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In the next few days, a ratifying plebiscite will be held for the merger of the Social Convergence and Democratic Revolution parties, which will take place on March 9 and 10 online and which can be seen as a fundamental step for a left-wing political sector in Chile. that needs to restore hope to a country, since after the failure of the constituent process, unity becomes an obligation.
I put it in those terms, as we find ourselves in a historical moment in the country and in the world, of crisis of legitimacy of politics, taken advantage of by far-right sectors that are in a true war and crusade against those of us who believe in a more just world, that redistributes power in different areas, that makes it possible to democratize democracy and build much more sustainable ways of living.
Hence, the union of Social Convergence and Democratic Revolution not only responds to a common history and vision of the country, which began with the student mobilizations of 2011 and the creation of the Frente Amplio in 2017, but also as a response to a political context of institutional crisis and citizen unrest, which needs a force that disputes the meanings and horizons of the country in an articulated manner.
Those who question the process of fusion of the single party may say that everything has been very fast, hasty and that there has been a lack of more instances of dialogue and ideological discussion, which may be true, but in politics and in life one does not choose the conditions. that they touch on, so to look for another time or one that meets all our requirements as militants, is to see the issue from our own personal navels.
It could also be said that the principles presented in the new statutes of the single party are not sufficiently developed and that they lack a step down in many ways, but we must see it as a floor, which should lead us to build from the bases a new political project that connects with the needs of Chileans, and that gives a different alternative to the country.
As for the principles themselves, it seems to me to be a good start for this new force, such as being a democratic, socialist, feminist, environmentalist, popular, decentralized, diverse, patriotic, Latin American, internationalist party that advocates for peace. , which proclaims freedom, which promotes probity and transparency, as well as being founded on hope.
But what I liked most about the principles of the new statutes was rescuing the thought, action, legacy and historical memory of great people from Chile such as Francisco Bilbao, Teresa Flores, Luis Emilio Recabarren, Elena Caffarena, Eugenio González, Olga Poblete, Clotario Blest, Julieta Kirkwood, Salvador Allende and so many people who have fought against the dictatorship and always for democracy.
It seems to me that from there, new discussions can be opened that allow us to collect the historical experience of all of them and the present, in order to think about the economic model that we would like to promote in Chile, given the persistence of a neoliberal and extractivist system, which cannot be sustains neither socially nor environmentally in the country, given the prevailing climate crisis, evidenced by the recent fires in the Valparaíso Region.
Given this, we must see this possibility of merging parties as an opportunity to build a left that does not fall into the vices of many corrupt, authoritarian and totalitarian lefts in the world, as has happened in some countries in the region, but also the vices of other lefts that have ended up being mere administrators of the neoliberal model, being incapable of installing anything, or very little, in the best of cases.
But the most urgent thing is to stop the so-called cultural battle that the extreme right or libertarian fascism is waging in the world and in Chile in particular, where its best-known spokespersons explicitly propose a battle against evil, satanism, darkness and degeneration. , which would be all those of us who identify with the left and believe in a more just world.
Consequently, in the face of such fanatical and chilling speeches of this type, full of hatred and contempt for what is different, from a supposed purity and absolute truth, we have to be organized and prepared and never underestimate them, since what happened in Argentina with Javier Milei , in Brazil with Jair Bolsonaro or in the United States with Donald Trump, should mobilize us more than ever as militants.
Approving the single party of the Frente Amplio not only responds to a responsibility in the current context in my opinion, but also to a need for survival, in the face of groups that are in a declared war against different views, that only seek to provide answers to a plurality of voices. and experiences, historically denied.
