[rad-green] (Canadian Petition) Taking Action against Human Right Violations in Chile-Electronic Petition from Paola Ardiles

*From:* Paola Andrea Ardiles
*Sent:* December 10, 2019 4:54 PM
*Subject:* Taking Action against Human Right Violations in Chile-Electronic
Petition from Paola Ardiles


Dear friends, allies and colleagues,



I hope this finds you well.


Today is International Human Rights Day. I am writing in hopes you will
consider *signing and sharing* this electronic petition below to the House
of Commons related to the current human right violations in Chile.



https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2302



Any Canadian citizen or resident can sign (no age minimum), even if you are
living abroad.



*Background*



You may have heard about the cancellation of some high profile global
meetings scheduled in Chile this fall, such as the 26th Cochrane
Colloquium, the International Climate Change Summit COP25 and Asia-Pacific
Economic Co-operation (APEC) leaders’ meeting. They were cancelled due to
the crisis in Chile that started in mid-October due to a massive social
uprising and military crackdown that occurred when President Piñera
declared a state of emergency on Oct 1, 2019.



Since that date, human rights watch groups including the National Institute
for Human Rights <https://www.indh.cl/> in Chile, Amnesty International
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/chile/>, and Human Rights
Watch
<https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/26/chile-police-reforms-needed-wake-protests>
have reported 400+ criminal complaints allegedly committed by security
forces; 20+deaths, sexual violence (including rape of women, men and
youth), tortures, detention of children and thousands wounded and admitted
to hospital. More than 200 people have lost their eyesight due to severe
ocular wounds caused by non-lethal lead ammunitions banned by UN. Political
responsibilities have not being persecuted yet. The UN sent a delegation
for three weeks to Chile to verify the human rights violations; they are
preparing a report of their findings soon.



*Neoliberalism-the root cause*



The root cause of the social unrest is the decades of neoliberal economics
and policies that were established with the Constitution of 1980 under the
Pinochet dictatorship, with zero participation of civil society. Today,
Chile has the largest social inequities in all the OECD countries. One
example of this is that the University of Chile has published a report of
increasing suicide rates in older adults due to increased levels of poverty
caused by private pensions. I have heard stories that people would rather
die, than to burden their families already struggling. Many have to
organize fundraisers like Go Fund Me campaigns or Bingos to finance their
cancer treatments. As a Chilean-Canadian, I am deeply concerned about the
state violence that is harming my people back home, with both severe
physical and mental health injuries that will have profound and
intergenerational consequences for decades to come.



Here is an article in Lancet on health inequalities in Chile as one of the
root causes of unrest:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)32720-5/fulltext



*Climate Justice and Mapuche Peoples*



The social unrest in Chile is also very connected to climate justice and
the struggles of the Mapuche Nation in the long-standing resistance against
the oppression of the Chilean state and in the constant threat and
exploitation of their natural resources by multinational corporations. Here
is a link to the criminalization of Mapuche land defenders in Chile.



https://impakter.com/the-criminalization-of-mapuche-land-defenders-in-chile/



*Violence Against Women*



Due to the increased levels of systemic violence against women by the
police forces, a feminist collective #LasTesis conducted some research
about the sexual violence and prepared a performance art piece in response
based on feminist theory. Their performance of #UnVioladorEnTuCamino (a
rapist is on the way) was launched on November 25th in Chile on the first
day of the UN Women’s international campaign of 16 days of Activism against
Gender-Based Violence. It was soon adapted in various languages and context
as per the desires of the collective to express local levels of violence
against women. The performance was replicated in Paris, Bogotá, Berlin,
Madrid, Barcelona, Sydney, Lima, Mexico and Vancouver etc. and now has
become a global movement to hold the state accountable for direct and
structural violence against women.



Below is an article in English about LasTesis:

https://aldianews.com/articles/culture/rapist-your-way-or-how-performance-art-has-reunited-latin-america/56985



*What is the Canadian government’s response to date?*

On Oct 29, 2019, the Prime Minister’s office reported that President
Sebastian Piñera called to congratulate Justin Trudeau on his re-election.
“The Prime Minister and the President exchanged views on key regional
issues, including the importance of addressing people’s concerns around
economic opportunity and inequalities. Prime Minister Trudeau also shared
his concern about election irregularities in Bolivia. They welcomed the
collaboration between Canada and Chile on a range of shared priorities,
including efforts to address the crisis in Venezuela. The two leaders
reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing cooperation.” Since that date there
has been a travel advisory for Canadians travelling to Chile but nothing in
relation to the increasing numbers of human right violations being reported.

Below is one of the best articles I have read in English outlining the key
issues as well as the Canada’s direct role in terms of investments in Chile
over last few decades:



https://www.opencanada.org/features/chile-from-neoliberal-to-social-policy-experiment/



More on Canada’s silence:

https://miningwatch.ca/blog/2019/11/25/understanding-canada-s-silence-chile-s-uprising?fbclid=IwAR110oCjMxa0H8IpKBO8C7FJaZaEI2iSyjsznZWEJ5rW5VDyv1lbYTcCs80





*What can you do?*



The Chilean-Canadian community in Metro Vancouver has spontaneously
organized to raise awareness about the human right violations with a call
to action to ask fellow Canadians to:



1.     Denounce human rights violations by signing the House of Commons
e-petition
https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2302

and sharing via email or social media with #StandUp4HumanRights
#ChileViolatesHumanRights #HumanRightsBeforeProfits



2.     Boycott Chilean Wine and share on social media with
#BoycottChileanWine #ChileViolatesHumanRights





*Why a boycott?*



The owners of the large wine industries are the corporate and political
elite, directly involved in the creation of the social and health
inequities. There are a handful of families that own the large wine
exportation companies, the same families own the privatized pensions,
post-secondary institutions and private hospitals and clinics. The small
farmers and wine producers are supporting the boycott as they have been
demanding better working conditions for the workers for decades.



*Where can you get more information in English?*



Follow @Van4Chile

or visit: http://www.van4chile.ca/ under media links



On November 7th I was interviewed on CBC on the Coast. Here is the link to
7 minute interview:
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46-on-the-coast/clip/15745478-november-7-2019-unrest-in-chile





Please help spread the word however you can. I am attaching a template with
a letter to MPs in case you would like to share that too.



Thank you for your solidarity.

Paola Ardiles

*I acknowledge I live, work and play within the ancestral, traditional and
unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples. *

-- 

--- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sid-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected].
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sid-l/CACKppczFG%3Dp6%2B%3D5nYTsn0ug0y3E%3DhtKLjs8AcAV0EAYnZdc2Ug%40mail.gmail.com.

---
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>