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ANARCHIST ORGANIZING in RE-DEMOCRATIZING CHILE By Confronting Authoritarian Legacies and Creating Resistance: Anarchist Organizing in Re-Democratizing Chile Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Dwenger, Maggie Tealey Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 27/09/2021 18:28:10 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621846 CONFRONTING AUTHORITARIAN LEGACIES AND CREATING RESISTANCE: ANARCHIST ORGANIZING IN RE-DEMOCRATIZING CHILE by Maggie Tealey Dwenger ____________________________ Copyright © Maggie Tealey Dwenger 2016 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2016 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR The thesis titled Confronting Authoritarian Legacies and Creating Resistance: Anarchist Organizing in Re-Democratizing Chile prepared by Maggie Dwenger has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a master’s degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Maggie Tealey Dwenger APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: August 9, 2016 Linda Green Date Associate Professor of Anthropology Acknowledgements This thesis would not be possible without the anarchists that welcomed my inquiries and took the time to speak with me during my time in Santiago and beyond. I am incredibly indebted to them for their participation, trust, and enthusiasm. This work is dedicated to them and their efforts in struggle. I would also like to thank professors David Ortiz, Jadwiga Pieper Mooney, and Linda Green, for taking the time to not only participate in my committee and support this work, but also creating informative and engaging classes that positively shaped my learning experience at the University of Arizona. A special thanks to Linda Green for helping me transform my ideas into thesis form as well as taking the time to provide insight and guidance for this work. On a more personal note, I’d like to express my gratitude to my friends and family who consistently provided support throughout this process. Specifically, I’d like to thank my parents, Jean Tealey and Graig Dwenger, for never questioning my wild ideas and decisions and always pushing me to complete my goals and my one true one, Keileigh Johnson, for giving me confidence and relentless encouragement even from afar. Finally, I would like to express deepest appreciation to my partner Joshua Dunlap for his willingness to discuss every idea with me, edit every single page of this thesis multiple times, and of course be there for me every step of the way. Without him, the completion of this project would surely not be possible. 3 Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 6 Methods………………………………………………………………….. 9 Organization ……………………………………………………………… 13 Chapter 1: History and Context of Anarchism in Chile …………………………. 15 Introduction …………………………………………………………………….... 15 Anarchists and the Workers’ Movement, 1892-1953 ………………….... 16 The Rise of the Left, 1953-1973 ……………………………………….... 25 Under Dictatorship, 1973-1988 ……………………………………….... 28 Rearticulation, 1988-1994 ……………………………………………….. 31 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………...... 33 Chapter 2: Ethnographic Observations of Anarchism in Santiago ……………...... 35 Introduction ……………………………………………………………..... 35 An Extended Annotation on Anarchism and Violence ………....... 35 Observed Anarchist Communities in Santiago …………………………... 39 Politicization ……………………………………………………………..... 41 Neoliberalism and the Education System ………………………..... 41 State and Police Violence ………………………………………..... 43 1980 Constitution ……………………………………………......... 45 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………....... 47 Chapter 3: The Anti-Terrorism Law: A Case Study in Repression …………......... 48 Introduction …………………………………………………………......... 48 The Use of the Anti-Terrorist Law against Anarchists ………………......... 48 Edgardo Hernández …………………………………………………......... 56 Luciano Pitronello ………………………………………………..…......... 58 Victor Montoya …………………………………………………............... 60 Juan Flores Riquelme, Guillermo Durán Méndez, Enrique Guzmán and Nataly Casanova Muñoz …………………………………………………............................. 61 Official Discourse ……………………………………............................... 64 Conclusion …………………………………….......................................... 68 Conclusion ……………………………………...................................................... 70 Bibliography ……………………………………................................................... 73 4 Abstract This thesis explores the resurgence of anarchism in the current context of Santiago through the use of ethnographic work. Research focuses on anarchism among university students and anarchists that did not grow up in the dictatorship, but either during or after the establishment of democracy. I argue that in conjunction with reflecting a larger trend of increased popularity of anarchism worldwide, anarchists in Santiago also are positioned to make a specific critique of authoritarianism and the continuities of state oppression between dictatorship and democracy. Interviews with anarchists from varied backgrounds and perspectives on anarchism provided an array of differing views on pertinent social and political concerns, but the common threads woven through contemporary anarchism in Santiago are formative experiences within the context of an emerging democracy that has fallen short of reinvigorating many Chileans with faith in the state. Anarchism provides a meaningful critique of the state as an institution that upholds oppression, regardless of who controls it. This provides a framework to understand the continuities anarchists view between Chilean dictatorship and Chilean democracy. Of particular note in this work is the use of the anti-terrorist law by the state to imprison anarchists. The law was passed under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet to prosecute political dissidents, and has been expanded upon after the shift to democracy in 1990. The use of the anti-terrorism law is of interest in this work both because it is a direct legal continuation of the practices of state repression from the dictatorship, and because its use against anarchists seems to have given credence to anarchist claims about the function of the state independent of what its current articulation may be. By analyzing the politicization of anarchists, their critiques of the current state of politics, and state use of the anti-terrorist law a more thorough understanding of political repression, the contradictions of democracy, and contemporary Latin American resistance movements can be attained. 5 Introduction Anarchism has a long and vibrant history in Santiago, Chile, having roots in the worker’s struggles of the early 20th century, but also extending into the 21st century in the expanded contexts of student and youth culture. After the end of a 17-year dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet in 1990, anarchism experienced a resurgence in popularity among social mobilizations and actions throughout Chile, with concentrated anarchist efforts in the capital city of Santiago. Although this is reflective of a larger international phenomenon of an increase in the popularity of anarchism and anarchist tactics in social movements at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, it also represents a unique response to Chile’s historical context of authoritarianism during dictatorship and the failures of democracy after dictatorship to fundamentally change the oppressive nature of the state. This makes Santiago an interesting case study of renewed popularity of anarchism, as an influx of individuals and groups organize spaces, unions, protests, and actions based upon tenets of decentralization, horizontality, and direct action. This thesis explores the resurgence of anarchism in the current context of Santiago through the use of ethnographic work. Research focuses on anarchism among university students and anarchists that did not grow up in the dictatorship, but either during or after the establishment of democracy. I argue that in conjunction with reflecting a larger trend of increased popularity of anarchism worldwide, anarchists in Santiago also are positioned to make a specific critique of authoritarianism and the continuities of state oppression between dictatorship and democracy. Interviews with anarchists from varied backgrounds and perspectives on anarchism provided an array of differing views on pertinent social and political concerns, but the common threads woven through contemporary anarchism in Santiago are 6 formative experiences within the context of an emerging democracy that
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