The Evolution of the Chilean Crisis (I)

The string of mobilizations that began with the rise in the subway fare and that revealed various unresolved social demands, have been analyzed by different unions and companies in recent days.

But the mea culpa is shared. Much of the responsibility is attributed to the political class, who have kept the most relevant reforms in the congress locked or with little progress.

In terms of inequality, “There was a great growth of the middle class but it is a precarious middle class, which has low pensions, high levels of debt, that lives a lot on credit and has very low salaries. It is a situation where everyday life is precarious, living with uncertainty" (BBC World).

In relation to the expectations of social improvements, the Chilean political class has been promising improvements in the quality of life of people in Chile for years.

Educational, constitutional, tax and health reforms have been announced but many of them have failed to meet society's expectations.

Social unrest, then, has resulted in this outbreak that is ending with the destruction of a hundred public spaces in different cities in Chile.

The violent protests that have caused the closure of businesses, the paralysis of transport, the interruption of supplies of goods and the insecurity in the streets will affect employment, will have an impact on economic activity, on consumer prices and levels of population consumption. However, and considering that the manifestations have been decreasing economic activity should tend to normalize and not affect the projection of 2020.

* You could also read: The riots that shook Chile

Among the proposals of the entrepreneurial and social world to overcome the social conflict are:

- Demonstrate that companies are at the service of people and not just their shareholders.

- Generate greater flexibility in working conditions and improve social benefits within the company.

- Evaluate the possibility of offering minimum monthly salaries close to CL$ 500,000 (app USD 690).

- Access to credit for financing new ventures.

On the other hand and through a platform for citizen participation created by a small team of Chileans committed to democracy, other priorities have been obtained that they would like to see addressed.

"Chilecracia.org" does not use a traditional voting mechanism, but rather a system of ranking citizen preferences based on peer comparison. In this technique, two items are placed next to each other and people should choose the one they prefer.

There is a list of 90 proposals for which chilean citizens can vote. These are shown in random order in pairs of options, of which only one preference (vote) can be marked. After marking the preference, another pair of proposals appears for a next vote, and so on. There are a total of 4,005 possible pairs; Chilecracia keeps each vote, so that the participant can stop at any time.

The result of the selections is used to create a network of preferences that is used to establish priority rankings. These priority rankings can then be analyzed according to various variables (sex, age, region, political orientation).

Having registered 5,500,000 votes, the most relevant topics for Chilean citizens who have participated up to now are:

1) Minimum Pension Equal or Greater than Minimum Salary

2) Increase Minimum Salary

3) Set the salary of politicians as a proportion of the minimum wage

4) Water deprivatization

5) Effective jail for Collusion offenses

6) Free Public Transportation for Senior Citizens

7) Eliminate obstacles and punishments with pre-existing diseases in Isapre 

    and Fonasa (health systems)

8) Universal Health Insurance

9) Limit Price or Gain of Medicines

10) Reduction of salaries of high public officials

There is a coincidence that we must continue on the path of growth and development, but now a new social agenda is added that contributes to improve people's conditions.