Demonstrations

[Avare]

Stuart:

I hope things go as well as possible with the demonstrations.

[Soundman2020]

Thanks Andre. Me too! It's really weird: things are not like that here normally. Very strange. And very obviously well-organized! By whom? One can only guess...

- Stuart -

[Starlight]

I have been following this on the BBC news web site. It comes across as rather dangerous in the city at the moment with 16 dead so far and not much faith is being put in the President's new promises.

[Soundman2020]

I have been following this on the BBC news web site. It comes across as rather dangerous in the city at the moment with 16 dead so far and not much faith is being put in the President's new promises.

Well, that IS the BBC, so take the reporting with a grain of salt! They used to be a bastion of solid, trustworthy journalism... but today? Not so much....

Some parts of the city are places to stay away from right now... (sort of like half of Chicago in the USA, any day of the year... ), but many parts are getting back to normal, or heading that way at least. Still lots of damage to fix, though: the terrorists certainly made their mark. I had to drive across part of the city this evening, to pick up some acoustic panels, and the biggest problem I saw along the way was the normal rush-hour traffic getting in my way! An hour earlier than normal, as lots of companies are letting employees leave early, due to the disruption in the metro system, but apart from that, it was typical rush hour traffic. In fact, the President's speech was pretty well received by both sides of the political spectrum. Those on the left were saying things like: "Well, that's a good start at least. It doesn't go far enough, or deep enough, but at least it's a start." While those on the right were saying: "Good job Mr. President! More than reasonable. Just what was needed!". So I guess the truth lies somewhere in between. And now it's up to both sides to work together in Congress and actually enact the promises that they all agree are "good"! We'll see how that works out.

But what I'd be just as interested in seeing, is that the original promoters and perpetrators are found out and punished, exceedingly hard! Obviously the whole thing was orchestrated, planned, and coordinated: it would be nice to find out who that was, and put an end to it, so it can't happen again.

But this should be a lesson to other major cities around the world: be on your guard, because the same can happen to you. It's clear that it only takes a handful of well-organized anarchists to bring a big city to its knees. Scary, a bit terrifying, but true. Santiago was blindsided, unprepared, unsuspecting, but other cities should learn the lesson, and prepare to react faster and more decisively.

Of course, I'm sure the timing is just a coincidence...

- Stuart -

[Avare]

Thank you for the update.

[Purelythemusic]

Good to hear the reality from the point of view of one of Chile’s citizens! The BBC is unfortunately letting us down it seems. I don’t see why journalism can be so difficult to get closer to true representation of a situation. It’s forever frustrating to see half finished reporting and sometimes biased attitudes... I suppose to an extent that is human!

Glad to hear it seems to be calming!

[John Steel]

Glad to hear all is well with you Stuart! Don't get me started about the BBC - I may never stop! I worked for the corporation for 25 years and saw it change from the inside. It used to be able to resist political interference fairly well but in the wake of the Andrew Gilligan affair (a BBC journalist who pointed out that the Government had lied in order to enhance the case for going to war in Iraq) it pains me to say I take a very sceptical view of the editorial line.

[Avare]

There has been little in the Canadian news for several days. I hope things are improving.

[Soundman2020]

There has been little in the Canadian news for several days. I hope things are improving.

Thanks for think of us at the other end of the world, Andre!

Probably the reason why it is not reported in the press any more, is because it isn't spectacular any more! It has improved, but it's still far from back to normal. There's still protests on a daily basis, and the anarchists are still out there, trying hard to trash the country. But most people are getting fed up with things, and just want their lives back again. Many neighborhoods now have organized groups of residents protecting the area from infiltration, and some have beaten the c**** out of the bad guys, intent on violence. The cops and military are a lot wiser too, and seem to have better intelligence.

I don't have a beef with people protesting peacefully, all they want, as long as there's no violence, and it doesn't affect daily life too much. Most people seem to feel the same way. But the majority of just tired of being unable to do the things the want, and the protests are getting smaller and smaller. The government also decided to listen, and has put the wheels in motion to fix many of the issues that people were most upset about. There's going to be a plebiscite on constitutional amendments in a few months, that will be needed to deal with some of those. So, since the legitimate reasons for the protests are now being handled, most people just want to go home and get back to their lives. Most of the ones still out there are the hard-core protesters that won't be satisfied with anything, no matter how much you give them... and the anarchists. Hopefully the cops can deal with the anarchists, and the hard-core protestors will be free to shout as loud as they want without incident.

So, yeah, it's calming down a bit, the subway stations are being repaired, the torched stores are being rebuilt, and things are slowly getting better... but it's still a way off from being "normal".


- Stuart -

[Avare]

Thank you for the update.

With the internet we are only electrons away.