of Inequality Triggers Mass Protests: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/americas/chile-protests.html The texture piece is from 2019 and is courtesy of Gustavo de la Piedra, a listener from Santiago, Chile. The news clips are sourced from the news station France 24. Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 2019, we recorded an episode covering the protests that were going on in Chile.
0:14.0	Chile has a tradition of protests, but this one was different.
0:18.4	More than a million people protested in the streets of Santiago, the nation's capital.
0:23.7	A listener from Santiago, Gustavo de la Piedra, shared this audio with us.
0:33.7	Hola, pitchfork listeners. This is Gustavo from Santiago.
0:37.7	The pitchforks have come to Chile.
0:40.7	Every day for the past month, the Plaza Italia has been overrun with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators
0:46.7	who have come to protest a deeply unequal society.
0:50.7	It turns out that the government favoured a small elite in lieu of the people for far too long
0:56.7	and the country decided it had had enough.
1:01.7	Citizens have been protesting due to, among other things, low wages, mismanagement of public funds,
1:09.7	increased cost of living, healthcare problems, and perceived abuse of citizen's pension plans,
1:16.7	not to mention enormous income inequality.
1:20.7	Since the beginning of the protests, more than 1,500 people have been wounded and 20 killed in violent clashes,
1:28.7	including at least five killed by live ammunition.
1:32.7	The riots left a lot of destruction and ashes in their wake, not only the capital Santiago, but in many cities.
1:42.7	Luckily, it was relatively short-lived, only a month or so, which is very brief,
1:48.7	compared to demonstrations that have taken place in other countries,
1:52.7	some of which are quelled with military force, continue for years or never succeed.
1:58.7	The government has given in to many of the demands of the people,
2:02.7	and we are emerging from this a better country.
2:06.7	Led by young people, Chile has woken up.
	...

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