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Can the Student Movement for Free Public Education Win in Chile?

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<h2>Can the Student Movement for Free Public Education Win in Chile?</h2>
<span>Can the Student Movement for Free Public Education Win in Chile?</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span><a href="http://wagingnonviolence.org/" rel="nofollow">Waging Nonviolence</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/ap570695067538-1024x683.jpg?itok=2oawrVnZ" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/ap570695067538-1024x683.jpg?itok=2oawrVnZ" /></a>
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<p>The next few months are of critical importance to Chile’s long-running education movement. President Michelle Bachelet has said she plans to implement comprehensive education reform this year, which will guarantee quality education for everyone. To ensure this happens, the movement has increased pressure on the government with huge protests by teachers and students last month, including an indefinite strike by the National Teachers Union that began June 1.</p>
<p>Over the years, the movement has learned to temper its expectations. In 2011 — when protests were last at a peak — many thought change was imminent, only to suffer frustration and loss of momentum in the years that followed. But this time may be different.</p>
<p>According to Bill Moyer — a social change activist and founding member of the Movement for a New Society, a network of activist collectives that played a key role in nonviolent social movements in the 1970s and 1980s — movements often go through eight stages. Based on the model he designed for understanding the cycle of a social movement — called the Movement Action Plan, or MAP — the education movement in Chile is nearing the final stages. Before learning about those, however, it is important to understand how it got to this point.</p>
<p>Students have historically been at the forefront of social protests in Chile. High school students were some of the first to defy Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship, while university students used their campuses as safe places for resistance. After the end of Pinochet’s regime the student movement took time to re-focus their demands and set up new forms of organization and protest.</p>
<p>Following this process of re-adjustment, high school students sparked Chile’s movement for education in 2006 — known as the “penguin revolution” because of the shape and color of the school uniforms — with a very specific demand for free and universal student transport passes. They soon moved on to more structural demands against the neoliberal economic policies affecting education, specifically the Organic Constitutional Act of Teaching, which reduced state involvement in education and came into force on the last day of Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship on March 10, 1990.</p>
<p>The movement was briefly successful in putting education on the political agenda. Mobilizations came to an end after President Bachelet — during her first term in office from 2006 to 2010 — repealed the controversial act. However, the demand for free, quality public education, was still far from being met.</p>
<p>At this point, the movement entered stage three, or “ripening conditions,” where people form new groups and small civil disobedience actions start to dramatize the problem. After the 2006 protests there was a period of lower activity within the movement, but slowly new collectives began to emerge, along with a clearer demand for radical transformation of education in Chile.</p>
<p>The movement was then ready for the fourth stage, or “take off.” This usually happens after a trigger event — caused by the movement itself or by the power-holders — and, after significant organizing, which leads to massive demonstrations, large acts of civil disobedience and extensive media coverage.</p>
<p>In Chile, the trigger was the 2010 election of Sebastián Piñera, the country’s first right-wing president since Augusto Pinochet was forced out of office. Piñera’s government came to power as a reaction to years of frustration with the Coalition of Parties for Democracy — the center-left coalition that had been in power since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship. This development, combined with a growing perception that real social justice would not come from the top down, created stronger unity on the left to organize against the government.</p>
<p>Student organizers, who represented the many thousands of young people eager to engage politically by creative means other than the ballot box, understood that the time was ripe for massive mobilizations.</p>
<p>The movement then launched a campaign that involved a great diversity of actions, including mass marches, school occupations, flash mobs, an alternative referendum on whether education should be free and much more. Most of the student protests were heavily repressed by the police. The government tried to blame the violence on the students, but the images of students, teachers and parents marching peacefully being tear gassed and hit by water cannons belied this narrative. This repression backfired, as polls showed that the movement had more than 70 percent approval among the public, which put education at the top of the political agenda in 2011.</p>
<p>At the time there was a feeling within the movement that it was possible to change things immediately, but as Moyer argues, change takes time and movements usually have to go through various stages before achieving their goals. One weakness of the student movement is that it is very dependent on the school year. Students struggle to keep the momentum going during the summer break and every year there is new student leadership.</p>
<p>Between 2012 and 2014, the movement went through the fifth stage, which Moyer calls the “perception of failure.” In this stage, there is a lower level of participation in actions and the movement appears to be having less of an impact. Many participants felt that large protests weren’t bringing about real change in education and that it was time to look for new strategies.</p>
<p>There were also divisions among those in the movement, most notoriously manifested in the different positions taken by activists on voting — first in the 2012 local elections and later during the 2013 presidential and parliamentary elections. While many of the university student leaders strongly supported voting for different candidates to local government — and some even ran and got elected to parliament themselves — the high school student leadership could not have been more different. They called for a boycott of the elections, arguing that no real change would come through electoral politics.</p>
<p>During the fifth stage, politicians often argue that they have “received the message of the people” and that now it is their turn to design and implement the changes that the people have demanded. For the Chilean student movement, this meant that the debate moved from the streets to Congress and the political parties.</p>
<p>At the same time, the mainstream political conversation was dominated by the presidential elections of 2013. Many people had hoped Michelle Bachelet’s re-election would come with a mandate to radically reform the education system. Bachelet had finished her first presidential term in 2010 with historically high approval rates, thanks to economic measures that — in a limited, but direct way — supported working-class people. The main message of her 2013 presidential campaign was a commitment to end inequality in Chile.</p>
<p>Since her re-election, however, Bachelet has failed to put forward education proposals that actually meet the movement’s demands. The government argues that this is not due to a lack of political will, but rather the limited resources of a stagnant economy. To implement and be able to afford their education reform, the government passed tax reform last year, with the goal of raising more taxes from big companies. To many, however, this reform fell short of the promise to end inequality in the country. Chile doesn’t lack resources, what it lacks is a just distribution of wealth.</p>
<p>At present, the movement is in the sixth stage, which Moyer called “winning over the majority.” After more than a year of Bachelet’s government, the movement is clear that the radical change they demand for free, quality public education, will not come through the reform that this government is proposing. The government reforms face strong opposition in Congress, so the government has had to water down their proposals to make sure they get approved.</p>
<p>The movement understands that it is now vital to work on proposals that counteract those put forward by the government and use its power to secure as good a deal as possible, knowing that it will not be the end of the struggle.</p>
<p>While there have been proposals for reform from students and teachers over the years, they have become more important than ever now that the government is sending education bills to Congress. On June 6, the Chile Student Confederation, which represents students from the so-called “traditional” universities — public schools that were privatized by Pinochet — agreed on an education proposal called “Chile decides.” It put forward a petition with nine points, including: the development of curriculum by teachers, stability for workers, internal democracy for schools, free and universal education, and an end to profit in education in all its forms.</p>
<p>The proposals have been accompanied by growing social pressure. In June, there was an increase in the regularity and the number of people at marches. For instance, the protest organized by students on June 10 mobilized almost 350,000 people throughout Chile. These actions are happening at the same time as the indefinite teachers’ strike is taking place.</p>
<p>According to Moyer, there are two stages after the sixth: “success” and the “consolidation of success and moving over to other struggles.” Even though these stages are not necessarily linear, and not all movements go through all of them, it is a model that attempts to make sense of the processes experienced by a movement and to ultimately show that change takes time.</p>
<p>The education movement in Chile is at a historic point, having already gone through several stages of a long struggle. It wouldn’t be in the position it is now — with Bachelet’s government set to reform the Chilean education system this year — if not for continuous organizing and creative actions.</p>
<p>The movement is aware that this is a crucial moment and it has raised its level of mobilization accordingly, knowing it is possible that the government might make compromises on many of their demands in response to pressure from more moderate sectors. However, if the movement manages to gain majority support — as it did in 2011 — it may be able to secure free, quality public education for everybody in Chile at last.</p>
<p><a href="http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/can-movement-free-quality-public-education-win-chile/" rel="nofollow">Originally published by Waging Nonviolence</a></p>
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<p>As President Michelle Bachelet sets to implement comprehensive education reform, the movement is in a crucial phase – now students and teachers are ratcheting up pressure with huge protests and an indefinite strike.</p>
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<div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/can-student-movement-free-public-education-win-chile" /></div>
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armageddon news revolution Can the Student Movement for Free Public Education Win in Chile?

Can the Student Movement for Free Public Education Win in Chile? Can the Student Movement for Free Public Education Win in Chile? T...

"The Lives of Others": How One Region's Women Are Driving the Return to Organic Farming

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<h2>"The Lives of Others": How One Region's Women Are Driving the Return to Organic Farming</h2>
<span>"The Lives of Others": How One Region's Women Are Driving the Return to Organic Farming</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span>The Source Project and /The Rules</span></div>
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<p>The call for a ban follows controversial legislation allowing E.U. member states to opt-out of GM cultivation, even though it has been approved at the European Union level.</p>
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<p>As President Michelle Bachelet sets to implement comprehensive education reform, the movement is in a crucial phase – now students and teachers are ratcheting up pressure with huge protests and an indefinite strike.</p>
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<p>In one of the more remote areas of Odisha, eastern India, live small communities of subsistence farmers who over the last few years have managed to return to a system of cooperative, zero-input agriculture.</p>
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armageddon news revolution "The Lives of Others": How One Region's Women Are Driving the Return to Organic Farming

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A Herd Of 30 Cows Helped Save This Baby Seal’s Life

activism knowledge news A Herd Of 30 Cows Helped Save This Baby Seal’s Life

Update: House Passes Bill Blocking States From Requiring GMO Labels On Food

<p>The US House just passed a bill banning states from passing their own laws requiring GMO labels.</p>
<div readability="32"><a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/update-house-passes-bill-blocking-states-from-requiring-gmo-labels-on-food/gmo21/" rel="attachment wp-att-36483"><img alt="Credit: PopularResistance.org" class="size-medium wp-image-36483" height="288" src="http://cdn10.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/GMo21-400x288.jpg" width="400" /></a>
<p>Credit: PopularResistance.org</p>
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<p><em>Do consumers deserve to know what’s in their food?</em> The House of Representatives just voted to make that harder, when on Thursday they passed a bill <strong>banning states from passing their own laws requiring GMO labels. </strong></p>
<p>The<strong> “<a href="http://agriculture.house.gov/sites/republicans.agriculture.house.gov/files/pdf/GMO_02_xml%207-12-15.pdf">Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015</a></strong>,” which passed 275-150, will create a federal standard for the voluntary labeling of foods containing GMO ingredients.</p>
<p>Representative Mike Pompeo <strong>of Monsanto</strong>, who authored the bill, called mandatory labeling laws – which have already been passed in Vermont, Connecticut, and Maine – <em>“unnecessarily costly given that GMos have been deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” </em></p>
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<p><em>“Precisely zero pieces of credible evidence have been presented that foods produced with biotechnology pose any risk to our health and safety,”</em> Pompeo said. <em>“We should not raise prices on consumers based on the wishes of a handful of activists.”</em></p>
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<p><em>O</em>pponents are pushing back against the legislation, however, saying it will <strong>keep consumers from knowing what is in their food</strong>, and stop FDA from crafting a national GMO-labeling solution.</p>
<p>If you are not yet aware, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are seeds of certain crops engineered to resist herbicides. Common in America’s corn and soybean crops, most GMO yields are used to feed animals for slaughter or are turned into processed foods such as high-fructose corn syrup. While government officials and the food industry claim GMOs are safe, consumer advocates seeking transparency on labels argue that no one really knows the long-term impacts of genetically modified crops.</p>
<p>In fact, there are many conflicting studies – some <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/new-study-gmo-corn-makes-rats-infertile/">determining GMOs to be a health hazard</a>, and others (many which are <a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/049203_GMOs_biotech_industry_propaganda_studies.html">funded by biotech companies with an agenda</a>) deeming them to be ‘perfectly safe’.</p>
<p>Either way, <em>don’t consumers deserve to know what’s in their food? </em></p>
<div><a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/update-house-passes-bill-blocking-states-from-requiring-gmo-labels-on-food/monsanto1-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-36475"><img alt="Credit: TakePart" class="wp-image-36475" height="488" src="http://cdn9.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Monsanto1.jpg" width="730" /></a>
<p>Credit: TakePart</p>
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<p>Consumer groups, backed by Democrats including Reps. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) and Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), are calling the bill the <strong>Denying Americans the Right to Know Act.</strong></p>
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<p><em>“American families deserve to know what they are eating and feeding to their children,”</em> DeLauro told reporters Wednesday. <em>“The FDA already requires clear labeling of over 3,000 ingredients, additives and food processes. GMOs should be no different.”</em></p>
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<p>Supporters of the legislation claim a patchwork of labeling laws at the state level would drive up food costs.</p>
<p>Citing a study conducted by a Cornell University professor, the Grocery Manufacturers Association said state-level GMO labeling mandates would increase grocery prices for a family of four by as much as $500 per year.  The study also states that mandatory state-level labeling would cost food and beverage manufacturers millions of dollars to change food labels and supply chain systems.</p>
<p>It’s been repeatedly shown that 90%+ of Americans desire GMO labeling; the reason biotech companies are pushing for suppression is because they know a <em>minimum</em> of 56% of consumers would refrain from purchasing and consuming GMO-containing foods, which would equate to a loss of profit.</p>
<p>Democrats represent many Americans, then, by maintaining that labeling would ensure transparency. “What’s the problem with letting consumers know what they are buying?” asked Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).</p>
<p><em>What are your thoughts on this recent news?</em> By <strong>sharing this article</strong> and <strong>raising awareness</strong>, you can enlighten others on the situation and help inspire change.</p>
<p><em><strong>Comment your thoughts below</strong>. </em></p>
<p><strong>Source(s): </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/248974-house-passes-gmo-labeling-reform-bill">The Hill</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/07/23/house-votes-gmo-safety?cmpid=foodinc-fb">Take Part</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gmo-labels-food_55b12fabe4b08f57d5d3f393">The Huffington Post</a></p>
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<p>This article (<a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/this-entrepreneur-converted-an-old-caravan-into-a-mobile-office-space-must-see/">Update: House Passes Bill Blocking States From Requiring GMO Labels On Food</a>) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><em>Creative Commons</em></a> <em>license with attribution to the author and</em> <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/"><em>TrueActivist.com</em></a></p>
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activism knowledge news Update: House Passes Bill Blocking States From Requiring GMO Labels On Food

The US House just passed a bill banning states from passing their own laws requiring GMO labels. Credit: PopularResistance.org Do consum...

The 12 Year Old Girl Who Silenced the World for 6 Minutes

<p><img alt="The 12 Year Old Girl Who Silenced the World for 6 Minutes" class="" height="186" src="http://anonhq.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/maxresdefault1-650x250.jpg" width="483" /></p>
<p>Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of David Suzuki, addresses the very first U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Rio.</p>
<p>A 12-year old girl from Canada traveled to Brazil and spoke to the United Nations Earth Summit to speak the truth with such power and grace that she silenced the world. She called on grownups to follow the same rules we teach our children. She defined the role of the climate negotiators then and today her words ring truer than when she spoke them. Her speech has been heard by millions.</p>
<p>24 years later and we still don’t have all the answers. Maybe we can’t erase all the damage we’ve done to our planet since then but we can start to do our best now in 2013, and get our neighbors and our leaders to do their best with us.</p>
<p>“If you don’t know how to fix it, stop breaking it.” We can’t wait any longer to do everything we can to stop breaking it.</p>
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<p>Here she is returning to Rio again in 2012. She explains from a new perspective why it is that she believes humanity will act to change our future.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Raa-dZAsTCs" width="492" height="277" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
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<p>And 20 years later she is returning to Rio again in 2012. She explains from a new perspective why it is that she believes humanity will act to change our future.</p>
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anon anonymous news The 12 Year Old Girl Who Silenced the World for 6 Minutes

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, daughter of David Suzuki, addresses the very first U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Rio. A 12-year old girl from...

Project Lucifer, The Strangest Conspiracy Involving NASA

<p>Saddle up, it’s time for an awesome conspiracy theory.</p>
<p>If you’re a fan of science fiction, you know about Arthur C. Clarke’s (and Stanley Kubrick’s) seminal novel series 2001: A Space Odyssey.</p>
<p>In the second installment, 2010: Odyssey Two, the alien monolith that was orbiting Jupiter replicates itself and begins condensing the gas giant, eventually transforming it into a smaller sun.</p>
<div class="td-g-rec td-g-rec-id-content_inline"></div>
<p>This process turns the former planet’s moons into habitable worlds suitable for life. The people of Earth consequently name the second sun in the sky Lucifer.</p>
<p>Without getting too ecclesiastic, the term Lucifer comes from Latin and literally means‘light-bringing.’ Fitting name for the solar system’s new star.</p>
<p><img alt="Project_LUCIFER_NASA" class="alignnone wp-image-7768" height="346" src="http://www.conspiracyclub.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Project_LUCIFER_NASA.jpg" width="492" /></p>
<p>Most of us regard this concept as nothing more than science fiction and nigh impossible to achieve with our current level of technology. But a number of conspiracy theorists not only believe it possible, they actually claim this is one of NASA’s ongoing projects. Here’s why.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7uQ4-Jn77xI?feature=oembed" width="432" height="353" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Jupiter has been called a failed star, in the sense that if it had more mass, it could have started nuclear fusion and effectively become a star. Unfortunately (fortunately?),astrophysicists calculated it would have needed to be 75 times more massive in order to do so.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theorists believe this mass deficit could be corrected with the addition of nuclear fuel that could jump-start the process of nuclear fusion. Enter NASA’s space probes Galileo, Cassini, Voyager and the rest.</p>
<p><img alt="jupiter-jupiter-ascending" class="alignnone wp-image-7769" height="276" src="http://www.conspiracyclub.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/jupiter-jupiter-ascending.jpg" width="491" /></p>
<p>Planet Jupiter from the Jupiter Ascending movie</p>
<p>In order for these space probes to work, they need a reliable fuel source as solar energy becomes difficult to catch once you get past the orbit of Mars.</p>
<p>Therefore, NASA equipped its probes with an energy source called an RTG, short for radioisotope thermoelectric generator. The radioactive decay of the Plutonium-238 pellets contained in an RTG steadily produces electricity that powers the probe.</p>
<p>For example, the Galileo space probe contained 2 RTGs, each carrying 17 pounds of Plutonium-238. What would happen if this payload were detonated inside Jupiter?</p>
<p><img alt="probes-Galileo-Cassini-Voyager-jupiter" class="alignnone wp-image-7770" height="311" src="http://www.conspiracyclub.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/probes-Galileo-Cassini-Voyager-jupiter.jpg" width="498" /></p>
<p>Well, nothing, or at least, nothing observable. In 2003, Galileo was deliberately crashed into Jupiter’s atmosphere. NASA followed this approach because they feared crashing it into one of Jupiter’s solid moons carried the risk of contamination with terrestrial bacteria.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theorists saw this venture as an expression of Project Lucifer. They feared that, as Galileo fell through Jupiter’s dense atmosphere, the pressure would have steadily increased, causing the Plutonium in the RTGs to trigger a thermonuclear reaction, birthing the new sun.</p>
<p>It’s been almost twelve years since Galileo was buried in the heart of the gaseous planet and nothing’s happened. There is no second sun on our sky. So we’re in the clear, right?</p>
<p><img alt="1554eb6abc34f5e93df55caeab9db1ba28a6601b" class="alignnone wp-image-7771" height="398" src="http://www.conspiracyclub.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/1554eb6abc34f5e93df55caeab9db1ba28a6601b.png" width="498" /></p>
<p>Not exactly. There’s another gas giant in our solar system: Saturn and it’s not much smaller than Jupiter. And there’s another probe orbiting Saturn, the Cassini space probe.</p>
<p>And it’s equipped with 73 pounds of Plutonium-238. And it’s still orbiting Saturn, until commanded otherwise by NASA. So are we in danger?</p>
<p>Physics says no.</p>
<p>Even if every atom of Plutonium aboard the space probe would participate in a nuclear detonation, it wouldn’t be enough to start a chain reaction. It would be like a drop of water in a swimming pool – harmless.</p>
<p>Our technology would need to steadily advance for hundreds if not thousands of years before we could reach the capability of star formation. And even if such technology would be available today, why would we need a second sun?</p>
<p>Our own functions perfectly, even with massive UFOs stealing its energy once in a while. If one of the gas giants were to suddenly become a star, it would most likely disrupt the delicate balance of our solar system.</p>
<p>Its gravitational pull would tug on the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, undoubtedly sending some of them our way.</p>
<p>So why did this conspiracy theory gain traction? It must be our fascination with doomsday scenarios.</p>
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