The former director of Adimark Roberto Méndez, researcher at the School of Government of the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC)commented this Thursday in Cooperative the results of the National Bicentennial Survey 2023, and focused on two points of concern in Chile: the perception of violence and transversal intolerance.
In interview with What’s left of the daythe academic warned that we are living the highest perception of “violence that threatens to destroy the institutional order” in 50 yearsabove the beginnings of the Popular Unity in 1970.
Likewise, he pointed out that there is unleashed intolerance, with people who “don’t even talk to others who think differently“, something that “not even in the worst moments of political crises have we had in Chile.”
“Young people on the left are more intolerant than old people on the left (…) On the other hand, if you go to people who identify with the right, old people on the right are more intolerantand young people on the right are less intolerant,” revealed Méndez, a public opinion expert.
- Paula Molina: Increased conflict, greater violence and low tolerance, could you give us a general look at these particular findings?
“This is a long job. We have completed 18 years of working year after year as many variables have evolved, in addition to the one you mention, on topics such as religion, family and economic expectations one can see how we Chileans have changed during this period and that so many years have passed, so many governments from the right, the left, etc. The current situation is worrying and one of the areas that is (most) worrying is this perception of violencethat there is violence in the country and that threatens to destroy or damage institutional orderl”.
“A historical question that had been asked in 1970, which is one of the few historical survey data that we have from that time, found that, in the first year of the government of Salvador Allende, of the Unidad Popular, 52% thought that in Chile there was too much violence and that this threatened the institutional order. It is true that Allende’s first year was somewhat calm, but then came what we know came (coup d’état) and that figure seemed very high. That 52% has become 73%. We measure it 2011, 2021, 2023 and it has always been rising. “So we are at levels of violence, perceived at least, that show great concern that this is a factor that threatens the institutional order.”
“Yeah, We are in a moment – the highest in 50 years – of perception of violence (very dangerous) (…) So, it is a situation that is very worrying and that is linked to other things, one that is also very worrying: intolerance, not tolerating and even wanting to cancel those who think differently“.
“We found that about 70% of people do not even want to talk to a person who thinks differently and think that people who think differently should not have access to the media, they should not give interviews, they should not be given a place in the media, they should not write a column, they should not hold public office and they should not be children’s teachers, for example. These are situations that, even when compared with data from other countries shows us a society that has become – because this has not been the case historically – more intolerant“.
- This intolerance, to be precise, people are asked about even restrictions for those who think differently than them, who should not even have space to express themselves. Is that so?
“Not even space to express yourself, That’s why it’s a cancellation-type intolerance.. Well, that’s what it’s been called, a cancellation, making the person not have the right to express themselves, to hold public office, to even be a professor, (for) someone who thinks something that I don’t like in terms of diversity. sexual or on topics of that type. It is a new situation because we had not seen it. Not even in the worst moments of the political crises that we have had in Chile has there been this idea of canceling, of dying, of not speaking (…) “It is an intolerance that is seen at both extremes, it is transversal and that ultimately leads to polarization and a very difficult attitude.”
- In other words, there is transversal intolerance, a level of violence that is one of the highest in the history of Chile…
“There are differences in this intolerance. For example, young people are more intolerant among people who identify with the left. Young people on the left are more intolerant than old people on the left (…) On the other hand, If you go to people who identify with the right, the old people on the right are more intolerant, while the young people on the right are less intolerant.. It’s very strange, it’s like trends intersect, but it’s not even. If you see it this way, right-left is similar, but it turns out that when you see it by age, it is different. Young people on the left are more intolerant, young people on the right are not, and old people on the right are more intolerant and old people on the left, on the other hand, are less intolerant. Very rare, but there is an explanation, has some logic“.
- Do you say that it has a logic within the survey questions themselves, or do you propose that it has a logic based on what you know about public opinion in Chile?
“No, about what the left is and what the right is, about how politics has evolved in recent years, all the generational issues that divide the left and the right. “I think it’s very long, but yes, one could make a theory of why these things happen.”
MIGRATION, RELIGION AND EDUCATION
- Roberto, is there any more positive data or somewhere where we are, according to what you are measuring in this latest edition of the Bicentennial Survey?
“The global situation is worrying, but if there is, for example, the migration issuewhich we have seen a lot, we have studied it, which causes great concern and great rejection to people as well, especially because of this association that the survey shows between migrants and crime, which has grown a lot in the last three years after the pandemic. “That was a phenomenon that appeared now, after the pandemic, this association of migration and crime.”
“Like what The great fear of people today is the immigrantor a crime that is associated with the immigrant: More than 90 percent of people have that association in their mind. Although -that is not published, but- More than 60 percent of Chileans say they have very frequent or daily contact with migrants, whether because of the stores you shop at, the services you receive, the delivery you receive; Anyway, and the vast majority says ‘I have not had any negative experience or conflict or fight with migrants‘”.
“So, (rejection) is a question of these harsh and very high-profile and very terrifying crimes, but it does not correspond to people’s daily experience. That’s one thing, I don’t know if it’s hopeful, but it makes us think that You have to look at this with a note of caution.when one analyzes what is happening and takes public political measures, because A generalized anti-immigration policy does not correspond to the reality of what people are experiencing“But what is obviously required is urgent control of this organized crime that has appeared so clearly after the pandemic.”
“(Definitely), there is no anti-immigrant attitude, but rather it is a fear or criticism of how the State has handled this and has allowed criminals to sneak in with the migrants.. It is not a position before all migrants and, for example, 70% think that a migrant who has his papers up to date and who complies with the law should have the same rights as Chileans. This is very important: Chile could be a welcoming country for migrants, but to the extent that the crime issue is controlledthat was a hopeful result.”
“Later, the people also, despite the fact that the institutions deteriorate, for example, the Catholic Church, which is within all these institutions, (along with) Congress or political parties, spirituality and the search for God or the transcendent remains constant in people. Belief in God or even more specific beliefs, such as in Jesus Christ, continue to be the majority in the population. So, people search and find, I have the impression, answers also in things that we could call transcendental, even if they are not formal religious institutions“.
“It is also encouraging that there continues to be enormous confidence in education, that education in the end is the mechanism that could recover mobility, growth. The universities, For example, They are still highly respected institutions. It is a good sign that there is confidence that education, defense of the truth, non-cancellation, in short, the things that universities do are values worth preserving.”
