Las Huelgistas

Hola Mis Amigos de EE UU,

Today I was informed that teachers, along with students, will be on strike here in Chile next week. And honestly, even though I sat in on a lengthy, heated teacher's meeting today at my school, I still have only a slight idea why they are striking (maybe due to my poor Spanish?). The first, and probably most important, reason that I have deduced is that there exists an entrenched culture of striking in Chile. I'm actually beginning to think that striking in Chile is similar to the all-too-familiar and carefully-planned song and dance commonly known as health insurance in the US. Por ejemplo: get sick, go to the doctor (or emergency room in my case), hospital submits claim, insurance company denies, patient complains 487234 times, insurance company finally pays. Entonces, in the Chilean education system: Chilean Congress passes questionable law dealing with education (sometimes not even very questionable), teachers (or even students) threaten to strike, Chilean Congress continues to threaten to pass law, teachers and students go on strike, el gobierno threatens to cut jobs, teachers and students threaten to remain on strike forever, and so on and so forth. Yet concerning the latter I still have yet to find out which side typically concedes. I'll certainly know by the end of next week (con suerte)!

The second, and most presently relevant reason, is that the Chilean Congress is planning to pass some law that will prevent something from happening and allow some other things to happen that will make public school teachers veryyyy angry. This is the complex information that I picked up while sitting in on the heated teacher's meeting at the Liceo Polytecnico. At one point, I kind of just pumped my fist in the air for no reason (especially since I couldn't understand much)...but it certainly felt appropriate at the time. I think it also has something to do with allowing more semi-private and private schools to exist in the system, therefore pushing out some public schools that of course are necessary to allow the poor to attend school until 12th grade, but I can't really be sure, haha...

Seriously though, one thing to take note of when discussing the passage of new laws in the Chilean Congress: since the departure of General Pinochet in 1990, Chile has dealt with a very sensitive legislative situation. Pinochet, having been a dictator, was able to mold the constitution and pass amendments fairly easily. Many of these amendments were aimed at benefiting certain extraction industries (therefore particular companies). Obviously, this strange version of authoritarian capitalism has in many ways allowed Chile to economically develop far beyond other South American nations, especially when one looks at the income Chile derives from mining (copper, gold, formerly nitrate) and forestry exports. On the other hand, the sudden introduction of democracy in 1990 presented a particularly delicate situation in which the constitution needed a major renovation to allow the existence of an efficient democracy, yet drastic changes could not be made at the risk of repeating the same mistakes of the Pinochet era. Therefore, systemic legislative modifications are still taking place to this day in order to reflect a more democratic government.

So, I will keep everyone posted on how the strike progresses once Monday rolls around. The students, of course, are threatening to strike "in solidarity" with the professors, but I've yet to figure out if here in Taltal this means that the students are genuinely concerned about the passage of the law or if it just means they want more time off of school. At least in my school, it is quite possibly the latter, although many students have said that their workload is horrible after a strike because the teachers simply double up their lesson plans. We'll see what happens!

Hasta Luego a Todos!