Chile: not afraid any more posted by Richard Seymour

"The tendency in these cases is for struggles that would previously have remained local, or sectional, to ignite a wider social rebellion aimed at concentrations of class power. In the context of a global crisis, localised flashpoints can no longer be contained. Diverse constituencies, from students and workers to local community groups, are finding that their aspirations are contiguous, their struggles linked. They have sought ways to unify their demands into a wide, frontal assault that cannot be contained or co-opted. In Chile, this has produced an incredibly optimistic, energised and combative left that dares to challenge the country's social order in a fundamental way for the first time in decades. The country that Pinochet terrorised is no longer afraid."