Demanding changes to education, taxes,
health care, pensions and a new labor code, students and union
workers took part in a two-day strike on Aug. 24. Students have also
been boycotting school for three months to demand better public
education.
Protesters constructed barricades and
blocked traffic, which led to clashes with the police. Although many
stores were open, most of the employees and customers stayed home.
Inner city Santiago, the Chilean capital, was also empty. Forty
students across Chile are currently on hunger strike, and have been
for over a month, fighting to win improvements in education and free
schooling.
Arturo Martinez, president of the union
coalition, also said they are proposing a new constitution.
The Chilean students’ and workers’ movements are struggling against
capitalist control of society. Under socialism, when the masses of
people control the economy, education, health care and pensions would
be seen as basic rights.
