East Bay DSA Supports the Revolution in Chile

East Bay Democratic Socialists of America stands in solidarity with the people of Chile as they seek a democratic process for creating a new constitution and rejects in the strongest terms the state-sanctioned violence and human right abuses being carried out by the right-wing government of Sebastian Piñera. For many of us, the stakes feel particularly personal. The Bay Area was one of the most welcoming places for Chilean exiles after the 1973 coup and one of our current chapter co-chairs, Abigail, is Chilean. 

Since October 18, Chile has erupted in mass mobilizations, protests, and general strikes in response to decades of corporate greed, neoliberalism, and austerity politics. For far too long, the people of Chile have been held to the whims of the wealthy elites, crushed under extreme inequality and a system that only benefits big corporations and those at the very top. As socialists, we understand that these conditions arise directly from capitalism and that only mass mobilizations can lead to the transformational change the people of Chile are demanding. 

We join the people of Chile in their demands for :

• An end to the repression and militarized response to the protests.
• Justice for the victims of the well-documented, human rights abuses being carried out by the Chilean state, including the firing of projectiles at eye-level into non-violent crowds, the extrajudicial detention of protestors, denial of medical care to detainees, and the torture and rape of detainees by the Chilean police.
• Upholding the democratically agreed upon process and timeline to determine the drafting method for the new constitution.
• The creation of a new economic and political model in Chile that puts an end to decades of neoliberal abuses and austerity and that prioritizes the prosperity and well-being of the many over the profit of the few.

The people of Chile know all too well what state repression and violence looks like. East Bay DSA stands with the people of Chile in saying nunca más (never again!). Que viva el pueblo y que vivan los trabajadores!