Boric or Kast: transformation or regression?

This is a decisive moment. The fate of the country is at stake. While the Constituent Assembly moves forward, elections will be held to choose the next President. Gabriel Boric’s candidacy is the inevitable result of each of the events that began with the 2006 secondary movement and culminated with the beginning of the constitutional discussion. Therein lies his experience, which the older generations did not have to challenge the existing model. This explains why Boric expresses a clear commitment to the defence of the freedoms won so far and proposes to advance in the transformations demanded by the citizenry. And, at the same time, he stresses that peace and security will not be guaranteed as long as the poorest, the excluded, are denied their fundamental rights. José Antonio Kast is the main adversary and he proposes the opposite. His ideas are a retreat from the already established libertarian values and, at the same time, he defends the existing economic model without qualification.

For more than four decades life has been hard for the vast majority of Chilean families. The politics of the transition to democracy allowed the conquest of some cultural freedoms proper to the 21st century, such as divorce, abortion on three grounds and life as a couple between people of the same sex. Unfortunately, however, the political class, of all stripes, did not make much effort to modify the economic-social model of injustices and abuses installed by Pinochet’s dictatorship. This political class even supported big business in the reproduction of its wealth and, what is more serious, accepted its dirty money and fell into corruption.

The neoliberal model has built a solid wall that separates Chileans and excludes native peoples. We are not all equal in terms of justice, economic life, work, health, education and housing, and, above all, 90% of the elderly suffer the precariousness of starvation pensions. The economic model and its institutions have served to reproduce the wealth of a few, which has been imposed through inequalities and abuses on the majority. Something was holding back the demands. Protest was locked in the minds of the majority, but did not reach the streets. Labour without unions, the harassment of the malls, the indebtedness of the poor and the propaganda of the media lulled the citizenry to sleep and showed a flourishing country, with access to mass consumption by rich and poor alike. Complacency was aided by the irresponsible recognition of unethical economists and media disciplined by big business.

But the time had come. And young people dared to confront the model of injustice. The youth installed hope in the hearts of millions of compatriots. This is our debt to them. First in 2006, and then in 2011, they led the way with their demand for non-profit, quality education. But other struggles were added to this: that of women for their freedoms, that of environmentalists for the protection of ecosystems, the enemies of the AFP and the isapres for decent pensions and the right to health care without discrimination.

Young and old, men and women, sexual diversity and the different peoples that inhabit our territory, joined forces and mobilised tirelessly to demand changes in favour of justice and against abuses and inequalities. The great national majority came to the conviction that without these changes there will be no peace in the country; without these changes the insecurity of the Chilean family will persist and without these changes the future of children will continue to be uncertain and many of them will be pushed into delinquency and drug trafficking.

First on 18 October, and then on 15 November, were decisive milestones in the struggle to destroy the wall that divides us. And then, with the installation of the Constitutional Convention, the hope of building a better country, based on a new Constitution, was consolidated. Because it became clear that the Guzmán-Pinochet Constitution had only served to enrich a minority and violate the rights of the majority. The way has now been opened to tear down the wall that divides us. We have the pressing urgency of now. It is time to initiate the changes that our country needs to unite the entire Chilean family and also to recognise the demands of the native peoples.

This is a decisive moment. The destiny of the country is at stake. While the Constituent Assembly is moving forward, elections will be held to choose the next President. Gabriel Boric’s candidacy is the inevitable result of each of the events that began with the 2006 secondary movement and culminated with the beginning of the constitutional discussion. Therein lies his experience, which the older generations did not have to challenge the existing model. This explains why Boric expresses a clear commitment to the defence of the freedoms won so far and proposes to advance in the transformations demanded by the citizenry. And, at the same time, he stresses that peace and security will not be guaranteed as long as the poorest, the excluded, are denied their fundamental rights. José Antonio Kast is the main adversary and he proposes the opposite. His ideas are a retreat from the already established libertarian values and, at the same time, he defends the existing economic model without qualification.

First, because Kast has openly declared himself a defender of the Pinochet dictatorship. He has even dared to relativise human rights violations, claiming that the prisoners in Punta Peuco are the object of “legal fictions”, in defence of his friend, the psychopath Miguel Krassnoff. Second, because he rejects the cultural freedoms that have been won. Kast is a delirious opponent of the morning-after pill, the decriminalisation of abortion on three grounds and rejects gender identity. And now, in his government programme, he proposes to eliminate the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Thirdly, because he does not want to modify the current neoliberal economic model and, therefore, following the teachings of his brother, Miguel Kast, he proposes to maintain the AFP, the isapres, increase the retirement age and strengthen paid education. And now, in his programme, he argues that our pets and even nature must pay rights to exist.

Unlike José Antonio Kast, Boric has proposed breaking down the wall that divides us. He points out that our country must serve the reunion of all Chilean families, which includes rights for all, without discrimination based on income or wealth. He also proposed that our country should serve the reunion of the native peoples so that their demands could be justly redressed. Living wages, fair pensions, health and education of the same quality for all, women with the same rights as men, small businesses without obstacles in their operation and a country where the care of nature and the end of extractivism guarantee a safe environment for our society.

Boric assures that his proposal of transformations will guarantee growth, but with social and environmental balances. And it will also help to end violence and bring greater peace of mind for our families. It is time to move from the darkness of inequality to the bright path of social justice. With Boric that path is possible, with Kast it is a return to darkness.