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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2004Our Life and TimesProtests in ChileSantiago, Chile saw its most massive demonstrations in the past 15 years, Nov. 19-21, at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit. About 60,000 marched, Nov. 19, and the entire weekend was full of workshops in opposition to the summit. APEC, which was formed 15 years ago to help further neo-liberal restructuring, is itself a lightning rod for resentment against reforms that have caused great suffering in South America. But the presence of Bush at the summit drew the greatest ire from Chileans, who see him as the U.S. president who has pursued the most imperialist politics towards Latin America. The Chilean president, Ricardo Lagos, considered a leftist, deftly played a complicated game of pandering to Bush and other world leaders (Hu Jintao of China, Putin of Russia, and Koizumi of Japan were also present) while also insisting that those leaders have "the obligation to listen" to protesters. Lagos indeed has an affinity with some protesters. His government worked closely with the activities organized over the weekend by the Foro Social Chileno (FSC), which was headed by such reformist organizations as ATTAC, and repressed events organized by the Coordinadora Anti-APEC, a more radical grouping. The FSC march, Nov. 19 was accorded a permit, streets were closed, and few police were present, while the Coordinadora request for a march permit was denied. When it took place without the permit, police came out in force, broke it up, and arrested over 100. This subtlety was, of course, left out of Lagos’s concluding remarks to the summit, where he spoke directly to the issue of the weekend’s protests. He alluded to the FSC-sponsored events by saying, "thank you for marching, and the form in which you marched." —Mitch Weerth |
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