This call is from a comrade in Chile.
My friend has posted information to me about the Mapuche people which I include below.
Etnia originaria del sur de Chile que junto a la española dieron origen al pueblo chileno (Mapuches and Spaniards formed the Chilean people).
We have heard a lot of news recently about the Chilean miners rescued after two months trapped down a mine.
My comrade writes:
Probably you hear the news about the Chilean miners trapped 700 m underground, this is another proof the government criminal negligence, they ignore the Miner Union when they reported about the unsafe working condition in that mine. But Chilean people elected the extreme right wing government and now they suffer the consequences.
Of all the countries in Latin America that showed potential for progress it was Chile — especially in the early 1970s with the first democratically elected socialist government in the region.
All this changed, beginning with the military coup that deposed the Allende Popular Unity government on 11 September 1973.
After years being governed by a ruthless military dictatorship Chile elected a reformist government.
This government lost power recently to the dictator’s (General Pinochet) old political party.
My friend says that multinational corporations are in full control in Chile.
The banks are trying to squeeze the poor using credit card debt. There are security guards at every shop, everywhere.
As with Australia, the indigenous people are getting the worst deal.
The Mapuche are being politically repressed by the right-wing Piñero government.
Mapuche political activists are on hunger strike in jail. The Mapuche people are fighting for the land right and against the antiterrorist law that the government is using against them. At the time of writing 32 young Mapuches have been on hunger strike for 71 days, some of them are in danger of dying.
In regard of the Mapuche issue, the hunger strike is only the piece of the conflict, the Mapuche has been fighting for 500 years for the right to run their own business without intervention of the white and this is the real issue. They want to have the own school system, they want to recover the land and run the own economic system, today destroyed by the governments. Next week I will go to South and I will gadering more acurate information
about this conflict.
My friend has called for people to write a letter to the Chilean Embassy in Australia in support of the Mapuche people jailed under repressive laws.
Republic of Chile Embassy
Contact & Enquiries:
Phone: 02 6286 2430 (International Code +61262862430)
Fax: 02 6286 1289 (International Code +61262861289)
Email:
Website: www.embachile-australia.com
My friend is currently in Concepcion collecting information and photos.
For more information you can write your support, comments and questions below for my Chilean comrade to see .
Over thirty years ago some comrades made a short film called ‘Queensland remembers Chile’.
Here it is.
Ian Curr
October 2010
References
My worst moment: remember September 11th … 1973
“VUELO LAN CHILE” by Marcial Parada
To the Australian Ambassador to Republic of Chile and the Chilean Ambassador to Australia,
Dear sir/ms,
I am concerned about the treatment of Mapuche people in Chile.
Recently I received a letter from a friend in Chile who says:
Please convey my concern to the government of Chile.
Indigenous people everywhere should be treated with respect as the traditional owners of lands that were colonized.
Chile and Australia are no exception.
The recent UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people is a reflection of international concern.
Are Australia and Chile signatories to that declaration?
If so, both Australian and Chilean governments should be ashamed of their treatment of indigenous people.
Regards,
Ian Curr
Editor, WorkersBushTelegraph
Mob: 0407 687 016
http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/president-pinera-is-speaking-at-the-lse-on-monday-1