With Their Fists Clenched: The Protest Potential of the Young http://www.tiwy.com/news.phtml?id=186

Changes are nevertheless brewing as a new generation is entering the stage. The so-called Revolt of the Penguins was the first indication of mass discontent in Chile. A campaign for access to education for all launched by high school students in 2006 marked an unprecedented tide of social activity of the young in the country. So far, students from wealthy Chilean families have access to world-class education, while residents of destitute neighborhoods have to suffice with an imitation of training in overcrowded municipal schools, thus getting disadvantaged for life.

Contrary to the official claims that the society in Chile is free from class conflicts, actually it is a country where social barriers are impenetrable. One sometimes gets an impression that Pinochet is still there. The Chilean constitution, slightly tailored and adjusted, essentially remains a code authored by the dictator. Chile's current elite, nominal socialists who are in fact akin to the right Christian Democrats, are perfectly happy about the situation. Truly speaking, the Chilean elites – left and right – are members of the same privileged community, and the left simply pretend to uphold populist views.