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Topic: Bachelet victory in Chile

lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534

posted 15 January 2006 06:24 PM

Although Michelle Bachelet doesn't sound wildly progressive, I do confess I do get a bit of a glow about Chile electing a woman president who is not a hidebound reactionary like Thatcher or Merkel...

I do hope this will mean changes in Chilean family law and the general situation of women that bears the heavy mark of a longstanding and brutal military dictatorship... Michelle Bachelet Chile's first woman president

From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

Brett Mann
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6441

posted 15 January 2006 06:40 PM

This is wonderful news, I think. Take a look at the Globe and Mail Focus section report on Michelle Bachelet this weekend ("Her victory will be a revolution"). She is far more left-leaning than the BBC piece seems to suggest. Her parents were persecuted under the Pinochet regime, and her election convincingly paints Latin America a deeper shade of red. Unfortunately I can't link to the article, it's for subscribers only. Grab a copy of Saturday's Globe and check it out. This is a big story.

From: Prince Edward County ON | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

Hawkins
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3306

posted 15 January 2006 07:30 PM

Pinochet would go after anyone willing to dissent, and a lot of those people were people who just wanted democracy.

But she has been labled as a socialist and part of a socialist family... sure beats a billionaire for president any day.

Certainly is even more fantastic that she is a single mother.

From: Burlington Ont | Registered: Nov 2002 | IP: Logged

M. Spector
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8273

posted 15 January 2006 07:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by looney:
This is wonderful news, I think. Take a look at the Globe and Mail Focus section report on Michelle Bachelet this weekend ("Her victory will be a revolution"). She is far more left-leaning than the BBC piece seems to suggest.

Don't get too excited. Anything Maria Jimenez writes has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Bachelet may be a "socialist" but her party is part of a broader coalition whose support she needs in order to govern. In fact, it's the same coalition that has ruled Chile for the last 15 years.

Link to previous thread on this topic.

From: One millihelen: The amount of beauty required to launch one ship. | Registered: Feb 2005 | IP: Logged

candle
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3103

posted 15 January 2006 09:20 PM

I don't think the "revolution" was a change in policy direction. I think the revolution was the election of a female leader on her own merits in a very macho society. Bachelet is also an atheist.

From: Ontario | Registered: Sep 2002 | IP: Logged

island empire
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8064

posted 15 January 2006 10:56 PM

i don't know if there's a way to over-emphasize how striking bachelet's election is. not only is she:

- a socialist who once lived in east germany
- a divorced woman with children from two different men
- a single woman with no immediate intention to marry
- an atheist

she's also young-ish (54), modern, and her coalition has been in power for 15 years (which as we know, invited voter fatigue).

chile is a massively influential country in the region, and this will be very very widely discussed in almost every bar and cafe south of colombia.

From: montréal, canada | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Doug
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 44

posted 16 January 2006 05:32 AM

Better than Stephen Harper. We can do, and are doing worse.

From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged

lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534

posted 16 January 2006 06:18 AM

A Chilean viewpoint on Bachelet:

http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=25288

Bachelet sets forth government tasks:
http://www.lainsignia.org/2006/enero/ibe_036.htm

Most seem progressive, but a couple of them are strange: more police (?) and making Chile a bilingual country. And she's talking about English, not Portuguese or Mapuche. Not as if Spanish is some obscure language. Sheesh.

[ 16 January 2006: Message edited by: lagatta ]

From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002 | IP: Logged

ceti
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7851

posted 16 January 2006 11:24 AM

In Canadian terms, she'd be a big L-Liberal, rather than a socialist.

From: various musings before the revolution | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Vigilante
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8104

posted 20 January 2006 02:18 PM

Wonder if she'll continue the anti-terrorism law that was revived from the pinoche government and used against the likes of the Mapuches.

From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005 | IP: Logged

Rufus Polson
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3308

posted 21 January 2006 06:01 PM