BM63 – Motion of supporting Camila Vallejo and Chilean student movement
Today, 3rd December 2012, the Chilean student representative leader, Camila Vallejo, left her mandate as Vice-President of the Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECH). In 2011, she participated in the launch of the student movement that shook up the country with the call for public, free and quality education.
ESU has expressed strong support in April 2012, by passing motions of support to BM62 in Bucharest, Romania. We welcome the work done by the ex-President of FECH and ex-spokeswoman of the CONFECH. Throughout that process, via our support of the work of Miss Vallejo, we have been able to realize a strong support of the work done by the other leaders who participated in the student movement in Chile. With joint forces, we succeeded in warding off the threats and intimidations made to Miss Vallejo and other student leaders and fought the implementation of Hinzpeter’s Law which wanted to criminalize a student movement.
From Europe, we have followed the situation of education in Chile with eager interest and could learn a lot in the process of doing so. It was also an opportunity for us to reflect on what role we, as student representatives, want to play in a society. More importantly, it has allowed us to reflect on the direction for the defense of education. The sad reality of privatization of the Chilean educational system which started late 1988 under the Pinochet dictatorship is an example of what we should vividly aim to avoid in Europe.
The solidarity of Chilean students was the opportunity for us to realize the proximity between European educational projects and South America. The presence of Camila Vallejo in GSL London, last September, was a first step towards the strengthening of relations and exchanges between European students and South America. Each member of ESU learned from the Chilean student movement and and could see the repercussions of the privatization of the educational system in their country.
Our conclusions about our relationship with the CONFECH are very good and have promoted the international’s relationship. We invite new Chilean leaders elected to continue the active relationship with our European representatives leaders. We are and will always be together in the fight to defend our rights and promote a fairer student education system. We wish deputy of Miss Vallejo the best of luck for her career and encourage other student leaders of Chile to continue their political fight for better society and education.
