Top: Ana Tijoux / Chilean students lock lips at a kiss-in protest
Earlier in the year the Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux was at the New Parish in Oakland where she performed with 2Mex, Raw-G and others. She has a new album - La Bala (the bullet) - a follow up to her Grammy-nominated 1977.
La Bala features a song titled "Shock" that addresses student protests in Chile. The song has become an anthem in the country, not only for the student movement but for more general protest also.
Lyrics from Shock (translation from Spanish):
Your state of control,
your corrupt throne of gold,
your politics and your wealth,
and your treasure, no.
your corrupt throne of gold,
your politics and your wealth,
and your treasure, no.
The hour has struck, the hour has struck
We will allow NO MORE, no more your doctrine of shock
There have been large student rallies in Chile in an effort to get the government to reform the education system. The appearance of economic stability masks deep divides. Neoliberal policies primarily work to the benefit of a privileged elite. According to a NY Times article "Chile has the highest per capita income in Latin America but also has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth in the region."
President Sebastián Piñera promised to do something about university reform, but has been slow to act. Student action has played a part in driving his popularity to a new low. More recently he has been showing impatience with the protests and was quoted saying: "there is a limit to everything."
The Chilean student protests are nothing if not creative.
NYT:
The education protests have become ever more creative. There are at least two or three people jogging at all times around La Moneda, the presidential palace, trying to complete 1,800 laps to symbolize the $1.8 billion a year that protesters are demanding for Chile’s public education system. They carry flags that say “Free Education Now.”
Others have held a mass kiss-in, dressed like superheroes, danced as zombies to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and even staged fake group suicides where they fall in a heap of bodies.
In a Crossfade interview Tijoux said: "I think education is for everybody in a society, and I think there is nothing more beautiful than students protesting for a free education and a better future. I don't think I'm fighting. It's an awakening of the country and it's about everybody."
Ana Tijoux video with footage of the Chilean student movement:
