KEVIN REED—The mass scrubbing of all social media content by Facebook and YouTube that mentions the name Eric Ciaramella is part of the broader censorship efforts by the technology monopolies, in collaboration with the intelligence state, and sets the stage for even more draconian attacks on freedom of expression.
ERIC ZUESSE—Pete Buttigieg is one of the candidates who proposes a public option, such as Barack Obama did but promptly abandoned it as soon as he won the election in November 2008. Obama knew that offering a public option wouldn’t be corrupt enough to suit his preferences (or his major funders), so he just dropped it stone-cold on election-day, and assigned to the conservative Max Baucus in the U.S. Senate the design of what would become Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act.
“Who said demonstrations are appeasing? Piñera seeks to shield the institutional and economic neoliberal model. He cracks down on [citizens] and keeps on legislating indoors accompanied by an ‘opposition’ which does not represent the protesting people. The request is clear: he must either call a constituent assembly or resign.” At the El Mercurio interview, the right-wing president very cautiously acknowledged that the Army and the Police had committed abuses against civilians.
Chile’s President Piñera says foreign intervention and a conspiracy are behind the recent protests. But protesters say what’s happening is an explosion of long-contained rage against poverty, inequality, and oppression.
RAINER SHEA—These events are part of a worldwide unraveling of the neoliberal order, one that’s going to leave the world dramatically reshaped. Neoliberalism is unsustainable by nature, and it’s inevitably going to continue on a path of collapse that started with the Great Recession.