On Wednesday, March 2 at 19:30 GMT:
Chile’s constitutional conference has begun debating motions for a brand new magna carta – one that may change the dictatorship-era structure many Chileans view because the supply of the nation’s social inequality.
The constitutional rewrite was accredited in a nationwide referendum in 2020, following widespread protests in 2019 over a subway fare enhance that led to emergency declarations in main cities.
Progressives within the nation hope the brand new structure will deliver main modifications in a variety of areas, together with environmental protections, water rights, Indigenous land rights, marijuana legalisation and abortion rights.
The vast majority of residents elected to the 155-delegate constitutional conference characterize a various pool of independents and liberals that mirror Chile’s present political shift to the left. As soon as delegates have a accomplished draft structure, voters will determine its approval in a nationwide referendum later this yr.
Chile’s present magna carta was enacted in 1980 throughout the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It fashioned a neoliberal basis for a state that closely favoured privatisation, free markets, and restricted authorities regulation.
Conservatives cautious of constitutional modifications credit score Chile’s market-based insurance policies with fueling many years of financial progress.
On this episode of The Stream, we’ll have a look at Chile’s constitutional conference and the problems at stake for Chileans.
On this episode of The Stream, we converse with:
Valentina Matus, @ContextoFactual
Journalist, Contexto Factual
Carolina Perez Dattari, @caroperezdattar
Advisor to the constitutional conference
Patricio Navia, @patricionavia
Professor of Liberal Research, New York College