No Logo

Chile is all atwitter, or at least Twitter is all atwitter, about the announcement this afternoon of the Government of Chile's new logo.

In keeping with the new corporate culture, here is a promotional video:



Apparently this piece of graphic art cost the Chilean taxpayer -- the same Chilean taxpayer whose taxes were raised earlier this year because we all had to tighten our belts in the wake of one of the worst earthquakes in recorded history -- some $20.000.

I am clearly in the wrong line of work.
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E-media in Chil-E

Even while it was in power, the Concertación knew that the media, and especially the print media, was ideologically opposed to it. Its strategy, which was particularly successful during the Lagos government, was to woo the media, try to reach a kind of détente, instead of searching for ways of encouraging friendly capital to start up new products and sources.

The massification of e-media has made this task easier, and since the changeover of power in March, two new online sources have joined the already existing El Mostrador and the more investigative CIPER -- El Post, and today, El Dínamo, in which I have published this column.

For now, these online sources of news, information and opinion tend to be read and commented by the commenting classes. Most Chileans get their information from TV, radio, and glancing at the headlines in kiosks. Although newspapers are cheap in Chile, it is common to see groups of people in the morning huddling around news kiosks reading the front pages of various newspapers.

It remains to be seen, then, how the increasing, but so for electronic, diversity of news sources affects Chilean politics. We know that people tend to read things they want to read, both in terms of interests and ideology.

But at least it will be increasingly difficult for anyone to claim the information was not available.
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Beatle hair

OK. So this (via flowingdata.com) is not exactly political science. But it's history, and pretty brilliant.
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The Holy Grail of politics

There are certain parallels between the recent Congressional elections in the United States and what is happening in Chile. In fact, since I wrote this piece last week (but published today), the UDI had a weekend retreat where the division between the (at least) two souls of the governing coalition were laid bare. Rodrigo Hinzpeter's suggestion that Piñera and his government are building a new, modern, less ideological right, was rejected by the UDI, who, it is to be supposed, don't wish to appear new, or modern, or less ideological.

As such, the search for the political centre remains, for now, an impossible dream, or as I put it in the piece, a Holy Grail.
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Trying again

I'm back. Taking advantage of a rainy November Sunday in Santiago, to try to regain the blogular momentum. There is no excuse for my prolonged absence, besides this interesting piece on how blogs are slowly being eroded by Twitter and Facebook. It is certainly what I have found. Twitter is faster, easier, and more accessible. It allows one to upload links, as I do on the blog. Pictures too.

What it does not do is allow for much analysis, except in short, hopefully witty, clips. So, here's to trying again with the blog.

Which is sooooo 2008.
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Trapped!

For almost two weeks the Chileans have been glued to their TV sets as 33 miners have been trapped almost one kilometer below the surface of the earth. Today, at about 3 pm, probes managed to reach them, and the miners managed to send a note saying they were all alive and well. It may take many weeks to get them out, but it will be possible to send food and other supplies down in the meantime.

While the miners remain trapped but in touch, the Concertación remains trapped and out of touch. The rescue effort is a big red cherry on top of Piñera's Sunday, and special kudos must go out to Mining Minister Golborne, who has worked around the clock on the rescue effort. The success will contrast favourably with the Concertación's post-earthquake efforts, and will undoubtedly raise Golbourne's ratings, possibly making him a presidential front-runner for the 2013 elections (in which case, Joaquín Lavín must be the only person in Chile not cheering today).

All Concertación leaders can do is stand by and claim they are relieved and happy for the families, but in reality, it's a political disaster for them. The only silver lining is that it has happened now, and not three years from now. Lots of things can still go wrong -- and if Piñera's track record is anything to go by, lots of things will go wrong. But in the meantime, people are honking their horns, the government did a great job, and will milk it for all it's worth. The race is now on to get the miners out before the bicentenary celebrations.

For all intents and purposes, however, the celebration started today.
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Tolerance

My column in El Mostrador (or ElMo, as the Tuiteros call it) has caused quite a stir.

For some time now, I have suspected that Chile could be much more competitive if it was more open-minded. Patricio Navia and Eduardo Engel wrote a book along the same lines, calling for a level playing field. Since then, studies have come out in North America, most notably those of Richard Florida, that claim that open-minded societies are more creative, more open to new ideas, and therefore more prosperous. I am convinced that the only way that Chile will change is if the business class understand that being less conservative is good for business. There is nothing wrong with rational choice, as long as it's rational.

But lately, Chile seems to be going in the opposite direction. But what's worse, is that the current crew, even the most affable and gentle amongst them (like my friend José Miguel, who tweeted this only a few minutes ago) don't seem to get it.

But then, it is so hard to find good help these days.
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