2023-11-08 12:25:46
A few days ago the Constitutional Council approved the draft New Constitution, with votes in favor of the right-wing parties. This proposal will be submitted to a Plebiscite on December 17, where the population will have to vote “In favor”, “Against” or Abstention/null.
by MIT Executive Committee
From MIT we say clearly to the workers and popular youth: we must go and vote Against. The New Constitution proposal will not only maintain all the problems of current Chile as it intends to make the life of the working population even worse, for the benefit of the profits of businessmen and transnationals.
Although the Constitution is only a law and has no immediate effect on people’s lives, it is the highest law in the bosses’ democracy and this legal tool will mark a “roadmap” for politicians. traditional practices to further attack our living conditions, benefiting the owners of the country. Here we list some reasons why we should vote Against.
The privatization of social rights is maintained
The NC maintains the privatization of all so-called public services or social rights. Privatization in health, education and pensions is maintained. The hated AFPs will not only continue to exist but will be even more protected. In health and education, the private sector will continue to exist and worse, with public subsidies, as it works today. In housing, nothing new: real estate agencies and land owners will continue to make rivers of money with the high price of rents and land.
Other rights such as the right to abortion, which today is limited to 3 grounds, may even go backwards, due to the new wording that protects the life of “the unborn.”
In relation to rights as basic as salaries or working hours, the New Constitution does not say a word. It is evident, those who wrote it are all representatives of the owners of the country, who have no idea what it means to earn a minimum wage working 45 hours or more per week.
Attacks on democratic rights
In relation to democratic rights, which today are already very restricted for workers and youth, these will be even worse.
The right to strike, for example, is proposed to be limited only to collective negotiations (Article 27). Although we know that strikes “in fact” will continue to exist, the NC proposes that strikes only be carried out every 2 or 3 years, only in collective bargaining, it is a setback even if compared to the Constitution and current laws, which already They are totally pro-business. Today the courts are forced to recognize de facto strikes, but even this risks going backwards.
Another attack has to do with the composition of the National Congress. In addition to maintaining the privileges and million-dollar salaries of parliamentarians, the NC will make it even more difficult for social, popular and revolutionary leaders to access Parliament. This is because parties that do not obtain 5% of the vote nationally will not be able to elect any deputy or senator, even if this has been the most voted in their district or constituency (Article 56). Thus, they want to further restrict access to Parliament to an elite, allowing only parties financed by big business to have representation. And worse, even the supposedly left-wing parties, such as the PC and the Frente Amplio, agreed to this measure.[1]
Another important attack has to do with the persecution of alleged “terrorism.” Organizations that are characterized as “accomplices” or “cover-ups” of terrorist actions may be declared illegal (Article 15). We know that the powerful characterize as “terrorism” any self-defense action against their interests, such as the recovery of land by the Mapuche or the front line in demonstrations. What this new legislation aims to do is open the door to deepen the criminalization of organizations that support the right to worker, popular and Mapuche self-defense.
Another aspect that seeks to strengthen repression is Article 100, letter r, which empowers the president to use the Armed Forces to protect “critical infrastructure.” In other words, the president may order the Armed Forces to end strikes by workers in the energy sector, health companies or even port workers (Article 113). He will also be able to criminalize in a much harsher way any roadblock or barricade action, methods used by workers and youth in their demonstrations.
In other words, the NC not only does not provide solutions to the problems most felt by the population, but also seeks to strengthen the repressive bourgeois State. It is a deepening, now at the Constitutional level, of the laws approved in Parliament between the Frente Amplio/PC government and the opposition for the so-called “security agenda.”
The country will continue to be in the hands of 10 families and some transnationals
Last but not least, the NC maintains the dominance of 10 multimillion-dollar families and some transnationals over the entire country. It maintains the privatization of copper, lithium and the private property of large economic groups that generates enormous social inequality and poverty for the majority of the population.
Also read | Chile| A history of looting: contribution to the struggles of the present
Just voting is not enough, it is necessary to mobilize
It is essential that we explain to the workers, our family and friends that the proposed New Constitution is a huge attack against the majority of the population, it is a Constitution at the service of big business. For this reason, on December 17 we must go and vote “Against”.
However, just voting “Against” will not solve our problems. It is essential that working class and youth organizations, such as the CUT, union federations and confederations, CONFECH and social movements, build a list of demands and an action plan to fight to improve our living conditions. It was the path of mobilization and organization of “October 18” that opened the crack between the powerful and the possibilities of change. This crack is what we now seek to bury.
Some of our historical and immediate demands must serve to mobilize workers, such as the increase in the minimum wage to 700 thousand pesos now, the end of the AFPs, the closing of commerce at 7 p.m., the end of the CAE and the condonation of the debts, the nationalization of copper with workers’ control, the right to abortion, etc. The CUT and unions allied to the government must leave the negotiating tables with the ministers and prioritize the mobilization of the masses independently. Only in this way can we get back on track to conquer what we have shouted in the streets since October 18, 2019.
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