Today, Wednesday, July 27, the presentation of the Social Movements Command will be held, “I approve of the New Constitution”, with parallel activities, both in Santiago and in Iquique, Antofagasta, Valparaíso, Concepción, Temuco, Osorno and Punta Arenas. A “decentralized” campaign that seeks to deploy independent sectors, from civil society groups, after their experience as part of the Convention. Grouped in the MSC collective, they have added new actors, managing to bring together more than 100 organizations, from Arica to Punta Arenas, and in the process they distance themselves from the “Approve x Chile” Command, which works together with the official political parties.
Among the groups that are part of this Command, are the 8M Feminist Coordinator, who will be in charge of the propaganda area; the Defense Movement for Access to Water, Land and Environmental Protection (Modatima); in addition to unions such as the College of Teachers and Teachers, and the Union of Workers of Private Homes; the Mapuche Women’s Network; the Social Coordinator of Magallanes; and the Permanent Assembly for the Legalization of Abortion, among other entities.
Every Tuesday they meet in a coordination meeting. They have already held several sessions to see logistical issues, such as definition of spokespersons, decisions regarding the dissemination of material, among other tasks. They also develop training on the preparation of minutes related to the campaign. At the same time, a communications and audiovisual team is working on the content that will be exhibited in the space that they will have on the television slot – they estimate that it will be approximately one minute. The process is coordinated by the journalist Gonzalo Oñate.
The Command will have three spokespersons in the Metropolitan Region and others in the different regions of the country, who, unlike “Aprobe x Chile,” have no direct relationship with traditional politics. In this regard, one of its spokespersons in Santiago, the ex-conventional and representative of Modatima, Manuela Royo, pointed out that the Social Movements can be a “crucial and relevant” actor for the success of the Approval, understanding that, in her opinion, it is a Command that is characterized by its “diversity, social and territorial strength”, made up of public actors who “for years have worked for social justice in Chile.”
In this sense, Royo pointed out that: “we believe that the decentralization and diversity of the more than 100 organizations that we group together are elements that characterize and differentiate us, since we have a territorial organization throughout Chile, which also allows us to make visible a diversity of stories, regarding what we are as a country. Because of this great diversity, because of decentralization and because we also wanted to give voice and space to those who have not always had it, we decided to contribute, as Social Movements, in a further commitment territorial, which is independent and which includes the work of social organizations, which do not necessarily identify with the Government or with the Official Party and with its official fringe. The main objective is to make visible those of us who have historically been excluded”.
The former MSC conventional said that a characteristic that differentiates them from other commands is that in terms of territorial deployment, social movements have a presence from Arica to Punta Arenas, that is, in all regions of the country. “In that sense, we have a force that has been deployed to do door-to-door, inform and also join forces from our small spaces, and what we have achieved has been quite positive, based on self-management,” said one of the spokespersons for the Command in the Metropolitan Region.
Uncheck the story of Approve x Chile
Now, after the debate arose in both government coalitions, about eventual modifications to the constitutional text in some specific aspects such as concurrence laws, revision of the justice system or the re-election of the President of the Republic, the debate that divides I approve Dignity of Democratic Socialism is: if a prior agreement on reforms is made before or after the Plebiscite of September 4. The Social Movements Command valued the words of President Boric, who this Tuesday, in an interview with Radio Caricia de Melipilla, reiterated that “the Constitution is perfectible” and that he has “no problem that we discuss, talk and agree on which are some of the modifications that can be made”.
In this regard, Manuela Royo pointed out that “it is important to understand that no constitutional transformation to the new text is possible, if it is not approved on September 4. In this sense, it seems relevant to us to define that our main objective is to achieve Approval, where also it is important to move forward in reaching consensus and agreements. That is why we agree with what President Boric has said, regarding that today the first objective is to Approve, and that there are other things that have to be discussed later, but understanding that The important thing is to end this Constitution of the dictatorship, and unite in that”.
In search of that “unity” to achieve the victory of Approve, the question arises as to why the Social Movements decided to create their own space, distancing themselves from the story that emerged in “Approve x Chile”, which is the Command that brings together the organizations of civil society that have a greater link with the Government. In this sense, one of the visible faces of the Broad Front in the campaign for approval, the senator and president of the DR, Juan Ignacio Latorre, referred to the emergence of this parallel space organized by the Social Movements, ruling out that it somehow harms the notion of “unity” around the approval of the new Constitution.
“It seems to me that all the Approves add up: I Approve them to reform, I Approve them plainly, I Approve the Social Movements; all the Approves add up to the final objective. I value the organization that the Social Movements are leading, they have the capacity to articulate territories to which the traditional parties find it difficult to reach. We have a huge challenge to mobilize the popular sectors and the youth world, and therefore the Social Movements can make their contribution there too. I think there is a very deep yearning in the peoples of Chile for knowing the real text of the new Constitution, clearing up the lies and fake news that have been installed by the conservative sectors of this country that do not want changes, and in that we can all add our grain of sand to achieve the triumph of the Approval on September 4″, said the parliamentarian.
Finally, in the face of the decision of the “official” Approve Command to elect deputies Vlado Mirosevic (PL) and Karol Cariola (PC) as spokespersons, from the Social Movements they value the relationship with representatives of the constituted power, but they bet on another strategy , based on territorial deployment, decentralization and faces linked to social organization. They say that theirs is a story that “shows reality, as it is”, with the aim of “transforming the hatred propagated by Rejection” towards a positive transformation of the country.
“I think that each group has its own leadership, its own voices, and in that sense it seems very important to me that representatives of the constituted power can also show their support, because with that a transversality is evidenced that is useful to the objective, which is victory. of approval. From the Social Movements command we have decided to maintain territorial spokespersons, which represent our Movements, and that is definitely the trend, seeking that they are not the same as always, but also give space to new voices, always from the social organization, which is what characterizes us,” said Manuela Royo.
