In retaliation to the Chilean government’s decision to raise public transport fares during rush hours, students took to the streets and started protesting against it in October 2019. The government thought it would be wise to deal with the protesting students with high-handedness but the move sparked countrywide mass protests in which people from all walks of life joined in and started protesting about other important issues as well – such as health, education, pensions, wages and so on.
The government however decided the best way to further crackdown on these protestors was to impose an emergency in the country, and bring in the army, to restore order. But the protests and protestors grew in numbers. The government started to feel the heat.
One of the essential demands of the protestors was to ameliorate the old dictatorship-era constitution, which allowed the private sector to have oligopoly over health, education, pension, and housing – and something as basic as water. The government ceded to the protestor's demand for a new constitution and announced the date for the referendum to take place. A year later, the Chilean people overwhelmingly voted in favour of rewriting the constitution by a body that consists of elected people.
In December 2021, the people of Chile elected their youngest-ever president, Gabriel Boric, a former student leader, leftist, and only in his mid-thirties. He won the presidential elections by a margin, defeating his conservative right-wing opponent, Jose Antonio Kast.
Boric’s victory belongs to the people who opposed Chile’s oppressive economic model introduced during former President Pinochet’s dictatorship. During one of his election rallies, he said, “If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave”.
One of the essential demands of the protestors was to ameliorate the old dictatorship-era constitution, which allowed the private sector to have oligopoly over health, education, pension, and housing – and something as basic as water.
Boric promised the people a new Chile, one that will advance the fight against healthcare, education, climate change, fundamental rights, poor working conditions, low wages and pensions for workers, and end gender discrimination.
Fast forward to July 2022, the constitutional convention presented the final draft of the proposed new Magna Carta of Chile. This new constitution was being downloaded, read, and lauded by progressives around the world.
The constitution was drafted by the constitutional convention. It consisted of 155 members that was said to be the most representative body in Chile’s history. Among the 155 members, 138 were elected from 28 districts by a system known as Open List Proportional Representation, which meant that when people cast their vote for a candidate, that vote will also be assigned to the candidate’s party. In this system, if a party got 51 percent of the total votes, that party would win half the elected seats instead of bagging all of them.
Political scientists refer to this as ‘votes to seats’ method, and believe this method is crafted to produce inclusive representation. The convention also included 17 seats for 10 indigenous groups, and people with disabilities, and ensured equal representation of men and women.
Article 1 of the proposed constitutional draft declared Chile to be a “social and democratic state. It is plurinational, intercultural, regional and ecological”. The first article painted a clear picture of how a new Chile ought to be. It declared Chile to be a secular state, without any official religion, where all religions and beliefs would be respected. The chapter on fundamental rights in the proposed constitution began with Article 17 and ended with Article 126.
Among several things, it declared torture, enforced disappearance, and other cruel and degrading treatments as “imprescriptible”, a right that the law always protects, and “non-inestimable”, and also guaranteed victims of human rights violation full reparations. It also ensured gender equality for women and other genders.
Article 27 stated, “All women, girls, adolescents and persons of sexual and gender diversities have the right to a life free of gender-based violence in all its manifestations, both in the public and private violence in all its manifestations, both in the public and private spheres, whether it comes from private individuals, institutions or agents of the State”, and the state shall take necessary steps to eliminate such crimes.
The proposed constitution also guaranteed inclusion for people with disabilities, protected the elderly from age-based abuse, and gave the right to self-government and autonomy to indigenous peoples and nations. It ensured community participation in matters relating to territorial planning.
The proposed constitution also guaranteed inclusion for people with disabilities, protected the elderly from age-based abuse, and gave the right to self-government and autonomy to indigenous peoples and nations. It ensured community participation in matters relating to territorial planning.
Article 61 stated, “Every person has sexual and reproductive rights. These include, among others, the right to make free, autonomous, and informed decisions about one's own body, the exercise of sexuality, reproduction, pleasure, and contraception” and the state shall make certain to regulate the exercise of these rights.
The constitution also declared free education and healthcare, and increased funding for mental healthcare and research. It also proclaimed food, decent work, housing, access to water, clean air, decent work, and digital connectivity as fundamental rights -- and not as a privilege.
Despite this overwhelming rejection, it is clear that Chile has inspired people from the peripheries around the world, especially the youth, that they can dream and hope for a better future, that they can achieve even the impossible and change the status quo.
The proposed text of Chile’s Magna Carta was everything the world needs right now.