Senator Francisco Huenchumilla rightly says that we have an unreleased opportunity to draft a new Constitution, founded on popular sovereignty. He adds that, for the first time, a door has been opened to the original peoples to have an opinion on their present and future (El Mostrador, 22-12-2020). He insists, with concern, on the unity of the opposition to face the choice of constituents.
It must be acknowledged, however, that the opportunity to end Pinochet’s Constitution, after forty years of injustice, finds no basis in the action of political parties but above all in the popular rebellion of 18-0 and later in the crushing plebiscite of 80-20. This should not be forgotten, at the risk of further deterioration of the already weakened centre-left.
As a result, the diminished political parties are due to that overwhelming majority that won the right to build a decent country. So, beyond part-party differences or own profiling, the noun, at the present time, is to achieve a majority of constituents who draft a Fundamental Charter to end the regime of inequalities and abuses that installed Pinochet’s Constitution.
It is clear that, if the opposition is divided and the right united, defeat is inevitable and the cost to Chilean society would be deastrous. But it must also be clear that the unity of opposition parties cannot be done in the ins and outs of the citizenship that installed the transformations; therefore, their demands are inescapable.
According to Senator Huenchumilla, there appear to be little difference between opposition parties on the substantive issues to be discussed in the new Constitution: the term of the subsidiary state, as well as the recovery of social rights, the preponderance of the environment, the multinational state, sexual and reproductive rights, property rights, among others.
I think the senator is partly right. However, there are doubts about the effective willingness of some members of the Constituent Unity parties to end the current economic and political regime. Because there is no proper self-criticism of centralist economists and politicians about the administration of the neoliberal model. On the contrary, rather there has been complacency with the years of government of the Concertation. And that worries the organizations of Worthy Chile, but above all the critical social movements of the current regime.
Along with the ideological conformism of centrality left with neoliberalism, there is another troubling issue. The kind of economy that the Concertación helped build in the country would not have been possible without the installation of fluid vessels communicating with big business. The co-factoring of politicians, as well as the installation of government ex-authorizations in the armchairs of companies, have facilitated the trafficking of influences and even installed undue legislation in favor of large capital.
Consequently, the main political challenge at the present time, and in particular for the elaboration of the new Constitution, is to end the economic hegemony and factual power of the great entrepreneur. Proponents of abuses and inequalities must be put in place, they must be disciplined. Here’s the Gordian knot that Chilean society must break. If there is no agreement on this, a real unity of opposition and politicians with civil society is difficult.
Therefore, for convergence between opposition parties to be effective, there must be a common reference, and that is the social unity of the people. Beyond part-party contingencies, it is relevant to articulate a large social majority that brings together workers, civil society organizations, together with small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, with the support of the State. This is the only way to counterbalance the great capital, the country’s great factual power, which has corrupted Chilean politics and impedes Chile’s transformations.
Another issue of controversy, albeit of less importance, is the Communist Party’s stubbornness in its international policy of supporting dictatorships in other latitudes. This favours anti-communism, which only serves for some opportunists to close the doors to their incorporation into the opposition unit. What should be valued about the PC, however, is its inescapable democratic commitment, throughout Chile’s history.
Joining the opposition dispersion will be difficult. But the convergence of transformative politicians with citizen organizations is indispensableto draft a new Constitution that underscores the changes Chile requires for equality, democracy and social inclusion. It is the social and political unity that the people need.
The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
