Shakira: Pop star, Humanitarian, Colombiana.

Huffington Post
http://bit.ly/Hptptm

As The Huffington Post reported, Latin American pop superstar Shakira joined over 30 world leaders at the 6th annual Summit of the Americas held over the weekend in Cartagena, Colombia, to advocate for children.

On April 16, 2012, at the 6th Summit of the Americas, Shakira joined President Obama and President Santos of Colombia in order to speak on behalf of President Barack Obama's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. She spoke about the need for education and early childhood development in order to meet the needs of the 35 million children in Latin America. She spoke about the need to eradicate of poverty, and promoted a type of collaborative development in which everyone can be involved.


Here is Shakira's full speech, and here is a highlight:

In the 17 years that I have spent investing and promoting education I can state that without a doubt, investing in education has never let me down because every effort and every dollar invested yields results and they yield results in the short term, because kids grow up fast.

Shakira should be commended for her humanitarian work and certainly serves as a model for the celebrity world in terms of giving back. There is absolutely nothing negative that I can gleam from this type of work in the developing world. Her close relationship to Colombia, being a native born Colombiana, makes her the perfect candidate to speak at the summit. Her voice is quite powerful, with her superstar status, and she is an excellent role model for young girls around the world and in Latin America, as she works to ensure quality education for them. With over 30 world leaders present, Shakira certainly stood her ground. Her activism on behalf of disadvantaged children is the work of a philanthropist that extends far beyond that of most celebrities. Check out this site for more information on Shakira and the wonderful work that she is doing: http://www.shakira.com/philanthropy/


My concern and question pertains to how realistic these goals are, especially if we consider that the 2nd the principal objectives set by the Second Summit of the Americas consist of

1. Ensuring, by the year 2010, universal access to quality primary education for all children and access to quality secondary education for at least 75 percent of young people, with increasing percentages of young people who complete secondary education; and

2. Providing the general population with opportunities for life-long learning.

For more information regarding the Summit of the Americas and Education, click here.


It is hard to know what is being accomplished and where we still have to go in terms of development and education in Latin America. However, we should be careful when making promises because it is now 2012 and these objectives have still yet to be reached.

The Protests Continue in Chile

Chilean Students on Strike for Free Education
Prensa Latina
March 28, 2012
Citation: http://bit.ly/Hptptm

Santiago de Chile, Mar 28 (Prensa Latina) The Confederation of Students of Chile (CONFECH) rejected the conclusions of a government advisory panel, which rejected the establishment of free education, considering it inefficient and inequitable.

Today is Day of the Young Combatant. There are now numerous articles and news outlets that are covering the Chilean student protests. However, as the above video states, Al-Jazerra was apparently the only news outlet covering this story up until late. Prensa Latina states that it is the neoliberal (think free trade, open markets) ideology that is "inefficient" and "inequitable" to provide free education for students. The students are protesting the market system of education in their country because, as the article states the students believe education is a right, just as health, and thus structural changes must be implemented now because this current model promotes, or enhances rather, as the article puts it, concepts of individualism, selfishness and  exclusion. Students are undeterred by time, by police violence and have even resorted to hunger strikes. Please refer to this article by the Nation, which not only has another video that will raise your consciousness regarding this issue, but comments on some of the economic facts and figures that have led to the protests. Additionally, and most importantly, there was a huge protest this morning. The Santiago Times has been continuing to cover the story, and posted on March 18th, an article entitled "First march of the school year incites violence in Santiago" (see link) It is also worthwhile read, particularly because it is written in Chile by Chileans. 

Blocking streets with fires and recently displaced
street signs is common form in Chile's protests. Protests
littered Santiago all day Thursday in what was supposed
to be the first day of authorized marches in 2012.
(Photo by Jason Suder/The Santiago Times)

I am wholeheartedly impressed with the effort by Chilean student's to lower the cost of high education in their country and to ultimately reform the mentality of lawmakers and institutions. Please refer to the above video, though posted 2 months ago, it will provide you with a broader prospective of the developments and progression of this important protest against President Pinera's education law. The video raises some important questions regarding interconnectedness. The interesting thing is that normally in our blog we discuss North-South transfer. In this case, the commentators in the video discuss whether what is happening in Chile may not happen in the United States next, and this protest is an internal debate which has been brought on by globalization but requires a national solution. The Chilean students are not giving up, and that is what I admire most about their efforts. Also the fact that they are organized, they have a leader and they are mobilized in a united effort with an explicit purpose. They are not relying on outside sources, other nations that is, to rescue them -- they want change to come from within, from their own government. I say, Bravo. 

Jennifer blogged about this same story over a month ago in her post, Hidden Strife within Chile's Education System. In that post Jennifer takes a close look at the history of educational development in Chile and what factors, that is, colonialism (ex. European models of education) have led to the protests we are seeing today. Evan highlights an important mismatch regarding BBC's coverage when they call the protests "shocking". I say mismatch because, well, it does not match our thinking on this blog. As the protests continue we hope to get you updated with the developments and eventually hope that we can provide news of reform of an addendum to current Chilean legislation. 

Masked demonstrators shout slogans at riot police during
a demonstration marking "Day of the Young Combatant," in Santiago,
Thursday March 29, 2012. The Day of the Young Combatant
commemorates the killing of two young brothers by police in a 1985
protest during the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
((AP Photo/Roberto Candia))

On a day that is so significant to Chileans, and to those, like us Sigue bloggers, who genuinely care about education reform in Latin America, it is quite special to see such strong will, motivation and dedication to the cause. My comments on today's events, and on this ever-evolving story is short and sweet: SIGUE ADELANTE!