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Senator Alejandro Guillier has not shared a coffee with one of his colleagues for months. Since his political beginnings, he has worked with independents, with organizations, and since the “social explosion” he focused on strengthening those ties. Also, many of his peers were disappointing him. They promise changes, but are left only with the “struggle for power,” he says. For this reason, his view of the constituent process is critical.
You did not agree with the design of the constituent process. How have you seen its evolution?
When the November agreement was produced, I said that under the terms it was in, it was not going to float, because the independent, indigenous peoples were not incorporated, it did not have gender parity, regions, Chileans abroad, it was full of voids . It was an agreement of domes, to make a constituent process between the elites.
I voted against, but the process was installed and we have decided to support it, but endowing it with legitimacy, that is, citizen participation. But a year after that, there is no independent, there are no indigenous peoples and if it is not because a million women met in Plaza Italia and in many regions, there would be no parity. In the terms in which the process is convened today, without independents or indigenous peoples, there is no legitimacy.
What risk do you see in this staying like this?
If the process ends up consisting only of well-known figures, who are more of the same, that will fail, it will generate disaffection and far from becoming a master key that opens the horizon for Chile for the next 40 years, it will plunge the country in a crisis of political legitimacy that can drag on for years.
The project presented by Camila Vallejo, the same one that seeks to eliminate the 2/3, proposes a participation mechanism. Would you support it or believe in another formula?
More than a quorum, what is decisive is that the citizens feel that this process belongs to them and the political parties are legitimately committed to ensuring that the convention reflects the real Chile, that no sector is overrepresented. Everyone has to put patriotism and generosity. The process is full of traps, because in its preparation not everyone wanted a citizen process and they continue to confirm it.
It takes parties for changes. What way out do you see?
Political engineering no longer has much to do, it is necessary to secure seats and independents. Hopefully the independents can participate through those who are organized, through civil society organizations, to give them a channel and a certain structure so that they do not disperse. We need to sort the independents based on ideas.
Sectors have put a stop to that. Is it going to be enough?
The calendar is becoming unfeasible, it is impossible to reach the second week of January with the registered candidates, this has become unbalanced. We need to extend the date of submission of lists and that depends on when everything is approved in Congress. If there is no change, the process will fail. There has to be a change in attitude. Do not be myopic, it is not just another election where power quotas are in dispute. The constituent process belongs to the citizens, the only thing that the parties have to do is do the hit right, otherwise, we are going to pay with ungovernability and we are going to enter a very sad decline. Political parties are delaying this not because of simple laziness, but because the participation of society in the process is not in their design, they do not believe in citizenship and they believe that the elites are going to solve the problem. That is the problem, Chile is not divided or stressed, it is the elite that does not want to open the doors to legitimize a new order.
What’s left
The only way to have a fluid process, because the vast majority have said that they want an institutional, democratic and participatory process, is for them to understand that. And it has nothing to do with right or left. Chile has a healthy citizenry, there is no confrontation in the streets, it is the elite that is confused, it is the fault of the few who have controlled power and who do not want to let go. We must appeal to social mobilization. If people go home, this is trapped, because what moves this process is mobilization. We must defend the right that the elite do not steal the process. The constituent process is citizen, and social mobilization has to remove the obstacles.
But the call for mobilization is “demonized” …
This discourse is conservative, it is resorting to fear to immobilize. It is an old practice that is in the origins of power. Chile will move forward with the hope that it is possible to improve our national coexistence and better distribute wealth.
What danger do you see in that the parties continue to lose legitimacy?
The problem is not in the party bases. There is such a divorce between the elites and the rank and file that renewal is necessary. All this that we are going through is going to be part of a process that is going to get the bolts out. The elites are not synonymous with the people of the parties, they are groups that take ownership and that prevent and block decisions within them. If they don’t understand that and change it, it’s because they don’t have a historical vision and I’m afraid no one is saved.
Is there an expiration date for those changes?
Two immediate tests are coming. We will see how many people mobilize in the primaries at the end of the month. If there is a large participation, it would be a reaffirmation of the constituent process, but if no one goes, the parties will have to agree to redefine the rules. The other is going to be in January, and if the independents go out to look for signatures and they don’t succeed, the constituent process dies there.
And what role do you hope to play?
We are presenting projects so that independents are on equal terms and, secondly, we are going to present a project to ensure participation as a central axis in the constitutional convention. We are also creating a platform that allows leaders to articulate.
Are you ruling out nominations for now?
Those who outline candidacies in a country where we do not know what will happen, I think they are making a mistake. The success of the installation of the constituent process will be decisive. It is going to be the citizenry that is going to raise leadership, and one will have to be where it should be, where the citizenry wants. You have to be at the service of your country and people will know and say ‘sir, you know, I want you to go home. Thanks a lot’. And if they ask you to continue, you will, but you cannot walk your whole life behind a charge, it is sick.
And what do people tell you?
She is grateful that you have understood their point of view, because you work for them.
Do you still think that the presidential and parliamentary elections should be brought forward?
Piñera has not governed for a long time, a year ago. The blast was unable to direct it. Your government is a lame duck. A year ago I proposed bringing forward general elections, perhaps we would have started in March with a new government, facing the pandemic in a different way and the same with the Constitution, we would not have lost the year, but we are worse off. In one more year we will be even worse than now, SMEs going bankrupt, families without protection, the country without leadership, that is the scenario. I look at it with desperation and we are going to lose another year.
Does the social movement have to persist in an advanced change of government?
I can’t say what people have to do. The least movements you want is paternalism. Every Chilean has its own consciousness every day and I hope more people and less on the elites. I’m not pushing anyone, what I’m saying is that we lost a year and we are going to lose another.
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