Throughout the world, the middle-class has a problem. From this perspective, the Chilean Spring is not so different from the Arab Spring.

Camila Vallejo Dowling was born in 1988. She is a member of the Chilean Communist Youth Organization and the second female president of the 105-year-old Student Federation of the University of Chile. Chilean secondary and tertiary students have been in the streets since June. Camilla is leading them. The Chilean education system was privatized with Pinochet's coup. The youth ask for a reversal. This makes one think of the old adage that history repeats itself. Prof. İsmail Türk said this years ago; but I did not think that this argument would prove correct this soon. Globalization has accelerates history. Let me tell you why history is repeating itself.

It was years ago, the mid-1990s, I guess. Back then, I was working on a social security project. Prof. Türk told me, "Since you are working on social security, focus not only on the recent period, but also study the previous modus operandi of the system." He added, "Before World War I, social security and education systems all over the world were private. This did not work and the system went bankrupt. Public sector-dominated systems did not appear automatically after World War II." The remarks of Prof. Türk rang in my mind while I was reading about the Chilean Winter and Camila Vallejo.

Privatization was the most popular subject of the 1980s. Numerous books and articles on privatization were published. I went through how many ink cartridges to print them. And look at the point at which we have arrived. The sentence "the Chilean education system was privatized with Pinochet's coup" does not imply that all public universities were closed down. They stayed, but their funds were cut. A dual-structure appeared in the education sector. On the one hand were elite schools for which you had to pay. On the other hand were ordinary schools that you do not have to pay for but which awarded ordinary diplomas. There is tuition for poor students, too. In fact, the Chilean government cut the interest rate on tuition from 6 to 4 percent after the protests. But the protests did not end. Everyone is asking for better education. They believe that it is possible to make an equal start and ask for it. They do not care whether or not this is possible. They just want it. You might say, "This is impossible." They will respond, "Be realistic, demand the impossible!" This happened in 1968. It will happen again. Take a look at the lootings that ravaged London. Take a look at the arson attacks on luxury cars in Germany. The same thing is happening everywhere.

Today, let me derive three conclusions from what I see: First, it appears that the privatization-marketization process initiated in the 1980s by Reagan and Thatcher is about to end. That process increased the share the richest got from the cake. In the 1970s, the richest 1 percent in the US had 9 percent of the total national income. By 2007, their share reached 23.5 percent. What does this mean? It means that the middle-class is shrinking and getting poorer. I touched upon this process on February 8 with reference to an IMF study, arguing that "One eats, the other watches: without fail, eventually a crisis erupts." Please take a look at that commentary.

Second, all over the world, the middle-class has a problem. From this perspective, the Chilean Spring is not so different from the Arab Spring. The nature of the problem changes depending on the geography; but the middle-class mobilization is common everywhere because, we are living in an era in which one can watch closely what the other one is eating. The middle-class which has lost its position can closely monitor the capability set they can attain. They see what good education can bring. They demand it, in Cairo, Santiago, Damascus and Diyarbakır. We have left behind the "he who sleeps on a full stomach while his neighbor is hungry" issue. They are not neighbors, anyway. But "they" also demand those houses, clothes and capabilities the others enjoy. This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.

Third, if history repeats itself, what shall we expect? Looking at American history, such is the story: between 1870 and 1929, wealth accumulated in the hands of a few. Between 1947 and 1975, wealth was shared. Between 1980 and 2010, wealth re-accumulated in the hands of a few. Then, are we at the part of a process where wealth will be shared again? I believe so.

The Chilean Winter is not so different from the Arab Spring. It is a component of the global middle-class mobility. The middle-class is aware of what is going on, and it demands its share.

This commentary was published in Radikal on 30.08.2011