The Patagonia is South America's most southern tip. It is one of the most untouched pieces of land in the world, yet it is now under threat. Chile's Patagonia is home to the snow-capped Andes, dense tempeverrate rainforests, lush valleys and meadows, abundant marine and bird species, and indeginous natives. Companies want to establish hydro-electric complexes that would be constructed over three rivers. If this does happen in the Patagonia the list given above would be devastated. These potential dams would, flood about 14,000 acres of land and whip out wildlife, a 1,2000mile long transmission line would disrupt the wildrenss and impact many private properties. Finally, people living in the Patagonia would be left with out a home
All of these could be devastated if a proposed hydro-electric complex called HidroAysén is constructed on two of the last free-flowing rivers in the world.
Rio Baker. The dam complexes would be constructed over this river
Chilean's and other organizations over the world have protested againts the dams. The government has been signing initiatives with the United States for these projects and when the people lobby againts the these projects they get ignored. Since they get ignored they protest and thier demands are
They are calling for:
Fuel subsidies to compensate for high prices
A regionalised minimum wage to reflect the local cost of living
The establishment of a regional state-funded university
More generous fishing quotas for local fishermen
A greater say in the construction of hydroelectric plants
Cheaper electricity and drinking water.(BBC)
Forign companies want to come in here and completly take over this land. These dams are not completly substainable and completly change an its atmosphere, wildlife and population and oprression. As I mentioned in my presentation the Mapuche keep being opressed and have to keep fighting againts these hydro-electric companies.
Chile might not be known for thier food, but they are known for their amazing music. I have been connectiong some of my blogs to Chilean songs that have some form of correlation.
From 1930-1970 there was a new music movement that occurred in Chile, this musical movement was called La Nueva Cancion Chilena-- The Chilean New Song. It was a musical/artistic political/social movement. Musically, it revived the sounds of Native Andean music and blended them with
folk and popular music. Politically, the movement championed labor
organization, land reform, anti-racism, and anti-imperialism; and supported the
Vietnamese in their struggle against the U.S. However, Pinochet's dictatorship targeted many of the musicians who were part of this musical movement were executed or forced into exile, since there music was a threat to his regime.
One of the most influential musician of La Nueva Cancion Chilena was Victor Jara. (spoke about him earlier), his music is still very much of part of of the Chilean identity. He was executed in the National Stadium (Sept 1973).He is also one of my favorite Latin American musicians. I have been listing to songs and albums on Youtube, and have found being able to relate many of these songs that can relate to issues today, not only in Latin America, but was well to the U.S and different political/social on personal issues. La Nueva cancion is still very much still alive in Chile. I have yet to look into new groups or musicians that follow the La Nueva Cancion footsteps. C
I found a group called Sol y Lluvia whoes style appears to follow La Nueva Cancion style. They have particular song that I can't stop listening to, its called "Para que nunca mas," Never Again. It reminds people about about the dictatorship, poverty, hunger and state that this should never happen to Chile ever again.
Here is the link if you would like to listen to this song ( Translation of the Song)
When contemplatingyour lookso sadI think back toyesterday, I walkedwithout fear ofyou withoutasking why, whereall voicesareheardandeveryonesingingtolisten.
You have to pressthiswitharms andvoices they cansing(bis)
So that never againinChile, So that never again(repeat).
So that never againinChilethesecretdungeons, humanitybackto bitemy people, so that never againinChile hungerback inthe pit of myhumble town
So that never againinChile sistershedblood, and do not letfreedom flourish.
You have to pressthiswitharms andvoices they cansing(bis) Taken fromAlbumCancionYLetra.com So that never againinChile, So that never again(repeat).
Chile had a wave of immigrants coming form Europe. An 1854 census showed that approximately 20,000 foreigners came from Germany. From 1865-1920; 52.5% of Chile's Population were European and welcome in the country. There was also a wave of Asian and Arab immigrants however they they were not welcomed; Chile favored white Europeans because it was thought that they could help improve the countries economy. Chilean society largely rejected and discriminated against this new group of migrants, who were considered both culturally inferior and an economic threat to the ruling class.
Due to Europe's debt economic crises, many Europeans are leaving their homes and are migrating to Chile, in search for jobs. I found a story of a Spanish couple who had been unemployed for a months, so they migrated to Chile and found jobs with in the first two days they of arriving in Chile. This could be because Chile's unemployment has dropped down in these past years of President Pineras term. Chile is one of the main exporters of copper, but the distribution of income is unequally distributed. Since the countries economy is increasing, it is said that they are in need of Professionals. Many of these professionals that they are hiring are coming from Europe. I thought this was interesting, because they could be hiring more Chilean professionals if Chilean Students are able to attend universities without having to take out such a big student loans. They attend the university for about 5 years and end up having to pay their debt for about 15years.
Back to migration to Chile: Brazilians, Argentinians and other people from different countries in Latin America have been migrating to Chile and have received work visas. Europeans have been able to obtain these work visas faster, it might sound silly of me to say, but it could tied back to when Europeans began migrating to Chile that they believed they could improve the Chilean economy. Maybe?
It is believed that in the next 10 years Chile's copper economy will boom and income of 100 billion dollars. There will be about 400,000 news jobs that will be need skilled workers to fill these jobs. This could be one of the main reasons that many Latino Americano's are migrating to Chile. Chile is aware that they need working hands as well as skilled professionals to fill these jobs. So they are welcoming to immigrants and granting them work visas. It will be interesting to see how Chile's economy grows to see, if the Chileans get some of the income form the copper export, and see if it keeps attracting more immigrants from other parts of the world.
Chileans in 1988 celebrating the ouster of Pinochet, backed by the
No campaign's rainbow logo
Chile's "No" Campaign is the story of how 56% of Chiles population voted to take out Pinochet from the the presidency and having power. During 1985-1989 there was a grassroots non-violent movement to help Chile regain democracy.A group of opposed of Pinochet helped organize along with labor organizations, universities and churches. "Innovative strategic actions that showed the
breadth of popular discontent empowered people to join the resistance movement.
After nationwide mobilization of voters, poll watchers, and demonstrators, along
with an effective use of the media, a popular "No" vote on the plebiscite
defeated the Pinochet regime, forcing the general to step down from the
presidency, although he remained in control of the military until his arrest in
London in 1998. Since then, gradually democratic institutions have grown and
institutionalized in Chile as a consequence of nonviolent coalitions mobilizing
for change."
Much of Chiles "No" campaign would use the television were they would promote democracy and a connection not just to all those who disappeared, but also the connection of Chilenos in general. Since there was a "NO" campaign a "YES" campaign was created in the hopes of keeping the General in power.The campaign also included other human rights issues and violations that were important to the people at the time such as; unemployment, violence, the pain of exile, public health, and political freedom. The "No" campaign was a success to those in opposition of Pinochet. In 2010 President Pinera managed to win the election by using the same strategies that the "NO" campaigned used; which is ironic because the Pinera is right wing and most of the people who belonged to the No campaign were left-winged. Pinera even uses a rainbow colored star, which is similar NO campaign emblem.
Recently, there was a film produced based on the "NO" campaing, but when this film was shown in Chile it got negative attention. It got negative because the film empazies the Pinochet was taken out of power for the many comercials from the "No" campaign, and forgets the efforts of those who helped organize. They state that there are many incorrect facts in the film. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/movies/oscar-nominated-no-stirring-debate-in-chile.html?pagewanted=all
This is one the famous "No" Campaign , it tell the people to vote NO for Pinochet and to end the dictatorship, singing "la alegria ya viene," meaning the joy is coming.
The link above is the trailer of "NO" (Oscar Nominated). I have not seen it yet.
Chile's National Dance is called La Cueca. Much like the cumbia and zamba that trace back to a mixture of cultures so does La Cueca. It's roots are a mixture of African and Indigenous cultures. Chilean people had been dancing it for years, but it was not declared the official dance until September 1979.
In Pepe's Chile he explains the choreography of La Cueca: "The Cueca is a parody of the courtship of a chicken and rooster. The dancers
wave handkerchiefs above their heads during the dance. These handkerchiefs can
symbolize the feathers of the bird or the rooster’s comb.The choreography
(movements) of the Cueca consists of circles, moving in semicircles back and
forth (known as half moons), and turning towards the partner and then away.The
dance happens in an imaginary circle, with the man in one half, and the woman in
the other. It starts with a promenade where the man invites the woman to join
him by offering his arm. This is done while instrumental entry music is played.
The couples stand facing each other about three meters apart. Before the song
begins, the couple claps their hands in rhythm of the music."http://www.joeskitchen.com/chile/2007/08/24/chiles-national-dance-the-cueca/ It is said that Chileans associated La Cueca with Pinochet's dictatorship. The music of the cueca can be linked to American blues. The dance golden years were in the 1930's thought the 1940's were the best music came from the poor .The dance is also about the romantic conquest of love. People had a connection with La Cueca, that is until Pinochet made La Cueca part of his parades, glorifying his dictatorship; the dance became a symbol of the dictatorship. A student at the University of Chile stated, ""The dictatorship brought repression; it relied on fear and distrust ... One of the important symbols [of the dictatorship] was the cueca, and it canonized the cueca to a point that many youth rejected the official cueca." During the dictatorship there was a new Cueca developed. Many men were taken to the National
Stadium were they were tortured or murdered. So many women would dance La Cueca alone in protest, this dance is known as La Cueca Sola. This connection of La Cueca and dictatorship is now disappearing. People dance La Cueca to help reduce stress as well as to sing loudly. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120619384
La Cueca Traditional
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGKLjVg1nIU Click on this video to see women dance Cueca Sola. These women say the names of their loved ones who disappeared or were killed during the dictatorship. This clip is also part of Chile's No Campaign that I will talk about in another blog.
Michelle Bachelet is BACK!!!!!!!!! As I had mentioned in an earlier blog Michelle Bachelet was Chile's first female president from 2006 to 2010, she had the approval of 86% of the Chilean population. Chile's current presidential election has been launched and Bachelet is once again a presidential candidate. She will be running (coalitions candidacy;left wing) against Laurence Golborne (he was in charge of of the rescue of the 33 miners, who were trapped underground in 2010) or Andres Allamand; defense minister. Chile's current President Sebastian Pinera (right wing) is believed that Bachelet will win the election once again!
President Pinera
Laurence Golborne
Although Pinera has negative attention form the student protests it is believed that Chileans are better off now with Piner, than with Bachelet. The economy has improved with Pinera; its economy has gone up 5.6% during his presidency, and unemployment has gone down. Yet the distribution of wealth is still not equal, regardless of who wins they will be faced with demands to improve the distribution. Bachelet has already promised if elected she would send a bill to end private funding to school as well as end profits form this funding. As well as combat the distribution of wealth, and keep fighting for women's rights. She also advocating for marriage equality; Chile currently does not allow gay couples the right to marriage, yet are trying to pass a law were they can have equal amount of resources. Finally, she also wants to legalizes therapeutic abortions or abortions for those who faced sexual abuse.
Andres Allamand
It is believed that less people will vote in the elections since it is the first time that elections will be voluntary.The winner will be announced November 17th 2013. These candidates can sure to face demands from Chileans and most likely marches and demonstrations for equality of education, gender, and distributions of wealth.
Chile's Minister of Finance declared "Good news for Chileans," meaning that there was a .5% drop in consumer price index this means, "greater purchasing power and greater income," according to the Minister.
Chile has a pretty free economy which was ranked the 7th freest economy in the Index of Freedom in 2013. The countries economy seem to be doing better than last year; growth in business and investment freedoms has helped increase the economy. Chile also has the highest economic and investment freedom in South and Central America. In 2010 Saul Pinera Chile's current president raised taxes intervened to stop the construction of a coal-fired electric plant that had already cleared all regulatory hurdles. (Chiles Economy:Population Growth...) Chile is also the world's main exporter of copper that helps tthe economy. Chile is very opened to exporting; it also exports fruit, wine, minerals and wood. I will post the link below because it expains better the export economy of Chile than I would ever be able to. http://www.heritage.org/index/country/chile http://www.ilovechile.cl/2013/05/09/larran-weighs-chile-cpi-drop-good-news-chileans/85594
Fault Lines- Chile Rising In 2011 university students as well as high school students began to protest, demanding free and public education. They want to demand an end to privatizes education. The student movement has historical roots coming from the dictatorship.During Pinochets dicatorship he practiced the free market economy and privatised undemocratic period. He was given a huge amount of funds and others left with little money and so this lead to the mis distrubution of funds and wealth that exist in Chile today. Public health in Chile was free that is until Pinochet came to power. Medical students in Chile pay some of the highest tuition's in the world. In general Chile Universities have some of the highest fees in the world, yet many of its people have little money or are poor. I know I keep referring back to the dictatorship, but these issues always seem to continuously be connected in one form or another to the dictatorship and the violation of human rights).
April 2013: More than 10,000 Students Protest in the streets of Chile. Police fire back with tear gas and water cannons to break up the marches. Eight officers were injured and 109 protesters detained. As we learned in class, Chile had an extremely high educational rates, yet students claim that its system is extremely unfair. The middle and upper class students have some of the best education yet the poor have some the worst access to education. These students have been protesting for 2 years and yet nothing has gotten done. Local media said that they believed that this march was the first biggest march since two decades ago. Authorities estimated 80,000 protesters and a total of 150,000 student leaders that participated in the march, but in total there were more than 250,000 protesters in this march. Overall the march was pretty peaceful, that is until the tension between the police and students heated up. The student movement has been the biggest since 1990 when Chile regained democracy.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22118682
<<<Clip from the march April 2013
This qoute from Allende seemed proper for the Student Movement, here is my rough translation, "Being young and not being a revolutionry is a biological contradiction"
There is a song by Victor Jara that reminded me of the Student Movement for an educational reform its called "Movil Oil Special
Here is what the song is saying Chilean students and the tinoamericanos they were hand in hand, mandandirun dirun din.
In this beautiful garden, to odds and dinosaurs, the young revolucionaurios they have finally said enough. Stop it!
That comes the guanaco and behind the Paços the pump forward, the paralyzing, also the purgative and the hilarious, ay which are all the same These watchmen The young secondary and the University with the proletarian they want a revolution.
[Chorus] Mobile oil special Mobile oil special Mobile oil special...
In a University fight for reform to put in the last the blessed and the national. We are reformers, the revolutionaries the anti-imperialist University!
Chile's national stadium is named Estadio Nacional Julio Martinez Pardanos, located in Chiles capitol Santiago. This stadium was built in 1937 was and now is for sporting events. However, this stadium became infamously known due to Pinochets Coup of Sept 11, 1973. The stadium became the largest prison and torture camp for prisoners and those opposed Pinochet regime. After September 11 up to November 1973 there were approximately 40,000 political prisoners in the stadium. In 2004 confirmed due to a study 3,200 deaths that had occurred in the stadium including those that disappeared; 28,000 political prisoners were tortured, 30,000 were exiled and became refugees. Finally, many Chileans left Chile between 1973-1980's to seek protection and get away from the fascist dictatorship. American citizens were also killed in the national stadium such as Charles Horman, the film "Missing" shows some of the brutalities of the coup and the U.S involvement in Chile. In August 2003 the Stadium became a national monument. The Stadium as a monument demonstrates the acknowledgement of the torture an the deaths of thousands in the stadium and the country. This also contributes to the Chilean identity. The stadium is having projects for the memory of all those who were massacred. Museum project “National Stadium, National Memory,” whose aim is “the material establishment of national memory in respect… to the Concentration Camp… in 1973.” http://publichistorycommons.org/national-stadium-national-memory-a-personal-letter/http://www.usfcam.usf.edu/InsideART/Inside_
Former prisoner speaks about his expirienace in the national stadium.
This song is about no letting these murders ever happen in Chile again.( As I mentioned earlier, Chile is known for its amazing, powerful political music)
Joan Jara spoke from her heart: " It seems almost impossible that we are
back. We have fought for decades and things are now moving. It is very
difficult to talk .. There is a time for celebration but a time when we
must be calm and know that there is much work ahead to finally achieve
true justice. And especially true justice for all victims. "
We spoke on class on the need to hold people/government accountable and responsible for the thousands of death that have occurred in Latin America due to dictatorships etc; recently there has been investigations of 3 Chilean deaths, Victor Jara, Pablo Nureda and Salvador Allende (these are what I call Chilean icon's). Very few of people have be charged for the deaths of thousands.
President Salvador Allende (1970-1973)
Leftist leader Allende help found Chile's first Socialist Party. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in the 1952, 1958, and 1964
elections. In 1970, he won the presidency, and became Chile's first Socialist President.
During a military coup in 1973, the presidential palace was attacked and
Allende was killed. Allende's death has been debatable for sometime now. Some believe that we has killed in the palace, while others believe he committed suicide before the attack. History books claim the Allende shot himself ( with a gun Fidel Castro gave him) as Pinochet's army closed in to the palace.
Victor Jara Jara was and is an political figure in Chile. He was a musician, a professor and theater instructor. Jara's music appealed the folk of Chile. He loved his country and the working class of Chile, so because of this he dedicated his time on making and performing songs of the people of Chile. His music attacked the injustices and political scandals that Chile faced. He was a supporter of President Allende. In September 11th 1973 after the overthrow of the presidency and Allende, Jara was abducted from this job by the military and was tortured at Chile's National Stadium for 5 days. He died September 17th 1973; he was shot 44 times.
Investigation:
Neruda has been given by some the greatest writer/poet of all time. Since we live in a "democratic" country many America's do not give him any credit, since he had a commitment to communism. It was been known that Nureda died of prostate cancer, however his driver claims that this is not so true. "Neruda’s body taken
from his tomb in Isla Negra, Chile, in early April 2013, as part of an
investigation opened after Neruda’s former driver Manuel Araya said that
the real cause of the poet’s death was an unscheduled injection that he
received a few hours before dying." Neruda's death is of great controversy, because he died just 24 hours before fleeing the country, that he was given the injection that contained "poised." His friends and family questioned his death and believed that he had been murdered in the hospital. In April a judge ordered that his body be exhumed to prove the cause of his death. However, it has been 40 years since his death so it might be hard to detect any poises and hard to detect if his body was really poisoned. The investigation is said to take few months and it may not clear all the speculation on Neruda's "mysterious" death. Personally, I find it a coincidence that he died 24 years before fleeing the country and a few days after Jara's, and Allende's death and the attack at the Palace Sept 11, 1973. We shall find out the "truth."
Poem by Neruda:
Death Alone
There are lone cemeteries, tombs full of soundless bones, the heart threading a tunnel, a dark, dark tunnel : like a wreck we die to the very core, as if drowning at the heart or collapsing inwards from skin to soul.
There are corpses, clammy slabs for feet, there is death in the bones, like a pure sound, a bark without its dog, out of certain bells, certain tombs swelling in this humidity like lament or rain.
I see, when alone at times, coffins under sail setting out with the pale dead, women in their dead braids, bakers as white as angels, thoughtful girls married to notaries, coffins ascending the vertical river of the dead, the wine-dark river to its source, with their sails swollen with the sound of death, filled with the silent noise of death.
Death is drawn to sound like a slipper without a foot, a suit without its wearer, comes to knock with a ring, stoneless and fingerless, comes to shout without a mouth, a tongue, without a throat. Nevertheless its footsteps sound and its clothes echo, hushed like a tree.
I do not know, I am ignorant, I hardly see but it seems to me that its song has the colour of wet violets, violets well used to the earth, since the face of death is green, and the gaze of death green with the etched moisture of a violet's leaf and its grave colour of exasperated winter.
But death goes about the earth also, riding a broom lapping the ground in search of the dead - death is in the broom, it is the tongue of death looking for the dead, the needle of death looking for the thread.
Death lies in our beds : in the lazy mattresses, the black blankets, lives a full stretch and then suddenly blows, blows sound unknown filling out the sheets and there are beds sailing into a harbour where death is waiting, dressed as an admiral.
South America's most southern tip. It is one of the most untouched pieces of land in the world, yet it is now under threat. Chile's Patagonia is home to the snow-capped Andes, dense tempeverrate rainforests, lush valleys and meadows, abundant marine and bird species, and indeginous natives. Companies want to establish hydro-electric complexes that would be constructed over three rivers. If this does happen in the Patagonia the list given above would be devastated. These potential dams would, flood about 14,000 acres of land and whip out wildlife, a 1,2000mile long transmission line would disrupt the wildrenss and impact many private properties. Finally, people living in the Patagonia would be left with out a home 
