Lessons from Great Britain

El Mercurio, October 21, 2019

Dear Director:

The recent protests that have struck Chile require a response. However, as it is difficult to grasp the magnitude of a phenomenon still unfolding, finding an appropriate response is not easy. The then British Prime Minister, David Cameron, after facing the worst riots in decades in 2011, delivered his famous “Fight-back” speech, the words of which resonate at this moment:

“This is a great country of good people. Those thugs we saw last week do not represent us, nor do they represent our youth, and they will not drag us down.
But now that the fires have been extinguished and the smoke has cleared, the question hangs in the air: “Why? How could this happen on our streets and in our country?”
Of course, we must not oversimplify (…)
So this must be a wake-up call for our country.
The social problems that have been brewing for decades have exploded in our faces.
Now, just as last week, when people wanted criminals to be dealt with firmly on our streets, they also want to see these social problems addressed and defeated.
Our security response must align with a social response.”

Juan Pablo Toro
Executive Director AthenaLab