The Chilean people have their say in a historic plebiscite
Next Sunday, October 25, the Chilean citizenry will be consulted through a referendum on whether they agree to initiate a constitutional process to elaborate a new Constitution and determine the mechanism for such a process.
The call for the National Plebiscite 2020 - as the consultation is officially called - was a reaction from a large part of the political parties on November 15, 2019, through an "Agreement for Peace and a New Constitution", even though it has been the same Chilean political elites that have systematically refused for decades to promote a structural reform.
The options for the consultation will be "Approval" or "Rejection" to initiate a constituent process (ballot 1) to replace the current Constitution imposed by the Pinochet regime in 1980 and with what instrument to do so (ballot 2): "Mixed Constitutional Convention" (50% sitting parliamentarians and 50% constituent delegates to be elected in April 2020) or "Constitutional Convention" (100% delegates to be elected). It should be noted that the word "Assembly" was carefully avoided.
This agreement was sealed behind the backs of the people in an attempt to appropriate the popular demand for a Constituent Assembly. In reality it was the social movements, with the massive national mobilizations initiated on October 18, 2019, who had every right to participate in deciding what type of consultation the Chilean people should have in defining the constituent process.
The attempt at appropriation was an exclusionary act with which the political class left the great majorities of the country marginalized. The Humanist Party of Chile (PHCh) expressed it clearly in a declaration on November 14, one before the political agreement of the people:
"It is not the political parties that are called upon to establish the conditions in which to construct the grand charter that will lead the country for the next 30 years, it is not the government and its in-terlocutors who can decide on the manner in which the citizens will be able to participate. This task corresponds to a broad and diverse table, composed of all sectors of society in a balanced manner and without exclusions”.
And immediately the PHCh National Coordination Team made its denunciation of the movement that these elites were carrying out and defined its position:
"What we read in the signed agreement does not represent us, since once again it proposes the deception of the high quorum for the approval of 2/3, which at first sight is installing the power of veto in the hands of the right. As for the number of representatives, unfortunately this agreement does not provide for the participation of representatives of (...) [numerous] representative bodies of society”.
"The Humanist Party of Chile has a history of ethics and coherence based on unrestricted respect for the voice of the common people and not of the leadership, and in that line we insist that the government and the opposition should establish channels of communication with the social world, especially with Social Unity, since it is the living organizations of our society, those that represent the working men and women, the peasants, miners, fishers, young people, students, professionals and technicians”.
The Chilean people, empowered after the big national mobilizations that began on October 18, have been demanding fundamental rights and profound transformations from a failed political and economic model. As demonstrated by the great demonstrations of yesterday, October 18, 2020, one year after the beginning of this awakening, today more than ever it is felt that the model that was once presented as the "Chilean miracle" to other developing countries, today shows its true face with unequal and impoverishing economic growth.
Next Sunday, October 25, humanists will continue to demand a Consti-tuent Assembly. This is what the PHCh communications team says: "As humanists we believe that the Constituent Assembly is the true and only formula to achieve a constitution that guarantees basic rights, citizens, civil and human rights. Any exercise that seeks to supplant the sovereignty of the people will never have the possibility of redistributing power in political, economic and social structuring terms".
Leticia García Farías of the Center of Humanist Studies CEHUM-Alétheia, who developed a Proposal for a Constituent Assembly for Chile, comments:
"We want a sovereign, popular, plurinational and feminist Constituent Assembly. For this we need to join and/or start up territorial Assemblies and Councils. A popular and democratic process that defines the strategic principles for a new constitution from the base and elects "mandated" spokespersons who go to the regional level, where the regional proposals are systematized; and among them the "mandated" spokespersons are elected who will constitute the National Constituent Assembly, in charge of writing the text that will go to the national plebiscite”.
Faced with the institutional trap, humanists invite permanent, conscious and creative mobilization, which involves and adds up to millions of intentions for the transformation of Chile. A Constituent Assembly is not simply an electoral act, but is the space for the expression and channeling of the feelings, dreams and needs of the social movement that, organized from its territories, self-convened in town halls and territorial assemblies, can be sequentially building instances of participation at different levels, with direct voice.
The Chilean humanists decided to work for a meaningful vote in this Sunday's plebiscite. In addition to approving a new Constitution and a 100% elected body, they will mark the ballot for that second vote with "AC" (for Constituent Assembly). In order for this action to have resonance, they will need to take care of the vote and count it, and to this end they have tried to build a line of proxies in all the polling stations, in order to have their own counting system.
From the Federation of Humanist Parties and its hundreds of full members, we see with pride the commitment of the PHCh with its people and its permanent construction of direct democracy.
"Sovereignty must lie with the people and it is the people who are the guarantors of institutionality".
CEHUM-Alétheia
Coordination Team International Humanist Party