When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
CLARIN

The Women Politicians Of Chile Set To Take Their Country Back

Toppling the old guard: Josefa Errázuriz
Toppling the old guard: Josefa Errázuriz
Antonio Skármeta*

-Essay-

SANTIAGO – As recent nationwide municipal elections proved once again, there’s never a shortage of surprises when it comes to politics in my country.

The elections were a real blow to the rightist government of President Sebastián Piñera, a businessman who three years ago displaced the center-left Concertacion coalition that had led Chile since the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship ended in 1989.

The Concertacion’s last president was Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), who finished her term with an approval rating of over 80%. Because of Chile’s electoral laws – which prohibit presidents from serving consecutive terms – she could not seek immediate reelection. The man who did represent the coalition for the 2009 election, Eduardo Frei, was unable to benefit from the outgoing president’s popularity. He lost to the conservative Piñera, who promised voters “a new way of governing.”

Since taking office, however, Piñera has seen his popularity plummet. He now has an approval rating of about 30%. The municipal elections could have been a chance for him to turn things around, to give the political right some momentum for next year’s presidential contest. Piñera’s center-right coalition could certainly use some. Polls consistently show ex-President Bachelet winning the next race easily – assuming she is willing to run, which would mean giving up her important post in New York as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.

Instead, the municipal elections went the other way, thanks in large part to recent union and student-led social movements, which energized the opposition. The left earned emblematic mayoral wins in three key Santiago boroughs: Santiago Center, Ñuñoa and, last but not least, Providencia. In all three cases, the winners were women.

Remnants of the Pinochet era

Providencia had been run for years by Mayor Cristián Labbé. While he may not be Chile’s only remaining pinochetista, Labbé is certainly the deceased dictator’s most blustering, arbitrary and aggressive defender. He boasts about having served under the dictatorship and says he has no regrets about participating in Pinochet’s repressive secret police force, which committed countless human rights violations.

As the “boss” of an upscale borough whose residents tend to be both comfortable and conservative, Labbé felt happy and secure about his “management” style. He humiliated and repressed Providencia’s student protestors, even expelling some from their schools. He sang Pinochet’s praises every time someone put a camera or a microphone in front of him. He even went to the extreme of participating in a tribute to some of his brothers in arms who are currently serving time in a high security prison because of crimes they committed during the dictatorship.

After all of his past electoral success, Labbé could never have imagined his career would be in trouble, especially when the traditional center-left political parties that could have challenged him are faring so poorly in the polls. This time, though, the parties were gracious enough to step aside and allow the mayor’s local opponents to select an independent candidate: Josefa Errázuriz. Labbé pompously dismissed his challenger’s chances. Laughing, he told reporters there was no way he could lose to a simple “housewife.”

And yet for decades, Chile’s “simple housewives” are precisely the ones who have nurtured the country’s democracy and served as its backbone. Labbé’s chauvinism prevented him from evolving in the way many others on the right have. By making fun of these women, he also offended their husbands and children. Mrs. Errázuriz ended up drawing support from both women and men, and from all social classes. She energized young people, who saw her race against Labbé as a cause really worth fighting for. It was the kind of rallying point the left has been missing since the plebiscite of 1988, which paved the way for the end of the Pinochet dictatorship.

The three women who achieved the impossible in Santiago, Ñuñoa and Providencia all have immense talent. But they also have something else in common, something that has not been mentioned in most of the cold political analyses put forth since the elections. Josefina Errázuriz dethroned the last residue of Pinochet’s arrogance; the winner in Ñuñoa, Maya Fernández, is the granddaughter of martyred President Salvador Allende (1970-1973), who was toppled in the 1973 coup that preceded Pinochet’s 17-year regime; and the mayor-elect in Santiago Center is the daughter or José Tohá, a cabinet minister under Allende. Tohá was tortured to death by fascist soldiers.

And then there’s Bachelet, the former and possibly future president whose father, a pro-democracy Air Force general, was also killed in the aftermath of the coup. Together the triumphs of these women suggest that the sacrifices of the last generation weren’t in vain. Thanks to the power of collective memory, the population has dealt the country a new hand.

And what a hand it is: four of a kind, Queens.

*Antonio Skármeta is a Chilean novelist best known for his book Ardiente Paciencia (Ardent Patience), which inspired the Academy Award-winning film Il Postino (The Postman).

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Ideas

Look At This Crap! The "Enshittification" Theory Of Why The Internet Is Broken

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the fatal drift of major Internet platforms: if they were ever useful and user-friendly, they will inevitably end up being odious.

A photo of hands holding onto a smartphone

A person holding their smartphone

Gilles Lambert/ZUMA
Manuel Ligero

-Analysis-

The universe tends toward chaos. Ultimately, everything degenerates. These immutable laws are even more true of the Internet.

In the case of media platforms, everything you once thought was a good service will, sooner or later, disgust you. This trend has been given a name: enshittification. The term was coined by Canadian blogger and journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the inevitable drift of technological giants toward... well.

The explanation is in line with the most basic tenets of Marxism. All digital companies have investors (essentially the bourgeoisie, people who don't perform any work and take the lion's share of the profits), and these investors want to see the percentage of their gains grow year after year. This pushes companies to make decisions that affect the service they provide to their customers. Although they don't do it unwillingly, quite the opposite.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

Annoying customers is just another part of the business plan. Look at Netflix, for example. The streaming giant has long been riddling how to monetize shared Netflix accounts. Option 1: adding a premium option to its regular price. Next, it asked for verification through text messages. After that, it considered raising the total subscription price. It also mulled adding advertising to the mix, and so on. These endless maneuvers irritated its audience, even as the company has been unable to decide which way it wants to go. So, slowly but surely, we see it drifting toward enshittification.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest