A few months before the coronavirus shut down the world, Chile exploded against neoliberalism . A World Bank economist, Sebastian Edwards, was on the ground to record the rebellion: On Oct 18, 2019, and to the surprise of most observers, massive protests erupted throughout the country. Demonstrations were triggered by a small increase in metro fares – thirty pesos, or the equivalent of four cents of a dollar.
But the rallies were about much more than the fare increase. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in several cities and demonstrated against the elites, corporate abuse, greed, for-profit schools, low pensions, and the neoliberal model. Demonstrators asked for debt forgiveness for students and free universal health services .
In 2021, an anti-neoliberal president, Gabriel Boric was elected president, and neoliberal policies are now being rolled back in that country, though in the teeth of strong opposition from the local elite, technocrats, foreign investors, and the multilateral agencies. So the obvious next question: why, despite its obvious failures, has neoliberalism not provoked a similar rebellion here? Psychosis of economic managers One thing I can say is that it’s long overdue. After 45 years, we are an economic wasteland, except in the eyes of our elites and technocrats.
The poverty rate stands at 25% of the population, despite efforts to doctor the statistics. The gini coefficient, which measures inequality, is at .50, one of the highest in the global So.
