MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Politics in my country needs major reform” say 82% of Chilean 20 to 29 youth

The ‘apolitical’ Chilean students have taken to the streets to demand reforms

Impassioned youth across Chile have taken to the streets by the hundreds of thousands this year to demand radical education reform. Yet four months in, the students are no longer just talking about education costs and access.

They’re talking about structural, societal change. They’re challenging an economic system that has created rapid development and unprecedented inequality. And they’re taking on issues that politicians have long since shied away from for fear of upsetting a historically fragile democracy.

Among the student movement’s top demands is to incorporate everyday citizens into the political system through nationwide referendums on issues like education. Chilean youth have often been seen as apolitical, but their recent activism could shed light on the younger generation’s scepticism of the system in its current form, rather than political systems in general.

A recently released study commissioned by One Young World, an international youth summit convened last week in Zurich, Switzerland, found that the vast majority of 516 Chileans surveyed between 20 and 29 years old had strong reservations about their nation’s media and political institutions.

Though 89% expressed strong support for a free and full democracy, most youth surveyed found the nation’s current political system highly flawed. A notable 82% of respondents agreed with the statement, “Politics in my country needs major reform”.

Moreover, corruption was a common concern; 89% believed that “Methods of scrutinizing public servants, including politicians, in my country are not strong enough.”

Chilean youth also came out strongly against the concentration of media ownership in the hands of the few. As evidenced by a student sit-in at the major national newspaper La Tercera protesting what they call biased coverage, 78% agreed “Limits should be in place to ensure major media (such as TV channels and newspapers) do not become owned by only a very few number of people”.

Environmental issues have also come to the forefront among younger generations: 78% reported they were “extremely concerned about climate change,” though on a positive note more than half (64%) believed they had the power to influence their communities in the fight against climate change.

Commissioned by One Young World, the survey was conducted by market research agency YouGovStone in the last week of August 2010, well before the recent student protests took the national spotlight. Over 9,200 young people in 21 countries were surveyed.

By Alison Silveira - The Santiago Times