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	World Protests: A study of key protest issues in the 21st Century by Isabel Ortiz, Walden Bello Initiative for Policy Dialogue, agencies   Dec. 2021   In recent years, the world has been shaken by protests. From the Arab Spring to the social uprisings in Chile and Latin America, the world has seen a dramatic rise in protests. In a polarized world, the COVID-19 pandemic has only accentuated feelings of outrage and discontent.   New research brings evidence of this by analyzing nearly three thousand protests since the beginning of the 21st century, in over a hundred countries covering more than 93 percent of the world population.   Beginning in 2006, there was a steady rise in overall protests each year up to 2020. As the global financial crisis began to unfold in 2007-08, demonstrations increased, and further intensified after 2010 with the worldwide adoption of austerity cuts.   Frustration grew over the lack of decent jobs, inadequate social protection and public services, unfair taxation and a perceived lack of real democracy and accountability of decision makers to the people.   This led to a new and more political wave of protests in 2016, often becoming “omnibus protests” (protests addressing multiple issues) against the political and economic status quo. Polls worldwide reflect dissatisfaction with democracies and lack of trust in governments.   Increasingly, demonstrations are not only the purview of activists and trade unionists, but have become an outlet for the middle classes, women, youths, pensioners, indigenous and racial groups. These citizens do not consider themselves activists and yet they protest because they feel disenfranchised by official processes and political parties.   Decades of neoliberal policies have generated huge inequalities and eroded the incomes and the welfare of both the lower and middle classes, fueling feelings of injustice, disappointment with malfunctioning democracies, and frustration with failures of economic and social development.   Whist the media often portrays protests as sporadic, disorganized riots, most of the world protests studied were planned, with clearly articulated demands. The main cause of discontent (in 1503 protests) relates to the failure of democracies and political systems, lack of real democracy, accountability and justice; corruption; as well as the perceived power of a deep government or oligarchy, sovereignty and patriotic issues; and protests against wars, the surveillance of citizens, and anti-socialism/communism.   A second cause relates to economic justice, expressing grievance and outrage against unequal austerity cuts and policy reforms (1,848 protests), demanding improved jobs, wages and labor conditions, better public services and housing, agrarian and tax justice; and against corporate influence, deregulation, privatization, inequality and low living standards; as well as against pension reforms, high energy and food prices.   The third main cause of protests is the demand for civil rights (1,360 protests) on indigenous and racial rights; women’s rights; labor rights; LGBT and sexual rights; right to the commons (digital, cultural, atmospheric); immigrants’ rights; freedom of assembly, speech, and press; prisoners’ rights and religious issues.   A last cluster of protests encompases demands for global Justice (897 protests) on issues such as environmental and climate justice; against the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the European Union/European Central Bank; against imperialism (United States, China); against free trade or the G20 – demanding a better and more equitable world order.   Not only has the number of protests increased, but also the number of protestors. Crowd estimates suggest that at least 52 events had one million or more protesters.   The period 2006-2020 has evinced some of the largest protests in world history; the largest recorded was the 2020 strike in India against the government’s plan to liberalize farming and labor, estimated to have involved 250 million protestors.   The second decade of the 21st century has also seen a global rise of the far right, attracting dissatisfied citizens to a radical right “counterrevolution” that typically includes an assault on the tenets of liberal democracy by authoritarian leaders.   Falling into this category were the QAnon protests in 2020 in the United States and globally; opposition to Muslims, migrants, and refugees in Europe; and the protests against the Workers Party in Brazil in 2013 and 2015.   While the rhetoric is anti-elite, far right politics does not seek significant structural power change, rather directing the popular fire and fury against minorities, denying rights to migrants, blacks, gays or Muslims, who are depicted as a threat to the jobs, security and values of the majority.   Other rallying cries include calls for personal freedoms (to carry a gun, not to wear a mask, not to be quarantined), nationalism, and the promotion of traditional values. To counter radical right authoritarianism, societies must fight misinformation and expose the contradictions of far right politics.   Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of protests have made progressive demands for real democracy, civil rights, economic and global justice. Peaceful protests are a fundamental aspect of a vibrant democracy. Historically, protests have been a means to achieve fundamental rights at the national and international level.   While new research shows that global political instability is increasing, there are solutions. Governments need to listen to the grievances coming from protesters and act upon them. The demands of people around the world have much in common and ask for no more than established Human Rights and internationally agreed UN development goals.   * Isabel Ortiz is Director of the Global Social Justice Program at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, and former director of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF. Walden Bello is Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York and co-chair of the Bangkok-based progressive institute, Focus on the Global South.   http://policydialogue.org/publications/books/a-study-of-key-protest-issues-in-the-21st-century/   * World Protests: A study of key protest issues in the 21st Century. (Free 200pp): http://bit.ly/3sa9hKs Visit the related web page
	Chile's president Gabriel Boric unveils women-majority cabinet by Magdalena Sepulveda, Carolina Perez Dattari Open Democracy, agencies   The Post-Pandemic Recovery, by Magdalena Sepulveda.   I say this with a smile, because this is a phrase I never thought I would utter, and it gives me great satisfaction: as International Women's Day arrives today let's look at Chile. In this country where I grew up, notable for its conservatism and extreme neoliberalism, the winds of hope are blowing, largely thanks to the feminist movement.   The symbols are evident: on 11 March a new government took office in which women are in the majority and will be in charge of key ministries such as the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Justice—something never seen before. It is a step forward that comes after a long feminist resistance, which has had as its milestones the election of the first woman president, Michelle Bachelet in 2006, and the articulation of social movements around social rights, such as education and sexual and reproductive health, where young women played a key role. But where Chile can really take a step forward—and set an example—is in the drafting of its new constitution.   In response to the large social mobilisations that emerged in October 2019 to protest inequalities and demand a dignified life for all, political leaders agreed to organise a referendum to initiate the creation of a new Constitution.   The aim was to put an end to the text adopted during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), which imposed an economic and social model that has mainly benefited an elite.   Since then, it has been a whirlwind: a Constitutional Convention with gender parity was elected, reflecting the country's diversity and showing a profound change in the profiles of the country's decision makers. Although its work has not been without criticism, it has given rise to massive civil society participation, and, in the norms that have been discussed so far, it is clear that the Constitutional Convention seems to be on target to deliver the world's first green and feminist constitution.   What is a feminist constitution? Is it enough to include the principles of gender parity, enshrine sexual and reproductive rights and include the right to a life free of violence? All the above is necessary, but it is not enough to earn that label.   The new constitution must lay the groundwork for addressing gender inequality in a comprehensive manner, including ensuring adequate funding for public services, infrastructure, and social protection that take into account women's particular needs. It also requires making the richest and multinationals contribute fairly, through taxation.   The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear that much of the work involved in maintaining the health and well-being of children, the elderly and other family members is done by women on an unpaid basis. Women spend on average 3.2 times more time than men on unpaid care work, 4 hours and 25 minutes per day compared to 1 hour and 23 minutes for men. When attempts have been made to measure the monetary value of these unpaid contributions by women, this figure rises to a staggering US$11 trillion a year or 9% of global GDP.   The health crisis has only exacerbated gender inequalities. In the last two years, job losses have hit women particularly hard, often pushing them out of the labour market. Those working in the informal sector, from domestic workers to agricultural labourers, are the first to be affected. In Latin America, the number of people living below the extreme poverty line increased between 2020 and 2021, from 81 million to 86 million, the majority of whom are women. And it is not just the economic consequences. In the region, at least 4,091 women were victims of femicide in 2020, while early marriage and civil unions already affect one in four adolescents under the age of 18.   After two years of a pandemic that has not yet come to an end, it is not a question of returning to the "normality" that has produced so much inequality and poverty. It is now urgent to build more sustainable, more inclusive, and greener economies, economies that support women and prioritise investments in care.   These efforts come at a cost. States, which have spent so much in response to the pandemic, must not only recover their resources but increase them to finance this turnaround. One of the key avenues is to consider fair taxation of wealth and capital income and to attack tax avoidance by multinationals and the very richest, who have never been richer.   The combined wealth of all billionaires, estimated at $5 trillion on the eve of the pandemic, is now at an all-time high of $13.8 trillion. And it is crucial to end the race to the bottom in nominal corporate tax rates, which have fallen from an average of 40% in the 1980s to 23% in 2018.   It is clear that greater progressivity needs to be introduced into tax systems around the world, which means advocating that revenue should rely more heavily on direct taxes with greater capacity to reduce inequalities, and that tax rates should depend on the level of income or wealth. In essence, richer citizens and companies should contribute more, because they have greater capacity. And here too, Chile can show us the way.   The Red Ciudadana de Justicia Fiscal para Chile, a mobilised part of civil society, is calling for the new constitution to take up this principle of progressive taxation and to be a transformative force for redistributing wealth. In this way, it would break with the culture of privilege, guarantee transparency and, for the first time, even consider the responsibility of solidarity in international taxation.   Of course, adopting a new constitution is not enough. Its principles must be translated into laws and public policies, supported by the government and Congress. But a constitutional text defines the foundations of society. In Chile, as elsewhere, inequalities and social tensions have become unbearable, and are exacerbated by the climate emergency.   There is an urgent need to change the development model to move towards a caring and inclusive society that places gender equality at the centre and recognises the interdependence between people and the environment. The post-pandemic recovery will be green and feminist, or it will not be.   * Magdalena Sepulveda is Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. From 2008-2014 she was the UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news   http://socialeurope.eu/the-recovery-will-be-green-and-feminist-or-it-wont-be http://socialeurope.eu/for-a-democratic-egalitarian-and-feminist-constitution   Sep. 2022   Chileans reject a new constitution but the president is unfazed, by Maurizio Guerrero. (PassBlue)   The social unrest of October 2019 in Chile that led to a referendum in which the population rejected the country’s constitution and demanded a new one — whose draft was defeated this month — could happen anywhere in the world because of people’s quest for more social justice and economic equality, said Gabriel Boric, Chile’s president.   In his first appearance at the UN as Chile’s head of state, having took office in March, Boric, 36, said that many observers inside and outside his country were struck by Chile, despite its relatively high rates of economic growth and human development, facing the upheaval in 2019. The crisis, dubbed “el estallido” (“the explosion”) ended with deaths, injuries and more than 400 victims of ocular trauma from security officers shooting rubber bullets at protesters’ faces.   “And it can happen in your countries too,” Boric, a former student protest leader, added. “This is why I ask you to anticipate the demands for greater social justice. Better distribution of wealth and power must go hand in hand with sustainable growth. And it is possible.” Boric’s speech expounded on the devastating defeat of 62 percent of Chileans rejecting the new draft constitution, created after the unrest two years ago.   Yet the protests paved the way to Boric’s election victory in December 2021. The new charter, which would have replaced the constitution enacted during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (from 1973-1990), recognized the rights of Indigenous people for the first time in the country’s history, added environmental protections, increased gender parity and guaranteed rights to affordable education and health care.   Despite the defeat, Boric will have another chance, based on a 2020 referendum in which 78 percent of voters favored rewriting the constitution. With all of the country’s political parties, Boric is creating a roadmap toward a second constitutional process, an effort that seems crucial for his administration.   “As President of Chile, I am convinced that, in the short term, Chile will have a constitution that fully satisfies its citizens, one built in democracy, that includes the contribution of all sectors of society,” he said. Boric also addressed global issues.   He called on countries “to put an end to all abuses by the powerful anywhere in the world.” He urged violence against women to be stopped. He also railed against normalizing “the violations of human rights”.   Domestically, Boric’s administration must also work to de-escalate tensions in southern Chile, where Mapuche Indigenous communities seek to reclaim ancestral territories. His government deployed the military in those regions despite his campaign promises that the military option was not the way to peace.   “During the first six months of the administration, we have managed as a society to create a vision of the country we want to build,” Marco Antonio Ávila, the Chilean minister of education, said in a recent interview with PassBlue. “We know that it will be difficult because political perspectives are always different, but there is a lot of goodwill in the government, in the president himself, who extends a permanent invitation to dialogue to every sector of society.”   Jan. 2022   Chile president-elect Boric unveils women-majority cabinet, by Macarena Saez.   Gabriel Boric, Chile’s left-wing president-elect, has announced his first cabinet, giving a majority of the posts to women and several to former student protest leaders.   Fourteen of the 24 new ministers announced on Friday are women, including Defence Minister Maya Fernandez — a granddaughter of socialist President Salvador Allende, who was overthrown by a military coup in 1973.   The interior ministry that oversees domestic security will go to Dr Izkia Siches, who was recently head of the national medical association.   “We have formed this team with people who are prepared, with knowledge, with experience, and committed to the agenda of changes that the country needs,” Boric said.   The cabinet announcement comes after Boric, who will turn 36 before taking office on March 11, won the presidential election last month.   He ran on a platform to modernise Chile’s public health sector, which serves 80 percent of the population, replacing the now-privately run pension system while raising benefits and increasing the minimum wage.   Social disparities in the South American nation had sparked widespread protests in 2019, lighting the fuse for the political rise of the progressive left and the redrafting of the country’s dictatorship-era constitution.   “This Cabinet’s mission is to lay the foundations for the great reforms that we have proposed in our programme,” Boric said after unveiling his ministers, adding that it would look to drive economic growth while cutting out “structural inequalities”.   “We are talking about sustainable growth accompanied by a fair redistribution of wealth,” he said.   Boric’s cabinet includes at least six ministers under the age of 40, including those who led a wave of rallies in 2011 for improved, free education.   His term will coincide with a public referendum on a new constitution that is being drafted by a constituent assembly, potentially changing the shape of the political system as a whole. The current constitution was adopted under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who led the coup against Allende.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/25/chiles-new-president-elect-sets-out-feminist-government   Jan. 2022   A new constitutional convention is imagining a country radically different from the one forged by the dictator Augusto Pinochet, writes Carolina Perez Dattari for Open Democracy.   When Chile overwhelmingly elected Gabriel Boric on 19 December, I was elated. Left-wing Boric had been pitted against the far-Right José Antonio Kast, who had systematically denied the climate crisis, attacked the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community, and spoken admiringly of Augusto Pinochet, the murderous dictator who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990.   Now, under 35-year-old Boric, who heads the Frente Amplio (‘Border Front’) coalition, the country has a chance for serious and meaningful change – to move away from the economic and social model forged by Pinochet. It is widely acknowledged that the neoliberal model first took hold not in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain or Ronald Reagan’s United States, but in Pinochet’s Chile. Under the dictatorship, the state was shrunk to the minimum, relinquishing to profit-driven businesses the provision of rights through the privatisation of public services.   This turned Chile into a country with housing, health, and education for the rich; a privatised pension system in which social security is at the mercy of investment profitability; a plundered natural environment; communities without access to drinking water as a result of deregulated agribusiness, and a tax system that does nothing to change the fact that the country is one of the most unequal in the world.   Pinochet’s biographer, Mario Amorós, characterises the dictator’s legacy as “a model installed by blood and gunfire that benefited the elites who controlled the media and held the economic power”.   Persistent and widespread protests erupted across Chile in 2019, against extreme inequality and for a new constitution to replace the one imposed by Pinochet.   The protests forced a 3am showdown on 25 November 2019 in the National Congress, under the watchful gaze of millions of Chileans following the events on television. Capitulating to public pressure, several political parties agreed to a referendum on whether to draft a new constitution.   At that referendum, which was held in October 2020, 78% of people voted ‘yes’, leading to the election of a historic ‘Constitutional Convention’ of 155 people tasked with rewriting the constitution. The convention – to which I am an adviser – includes delegates from across the political spectrum, many of whom are independent of political parties, as well as feminists and environmentalists.   It met for the first time on 4 July last year, with a clear directive: drafting the first democratic constitution in Chile’s history, with gender parity and indigenous representation. It has a year to fulfil that mandate, and the public will vote again in October on whether to approve its proposed new constitution.   The convention’s first move was to elect Elisa Loncón, an Indigenous Mapuche feminist university professor, as its chairperson. In her first speech in the role, she said: “Thanks to all of you for placing your trust in a Mapuche woman to change the history of this country…This convention is for all Chileans from every sector and every region and… against every system of domination…It is for a Chile that protects Mother Earth.”   Participation rules adopted by the convention are critical to its success. One notable example is the convention’s decision to hold interim public referendums for provisions that fail to obtain two-thirds approval but do receive three-fifths support, which provides a way to skirt potential roadblocks set up by conservatives. Another is known as ‘the popular initiative’, which allows any citizen to propose a constitutional provision on any issue if they can gather more than 15,000 signatures in support.   Through seven thematic commissions, the Constitutional Convention is discussing key transformations. These include declaring Chile a plurinational state – recognizing the country’s several nations and granting them degrees of autonomy – and recognizing nature as a subject with rights, to provide more tools to protect ecosystems. Another pivotal proposal is to change the role of the state from one oriented to individualism to one oriented to solidarity.   Also high on the agenda is eliminating all gender-based asymmetry in public and political participation, enabling a state with equal representation in its judicial, legislative and executive branches.   One of the most groundbreaking discussions is on the institution of a National Care System. Currently, domestic and unpaid care work accounts for the majority (53%) of productive work in Chile, equivalent to 22% of GDP. Some 72% of this work is carried out by women.   A National Care System would not only recognize caring occupations as work, but would pay for and professionalise these services. The long-standing demand of Chilean women for our sexual and reproductive rights – and the possible adoption of a law that permits abortion – is also at the centre of this proposal.   Many of these proposals will be strongly contested. Boric’s opponent Kast attacked both women and nature in his election campaign, committing to closing the Ministry of Women and denying global warming. The promise to extend the rights of nature will be strongly opposed by the supporters of Big Business, as it runs against Chile’s history as an exporter of raw or semi-processed materials like copper and more recently lithium, as well as export-oriented agriculture.   “The Chilean model is based on extractivism, and a new Constitution could insist that a company has to maintain ecological equilibrium,” explains political scientist Claudio Fuentes. Chile’s Right occupies almost a third of the convention’s seats.   Still, Chile has begun 2022 with a sense of optimism. Gabriel Boric’s new government is charged with organising the October 2022 referendum over the new constitution. “If it’s successful, it will be a model of hope, and not only for Chile,” says constitutional expert Bruce Ackerman. During the 2019 protests, a piece of graffiti declared, ‘Neoliberalism is born and dies in Chile’. A new constitution could make this wish come true.   http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/neoliberalism-was-born-in-chile-now-it-will-die-there/ http://www.cesr.org/webinar-series-addressess-the-rights-challenges-of-chiles-new-constitution/ http://lens.civicus.org/chile-at-the-crossroads-between-past-and-future/ http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/chile-gi-escr-and-partners-launch-popular-initiative-for-esc-rights-in-the-new-constitution http://www.gi-escr.org/latest-news/gi-escr-convenes-trade-unions-and-civil-society-to-advance-public-services-in-chiles-new-constitution http://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/future-of-social-democracy/chile-from-9-11-to-the-end-of-neoliberalism-5411/   Jan. 2022   Can the first female president of Honduras usher in a new era for women? (Guardian News)   Xiomara Castro has been sworn in as the first female president of Honduras, marking the culmination of a remarkable rise to power that began just over 12 years ago when she led a massive protest movement in response to the ousting of her husband, former president Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, in a military-backed coup.   Castro’s resounding victory in the 28 November election has generated hope for a new era for women in the country with the highest rate of femicide in Latin America and some of the region’s most draconian laws with regards to reproductive rights.   “In her plan for government she took us into account,” said Regina Fonseca, director of the Centre for the Rights of Women in Honduras. “That gives us enormous hope to return to life.”   Activists are optimistic that Castro, of the center-left Libre party, will not only take actions that help improve conditions for women in the immediate, but also accelerate broader changes in the country’s culture.   “This small break in the patriarchy that her win represents can become bigger and bigger, in the sense that it can open even more spaces for participation in government and political participation in general for women in the country,” said Carmen Haydee, a human rights lawyer and representative of the feminist group Luchemos.   Among the first order of business, Castro is expected to undo a prohibition against emergency contraceptives enacted in the wake of the coup. Honduras is the only country in Latin America with absolute bans on both abortion and emergency contraceptives.   As a result, women who have been raped have been forced to seek out emergency contraceptives on the black market.   Since emergency contraceptives were outlawed by decree, Castro will be able to act unilaterally to undo the ban. When it comes to abortion, however, the situation is much more complex.   In her plan for government Castro included a proposal to legalize abortion in the case of rape, when the mother’s life is at risk and when the fetus is not viable. But last year, conservative legislators approved a constitutional reform that raised the threshold needed to modify the country’s total abortion ban to 75% of congress. When a measure similar to Castro’s proposal was placed before congress in 2017, only eight of the 128 legislators voted in favor.   Although Castro’s party has made gains in congress since then, the legislature remains controlled by conservatives – including a number from her own party.   “It seems to me that our fight will continue to be within the judiciary to achieve that change,” said Fonseca. “With this congress as it is, it will not be possible.”   Castro’s proposal – the first such proposal from a president in Honduras – is nonetheless significant. “I do believe that Xiomara’s openness to that possibility does allow us to generate spaces for dialogue, reflection, awareness and discussion,” said Fonseca.   On the issue of femicide, there is much more political will to act, but the challenge is no less daunting. “We know that it will not be resolved in four years, but we are also certain that much can be sown and fertilized so that a future free of violence for girls and women flourishes,” said Fonseca.   Women’s rights groups have been working with members of Castro’s transition team to draft a violence against women law that will address deficiencies in the justice system that have led to disturbingly high levels of impunity. Castro has also proposed the establishment of shelters for women who are survivors of domestic violence, more inclusive economic development and the implementation of an integral sexual education program in schools.   “It’s a question of reinforcing in schools the values of respect, values of equality, values of positive identities for girls, that it is understood that women are also human, nothing more and nothing less,” said Fonseca.   In that regard, Castro’s mere existence as president of the nation could have a positive effect. As the presidential sash is placed across her shoulders, countless girls and young women will be watching from across the country.   “I think that inevitably what girls are going to be thinking is that I can also be her, eventually I can also aspire to that, and that opens up a whole world of possibilities regarding your place in society,” said Haydée.   * Honduras is the only country in Latin America that bans the morning after pill. (Avaaz)   Honduras, one of the deadliest countries in the world, is a nightmare for women. 12-year-old girls are forced to keep rape pregnancies. But things could change. The first-ever female president, Xiomara Castro, just took office and could be only one signature away from revoking a horrendous ban on emergency contraceptives -- a ban that has trapped desperate women, including survivors of rape, into unwanted and dangerous pregnancies.   Honduras is the only country in Latin America that bans the morning after pill -- but the new president has promised to legalize it, and she needs massive public support to make the call. She is under heavy pressure, so let's empower her to deliver on women's rights. Sign onto this petition to help support a new era for women and girls across Honduras, and on International Women’s Day, Avaaz will deliver it directly to the president: http://bit.ly/3MrnDxY
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