Foreword
This new edition of International Correspondence focuses on the popular rebellion of the Chilean people. Since 18 October 2019, there is a before and an after in Chile. “It is not 30 pesos, it is 30 years” was the popular expression with which the mobilized masses responded to President Sebastian Piñera and the entire old bourgeois political leadership of the country. The fight went beyond the demand against the increase in the Metro fares and was against the entire capitalist economic model and the regime inherited from the dictator Pinochet.
The fight has not relented. In the middle of March 2020, hundreds of bangings of pots and pans were recorded from the balconies of houses in populous cities such as Santiago, Valparaiso and Concepcion. Piñera faces the repudiation of his figure with harsh chants and shouts that spread to soccer stadiums and musical events such as the Viña del Mar Festival.
Chile’s rebellion is part of a new global wave of mobilizations and protests against the austerity plans of imperialism, the multinationals and the IMF. The workers, youth and popular struggles of France, Lebanon, Iraq and the Middle East are also reflected in this edition.
The capitalist-imperialist system remains unable to overcome the acute economic crisis opened in 2007/8. The surprising appearance of the coronavirus epidemic is also an expression of this decadence of capitalism. The growth of poverty, overcrowding, environmental changes, and the collapse of the world’s public health systems are the propitious terrain for the emergence and development of old and new diseases. At the same time, the capitalist economic crisis may deepen because of the effects of the coronavirus on the economy. Imperialism and the capitalist governments will seek to continue to unload the consequences of the crisis on the peoples with new exploitation plans. The rebellions in Chile, France, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and other social protests, which are growing throughout the world, show that the fight will continue open.
