Your Privileges Are Not Universal: The Eighth Newsletter (2021)
Lota el Silencio, 2007.
(Image by José Balmes (Chile))
By Vijay Prashad – @vijayprashad
Stenciled in red on the walls of Santiago, Chile is a statement of fact: ‘your privileges are not universal’ (
tus privilegios no son universales). This is a factual declaration because the privileges of power and property are not shared across the gaping class divide. Consider the fact that before the pandemic struck last year, over 3 billion people – or half the world’s population – had no access to health care. This data appears in a 2017 World Health Organisation (WHO) report that tracks important matters such as access to basic household sanitation (lacked by 2.3 billion people) and medical care for uncontrolled hypertension (suffered by 1 billion people).