Frente Amplio, Chile Digno, Igualdad, social and independent organizations register pact Approval of Dignity with a focus on the CC

Via El Desconcierto

In this list will be grouped the aspiring constituents of the political parties RD, CS, Unir, Comunes, Fuerza Común, PC, FRVS, Izquierda Libertaria, Partido Igualdad y Acción Humanista, as well as independent candidates and social organizations.

This Monday, January 11, the day that the deadline for registering candidacies for the next elections in April expires, the Frente Amplio, Chile Digno, Equality, representatives of social organizations (Social Unity, Community for Dignity, Popular Victory, and Socialist Allendees, among others) and independents, presented around noon at the Servel offices the formal inscription of “Approval Dignity”, an agreement with which they will group together to compete for the constituent seats.

In the instance, and regarding the inscription of the pact and the great electoral challenge that is approaching, with which they will dispute who will write the new Constitution, the Deputy and leader of the DR, Catalina Perez, pointed out that “this is, without a doubt, the most important milestone of our generation”.

“We were born to fight for the dignity of our people and those who will come, so that never again in Chile will the privileges of some take away the rights of the majority. It has cost us dearly: Dozens of people murdered, hundreds of eyes that were mutilated by State agents, and millions of people who left and still leave everything in the streets, keeping hope alive. Today, we continue to fight so that none of this is in vain,” declared the parliamentarian.

In the same line, the President of Comunes, Jorge Ramírez, maintained that “we have managed to reach the widest possible agreement of the forces of transformation, of change, but that also have a very clear position regarding what has to be done in the Constitutional Convention. The organizations and political parties have to understand that the constituent body, that the constituent assembly, belongs to the citizens.”

Transferring power to the people

Meanwhile, the president of Fuerza Común, Fernando Atria, referred to his experience in these matters, clarifying that he has been “talking for decades about the need to end a constitution, which only prevents us from taking control of our own destiny. This new Constitution is about transferring power to where it belongs in a democracy: to the people.”

Also the deputy and president of the CP, Guillermo Tellier, referred to the agreement, explaining that what is formed with this pact “is a list that expresses a great diversity of women and men, outstanding leaders of the social and union world, of the territories, neighborhood organizations, of the homeless; it is a list that in short represents Chilean society and above all is representative of the demands expressed in the social explosion and that seeks a new constitution and a new development model. A list that is transformative and anti-neo-liberal, that is why we are happy with what we are going to offer the people of Chile.”

Diverse but convergent list

“We have registered a parity list, with the participation of independents, social organizations of different kinds,” said in the same line the deputy Tomás Hirsch, coordinator of Acción Humanista. “It is a very diverse list but convergent in terms of aspirations and struggles. I believe that this could represent the demands and desires of the Chile that rose up with strength and hope in October 2019,” he said, adding that they are collaborating with candidates in different districts of the country to promote these demands, and translate them into a contribution for this new Constitution.

From the social organizations that participate in this alliance, the leader of Comunidad por la Dignidad and candidate for constituent Gonzalo Bacigalupe, pointed out that “as part of this collective and incorporating all the experience in research on disasters and among them the pandemic, I hope to contribute to the writing of a constitution that protects human rights, the rights of nature, and that is feminist and anti-neoliberal.”

Finally, Verónica Molina, leader of Unidad Social, emphasized that “this pact not only reflects the desire of the people mobilized in the streets for a democratic constitution and social and economic rights, but also gives us the certainty that, together with the political parties present in this list, we will continue working to promote the demands of the people: health, fair pensions, education, human rights, the liberation of political prisoners from the social explosion, and gender equality.”