Approximate reading time: 57 seconds
A few of us will more or less agree that October 19 left us with more doubts than certainties. I have read some who have hope for a future riot.
I grew up watching important historical events take their time to unfold. The governments of Frei and Allende are politically developed over time, they do not explode overnight. They are shaping themselves in the search and management of their objectives. Among them the country’s literacy, the development of public education, agrarian reform, the nationalization of natural resources, the great boost to social housing.
In those days of October I thought and decided to comment that a great opportunity had been lost, by channeling the protest mainly into violent means, going from protest to outbreak.
If it had been decided, instead of turning the Plaza into a battlefield, to plant in that occupied space, as a symbol, some trees and floral plants, and set up a plural and diverse assembly around it in search of understanding and common action.
Difficult proposal to present to participants, listeners and spectators. Plant some trees and plants and set up a political assembly to move forward. At least to live together and talk.
As I heard the Argentine anarchist sociologist Christian Ferrer say, all fashions change every 20 years, what is permanent is the widespread conviction that life is an endless war.
Denying in daily life this dogma or belief, the conscious and unconscious foundation of today’s society, with origins in the 13th century, I believe would be very healthy for each individual and a necessary contribution to social transformation.
By Pedro Armendariz