Left victory in the richest Latin American country with highest income inequalities

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*
In the age of rising tide of neoliberal authoritarianism and populist reactionary religious politics, the electoral victory of left brings smiles to all progressive forces beyond Chile. The people of Chile defeated José Antonio Kast -- a committed follower of the country’s former dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet who established neoliberal authoritarianism in Chile before it spread worldwide.
The decisive victory of Gabriel Boric is a celebration of people’s power beyond the borders of the Andean nation. History repeats itself yet again. The victory of Chilean left brings hope that working class people can defeat authoritarianism and their neoliberal reincarnations. Boric rightly said that “if Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave”.
The victory of left in Chile in a record majority is not a symbolic victory. It has reinforced the idea of class consciousness, class organisation and class struggle encompassing issues of human and animal rights, individual freedom and dignity, gender justice, environmental justice rights of indigenous communities over their land, forests, water and natural resources.

Gabriel Boric, Chile’s 35-year-old President elect’s victory speech, covers all these universal ideals. The victory has shown that deepening of democracy depends on struggles on the streets with a clear agenda that rebuilds the politics of trust among the masses.
In terms of GDP, Chile is the richest country in Latin America, and it outperforms other countries in the region, but Chilean income inequality is highest among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The income share among the poorest in Chile is lowest in the world. The Chilean economic conditions are not very different from the rest of the world. These economic conditions are direct outcomes of neoliberal authoritarianism.

The mining led capitalist industrialisation has enabled various forms of Pinochet regime to maintain its control over the state and government for decades, which comes to an end now. Gabriel Boric vows to end the mining projects that destroys environment. It includes $2.5 billion dollar worth of controversial Dominga iron, copper and gold mining project. Boric government is going to be a government of the people and planet.
But the bourgeois agencies are on over drive to demean the Chilean left victory as forward march of corruption and misery. These far-right reactionary forces have started their strategic mobilisation to prevent radical transformation of Chilean society and economy that works for the masses. The bourgeoisie media brands the victory of left in Chile as Latin American abyss.
Such ideological onslaught on working class electoral victory shows that bourgeoisie fear the power and wisdom of people and their abilities to reclaim their rights during turbulent times. It is only left politics which can not only defeat neoliberal authoritarianism but also can provide sustainable alternative for the people and planet.

Chilean left shows the way to the left forces worldwide to reclaim the lost decades for a sustainable future. In left’s victory, hope trumped despair in Chile.
---
*University of Glasgow, UK

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog