Chilean Research - Research Committee

<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=Revision:%20Clippings/Chilean Research%20-%2020260302210413" style="border:1px solid #555; padding:4px 12px; border-radius:4px; color:#a89ee8; text-decoration:none; font-size:0.9em; background-color:#2a2a2a;">📩 Submit a Revision/Addition</a> ## Chilean Research On October 18th, 2019 in the subway stations of Chile, a group of high school students started a revolution. Some have described it as the day “Chile Desperto!”, or “Chile woke up.” (Montoneras, Kolektiva & Fábrika, “Comuna De Cumming.” Beyond Molotovs).That day a small group of teens ran through the streets of _Valparaíso_ and screamed for a general strike. It was the beginning of what would be called, The Social Outbreak. The original and main slogan was simple, _evade,_ meaning refuse to pay the higher fare. Protesters jumped over the turnpikes, and forced the subway station gates open (Thurman, Erik. “Not 30 Pesos 30 years!” _Beyond Molotovs_). As more people joined, the chants changed, beginning with a murmur. _“No one and nothing is forgotten”._ That murmur then evolved to a chant, “It’s not 30 pesos, it’s 30 years.” In 1973, the CIA helped a commander in Chief overthrow a democratically elected government. From 1973 to 1990, Augusto Pinochet oppressed the people of Chile in a brutal, oftentimes unimaginable regime. The abuses I’ll mention, that his men tossed people from helicopters, had people beaten to death, _burnt to death_ and even followed those who were exiled or fled, to their new countries. At Villa Grimaldi, a torture site, victims’ legs were broken before they were ran over by trucks. The abuses too disturbing to specify are listed in paragraph 3, in the [“Human Rights Violations”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet#Human_rights_violations "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet#Human_rights_violations") section of his Wikipedia page. In 1988, Chile began it’s transition to a liberal democracy, but much of Pinochet’s regime still lived on. In 2019, it was the Pinera government, but Pinochet’s constitution was still in use, and his economies policies had been _expanded._ They were used to gut pensions and weaken labor unions. Many families complicit with Pinochet’s regime maintained their power, a member of one of them was the current police chief [(Abufom Pablo, Jacobin)](https://jacobin.com/2019/10/chile-protests-pinera-repression "https://jacobin.com/2019/10/chile-protests-pinera-repression"). Suffice to say, this movement had been building before it’s proper founders were born. The police tried to thwart the protesters, but were overwhelmed by their numbers (Thurman, Erik. “Not 30 Pesos 30 years!” _Beyond Molotovs_). Subsequently, for the first time since Pinochets regime ended, the military was in the streets. And soon, Chile was under martial law. Still, the protests then grew, both in number and in methods. In Comuna de Cumming, Protesters blocked roads with giant t-shirts they shared among them (Montoneras, Kolektiva & Fábrika. “Comuna De Cumming.” _Beyond Molotovs_). The Peña Folclórica El Canario terrace, a neighborhood communal shelter, distributed slogans and short messages. These were mass produced with cyclostyles and mimeographs, then subsequently spread via bike (Montoneras, Kolektiva & Fábrika. “Comuna De Cumming.” _Beyond Molotovs_). _On the front lines, activists chanted “El estado opresor es un macho violador” (The oppressor state is a macho rapist)_ (Montoneras, Kolektiva & Fábrika. “Comuna De Cumming.” _Beyond Molotovs_). Violence against protesters also grew, they were shot at by the military and right wing vigilantes. The military often intentionally blinded and disfigured demonstrators, weaponized sexual violence, and sometimes disappeared participants (Thurman, Erik. “Not 30 Pesos 30 years!” _Beyond Molotovs_). “The police have regularly failed to distinguish between people demonstrating peacefully and violent protesters”, the report said.” ([“UN human rights report cites ‘multiple root causes’ of deadly Chile protests.”](https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/12/1053491 "https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/12/1053491") ). “Moreover, it documented 113 specific cases of torture and ill-treatment, and 24 cases of sexual violence against women, men and adolescent girls and boys, perpetrated by members of the police and army, while noting that the National Human Rights Institution had filed criminal complaints relating to hundreds of other such cases” ([“UN human rights report cites ‘multiple root causes’ of deadly Chile protests.”](https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/12/1053491 "https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/12/1053491"). Victims of the military’s torture and sexual violence turned their pain into a demand for accountability. They put on performances where they revealed the crimes committed against them and exposed the brutality of the state (Thurman, Erik. “Not 30 Pesos 30 years!” _Beyond Molotovs_). The performances were short, only 10 to 15 minutes long, but impactful. _“It is femicide, immunity for my killer. It is the disappearance, the rape and the fault of it wasn’t mine. Not where I went, nor how I was dressed.”_ A feminist collective called Las Tesis started adapting critical feminist theory into performances. One of them would later become a national anthem, Un Violador en tu Camino, A Rapist in your Street.Two weeks later, millions of Chileans would go onto march to the Plaza Dignidad. Many of those that fought the regime later would continue to be essential figures after it’s fall. “Tia Pikachu” a Preschool teacher attended the protests as a dancing pikachu, would be among those that drafted the new constitution of Chile (Thurman, Erik. Chapter: “Not 30 Pesos 30 years!” _Beyond Molotovs_). Chile has only had it’s democracy for 30 years,and yet it’s had to fight the creeping return of fascism. In 2021, Antonio Kast was leading in the Chilean elections. He is a fan of Pinochet’s, and the descendant of Nazis that fled to Chile to avoid persecution. Fascism is a ghost that wants to return, and their fight is constant. I picked Chile because hearing from Europeans and Canadians with less violent authorities tell us about protests had became tiring. Yes, there are European countries with brutal rulers, but France is not of them and neither is Canada. The Chilean government’s brutality is closer to the force that the American government has historically deployed and may be willing to inflict on it’s populace. Additionally, our country was complicit in the horrors inflicted on the Chilean people, and not just in the distant past. In 1998, the ICC arrested Pinochet in London, originally he was to be extradited to Spain for prosecution. However President George HW Bush and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher campaigned against it. “Thatcher sent Pinochet a bottle of single malt whisky during this time, with a note saying "Scotch is one British institution that will never let you down" ([Thatcher pleads Pinochet’s case](https://web.archive.org/web/20091120153142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/467114.stm "https://web.archive.org/web/20091120153142/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/467114.stm")) Bush said the case against the former dictator was a "travesty of justice" and added: "General Pinochet should be returned to Chile as soon as possible." ([“Former U.S. President Bush urges Pinochet release.”](https://web.archive.org/web/20051229232020/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/chile/bush.htm "https://web.archive.org/web/20051229232020/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/chile/bush.htm")) Together, they successfully fought against his extradition to Spain for prosecution. Instead he was sentenced to house arrest, where he died. Let’s be clear.Pinochet’s government killed American citizens, and our government helped him do it. Pinochet’s regime has implications past Chile, it is a reflection of what the American government is capable of. _“The rapist was you. The rapist is you. The judges, the state, the president.”_