A Panoramic Impression of the Chilean Libertarian Movement by S. Nappalos - Miami Autonomy & Solidarity

Chile is a country with a rich history of struggle, and of deep connections to both the
domination by and solidarity from North America and Europe. Perhaps more than other Latin
American countries, Chile bears a shared neoliberal model with the imperialist countries,
and particularly the US, that have been bleeding Chile for centuries. Yet both physical
distance and the political landscape have kept the state of Chilean movements obscured
from many revolutionaries in the North. ---- The economic engine of Chile lies in its
natural resources. Fishing, Mining, and Forestry products are the core of Chile?s wealth,
suffering, and economy. With the rise of developing nations like China, India, and Brazil,
along with technological advances that drive demand, the price of copper has risen. Chile
has the world?s largest copper mines and is the largest copper producer in the world.

Nearly all of Chile?s wealth is extracted and exported under the control of foreign
multinationals. Nearly all of these resources are taken from Chile?s peripheries while the
wealth concentrates in its center. The mines of the north, and fish and forests of the
south feed Santiago?s population. The central core of Chile, organized around Santiago
largely, has over 70% of the population. This division between the peripheries extracting
the wealth and the core controlling it creates a contradiction in Chile. Santiago?s
economy is almost completely derived from services, finance, etc., all fed by the resource
extraction industries.

Chile?s history itself reflects similar divisions in the population around wealth, power,
and force. The victorious capitalist class that won Chile from the Spanish constructed a
system of power perhaps more authoritarian than in other revolutions in Latin America. A
strong central government and ?presidentialist? system plagued Chileans for centuries who
fought to create a more just order. Indeed it was perhaps these structures and tradition
that would provide additional tools for imperialist powers to dominate Chile in the 20th
century.

Contemporary struggles in Chile can?t be understood apart from the recent history of the
rise and fall of the Popular Unity government. Following periods of dictatorship and
social turmoil, the left rose to power in Chile on the back of unprecedented social
movements aimed at uprooting a rigid class system, imperialist exploitation of Chile?s
resources, and the poverty and political repression that gripped Chile for ages. The
result was the victory of the first democratically elected Marxist president, and a new
chapter in Chilean history with nationalization efforts of industries, social welfare
measures, and the beginnings of reform in an ossified class system.

Though often leftists focus on the government of Allende and the role of the radical left
in institutional Chilean politics, it?s important to be aware of a deeper movement in the
Chilean working class at the time. Alongside the official institutional left there was a
popular power built across Chilean society. While this power was often manifested in
support of the Popular Unity government, it was not confined to that role. Popular power
led to seizures of workplaces, estates, and popular expropriations. Workers
self-management became a practice and inspiration within the movements of the working
class to go beyond their leaders and move towards a more open socialism. At times this
functioned as a counterpower as well, something understood and theorized as dualistic by
the Movimiento Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR). Thus during this period we see the
convergences of official leftists in power, workers self management, and the people going
beyond their leaders in key moments of rupture. This specific history of the movements of
Chile in the 1970s continue to have resonance and impact on the left in Chile and society
in general.

Threatened both economically and politically by the possibility of a liberated Chile, the
imperialist powers (particularly the US) moved to destroy Chile?s movements. Through a
combined campaign of obliterating the economy through economic terrorism and a military
coup under the direction of Pinochet (who was appointed by Allende in hopes of loyalty to
the nation), the Chilean bourgeoisie and foreign imperialists began a campaign of
barbarity and terror. Following the successful coup of Pinochet where the democratically
elected government was overthrown and Allende died defending the presidential palace, the
military regime began to terrorize Chileans not only in Chile but literally all over the
world.

The terror came in waves and targeted different groups in different periods. Largely the
goal was to physically eliminate the left, and to demolish any opposition physical and
mentally through torture, rape, murder, and any means necessary to bring the whole country
into submission. This even included assassinations of opposition figures on foreign soil
in the United States and Europe.

The US sought to use Chile both as a laboratory and as a model for the third world in the
government?s conquest for world domination and the extension of imperialist control.
Chile?s suffering was a part of a larger imperialist project under the umbrella of
Operation Condor where the US, working with local bourgeoisie and military forces,
installed brutal dictatorships that terrorized populations across South America in the
1970s and literally sought to erase left presence through torture, murder, rape, and exile.

The Chilean economy was reconstructed on a pure neoliberal model largely by the thinkers
of the Chicago School of neoliberal economics. Its wealth was privatized and sold off to
foreign investors (with some notable exceptions like portions of the copper industry which
remained nationalized), and a system of an authoritarian state combined with social
austerity that put Chile in a unique position in Latin America. Chile received a serious
of compromises between total foreign domination, and increased capital investment. Chile?s
position in relation to its resources and standing in the world economy has created
contradictions within society. Today the right frequently cites its statistics showing the
health of the nation (largely boosted by global demand for copper more than any efforts of
neoliberal economists), with an exchange of blunting some of the most severe poverty for
widespread austerity, debt serfdom, and the elimination of the social safety net. The left
rightly critiques the contradictions between the apparent wealth of a society built on
debt and austerity, and the wealth being robbed of Chile every day by imperialism.

Though the dictatorship severely crippled the left of the time, the Chilean people were
not defeated. There was a shift between the popular movements leading up to 1973 and those
of the early 1980s. The deteriorating conditions in Pinochet?s Chile drove people into the
streets and created movements against the repression and standard of living. Popular
movements continued to challenge the dictatorship both in terms of repression and in
people?s homes, schools, and workplaces. Students, workers, and families of the
disappeared waged pitched battles against the dictatorship in the 80s, including armed
movements of the left which nearly assassinated Pinochet in 1986. While Pinochet served
imperialism for a time, the brutality and rigidity of the dictatorship eventually proved
to be more a liability than an asset for maintaining control over Chile and its wealth.
Movements were able to overturn the dictatorship and win space, however it was done under
the control and management of local and global capital. A period of transition occurred
with 20 years of rule of a coalition of opposition parties (concertacion) which left
Pinochet?s neoliberalism intact as well as much of relations of the dictatorship. This
combination of victory and defeat moved forward on the explicit basis of the exclusion of
the radical left and maintainence of the fundamental exploitive relations. The situation
helped create both the divisions which Chileans would fight around for following decades,
and the crisis of the left which found itself either recuperated or excluded and working
to reorient to shifting lines of struggle.

Today?s struggles against austerity and the brutal neoliberal model of Chile take place in
this context. Though somewhat insulated from the global crisis by the wealth of copper,
Chileans continue to experience attacks on their living conditions by the right wing and
the machinations of international capital.

Anarchism in Chile

Chile has a relatively rich history of anarchism similar to many of the countries of the
southern cone of South America. A large and militant anarchosyndicalist movement was
present in Chile since the 19th century and built some of the first unions. Chilean
anarchosyndicalists built libertarian traditions within the labor movement that continued
to have resonance even up till the 1940s or beyond. Yet ultimately anarchism entered a
dormant period after the 1920s when the Iba?ez dictatorship successfully dislodged and
attacked the anarchist movement and its bases with a few key exceptions. In the 1950s
anarchosyndicalism had a significant revival which reverberated into later eras in
influencing Chilean unionism after key strikes of that era. There were some anarchists
also active inside of the Movement for Popular Resistance during the 1970s, and some other
ex-MIR members moved onto anarchism because of their experiences in MIR. In general
however it wasn?t until the period of the 1980s-2000s that anarchism was reborn in Chile.

The first anarchist project to be reborn in Chile during this period was perhaps Hombre y
Sociedad, an anarchist communist publication with analysis of Chile?s situation that
brought together exiles and different generations of the anarchist movement. By the 1990s,
disillusionment with traditional politics and the strain of the official left with the
fall of the Soviet block contributed to a revival of sorts of anarchists. Some Chilean
youth turned to anarchism to answer the problems raised by integration of the opposition
into the Chilean state. In 1999, anarchist communists founded the Congreso Unificacion
Anarco-Comunista (CUAC) after working struggling to build a specific anarchist
organization across years. The CUAC brought together anarchist militants to develop within
the struggles of the working class and orient to social insertion. Today two national
organizations exist (Federacion Comunista Libertaria, & the Organization Comunista
Libertaria) as well as other smaller local groups such as the Corriente Accion Libertaria
of Valparaiso. Organized anarchism in Chile today carries with it the traditions of over
10 years of work within social movements, and broader connections to the struggles against
the dictatorship.
Today?s Social Struggles

In the present period Chile is witnessing five fronts of struggle across the country:
students, workers, neighborhoods, territorial battles, and indigenous struggle. All have
roots in struggles from the era of the popular front government, and in some cases even
earlier.

Chile catapulted into the news and into the consciousness of activists in 2011 because of
the student movement. Aimed at combatting debt-servitude, poor quality, and untenable
prices, the student movement organized widespread actions, strikes, and social disruptions
to achieve free quality public education for all, and in many cases a liberatory vision of
education as well. Chile?s system of education resembles in some ways the US because of
its reliance on debt, similar cost (but with Chilean wages), and a public/private divide
that has deep class implications. Chile, like Quebec, has been going through regular
cycles of student struggles around such issues. The most recent period was in 2006 under
Bachelet in the ?March of the Penguins? (named for the students? uniforms) around issues
of fees, bus passes, and the system problems with funding and regulation of education in
Chile. The struggles ended with concessions, but without resolving the larger issues. Many
of the leaders of the 2011 university struggles were militants in the high school
organizations (liceos) of 2006. At its peak, the movement of 2011 led to near urban
shutdown with hundreds of thousands in the streets, the will of the public on their side,
and solidarity strikes by workers in the strategic sectors of the economy.

Anarchists built a base in the student movements with the work of the Federaci?n
Estudiantil Libertaria (FEL) more than a decade ago. Beginning as an intermediate tendency
within the student movement, the FEL built a libertarian praxis both inside the official
student movement and in the streets. Chile has a system of political representation which
resembles elements of both governmental structures and unions. The organizations are built
on a departmental basis with their own constitutions and structure, but largely they are
all accountable to base assemblies. There are larger coordinating structures where
different political tendencies compete and engage in negotiation with administration, and
coordinating forces. FEL engages in both organizing the student struggle, and activities
around political formation, popular education, and intervention in maintaining a
libertarian revolutionary character of popular student struggles. Presently it?s a network
across the Universities and high schools of Chile, and has won several key victories in
establishing a presence for FEL and its networks. In 2012 the movement will face
challenges due to the inability to win its significant system demands in 2011. University
students are being attacked both by the state targeting any further protests through
retributory action within the school system, and by the economic burden of their loans and
loss of classes. Occupations of high schools continue however, and the movement is facing
a crucial juncture at this time. Regional elections occur in 2012, and much of the left
will mobilize to funnel the energy of the student movement into institutional politics.
With the autonomous power of the student movement, the libertarian presence of the FEL,
and the world crisis unfolding, 2012 may prove to be a pivotal year in either direction.
Today, as we speak mobilizations are already returning to the streets and demonstrating a
power that has not yet been defeated by either the crisis or the government.

The repression of Pinochet led to a weakened official workers movement. In Chile, the
official union rate hovers around 10% similar to the US. Chilean labor law combines the
worst of Europe (strikes are illegal without certain specific parameters) and the worst of
the US (widespread evasion of labor law through exclusions, independent contracting, and
the ability to replace workers who strike). More than a decade of anarchist organization
and agitation however has built a libertarian presence in key sectors of Chilean society.
Construction workers for example are excluded from collective bargaining largely in
Chilean labor law. A relatively new union, SINTEC, was built in construction with a strong
libertarian current and on a combative libertarian model. The port workers likewise have a
tradition and presence of libertarian unionism, while at the same time occupying a
strategic position within the economy as the means of exporting all of Chile?s wealth.
Depending on the region, anarchists have built maturing roots in various sectors of the
economy strategic to their position (mining, health, education, transportation, forestry,
and fisheries).

Chile is a country that is overwhelmingly urban with generally compact cities and
collective housing. The untenable costs of living (nearly US prices on a fraction of the
wages) have led to situations in neighborhoods where many families are forced into tiny
apartments, the quality and availability of basic utilities is limited, capitalist
development destroys community?s health, and basic commodity prices assault people. In
response a number of popular movements have emerged. Anarchists have been active in these
struggles which tend to center around the availability of housing, living standards, and
fighting runaway costs. This includes land occupations as well as direct action to
leverage more working class housing from the state. Rather than focusing on single issues,
libertarians pushed for a broader orientation of community-wide struggles and popular
education in order to sustain the popular character and leadership of the struggles
(rather than having people leave when their personal needs are met).

Chile?s structure of its core and periphery have created situations where vast areas are
ignored and repressed. Territorial Struggles around the conditions of living in whole
regions have exploded in key places during the past few years. In 2011, the extreme south
of Chile exploded in protests in Punta Arenas with blockades, barricades, and street
battles between forces of the government and the whole community. This year in Aysen,
another southern Chilean region, community members blockade their area for months in
bitter battles with government forces. Their demands have focused on fighting increased
cost of food, transportation, and the lack of infrastructure (educational, physical, and
social) in their region. In the mining region of Northern Chile, residents waged similar
battles around their health, water, and infrastructure. While creating all the wealth of
Chile, they live in some of the worst conditions.

Indigenous struggle in Chile is synonymous largely with the Mapuche. Though other
struggles exist in Tierra del Fuego and the northern Aymara regions, the Mapuche of
Chile?s south have a center place in the national attention because of the strength and
duration of their struggles. The Mapuche have a history not only of struggle in present
history but continuing to resist since colonization. The Mapuche continued to have an
independent nation until Chile had it?s own indigenous wars and conquered the territory,
but not the Mapuche people. Isolated by geography and a harsh climate, the Mapuche have
resisted both integration and capitalist transgressions in their lands. As neoliberalism
and imperialism drives deeper into the heart of the Mapuche?s lands, the community has
continued to resist. Widespread abuse and ethnic driven killings by the State have been
routine. Combined with solidarity movements across Chile, the Mapuche represent an
undominated force of constant resistance in Chile who carry their own libertarian
traditions and struggles.
Anarchist Interventions

Alongside presence in social struggle, the anarchist movement has a broad base of
activities both within the left and the popular neighborhoods for the development of a
libertarian praxis. Anarchists are active in community radio stations across Chile where
residents engage in popular education in tandem with the struggles of their neighborhood
on a liberatory model. The movement has a number of media projects both of organizations
and of broader libertarian networks. For example "Politica y Sociedad" (originally "Hombre
y Sociedad") is an anarchist communist journal founded in the 1980s that represents a
collaboration between various organized anarchist groups and individuals. There are
anarchist journals like Erosion. The Federaci?n Comunista Libertaria has both print and
web publications. In Santiago there?s a network of around 12 popular libraries in
particular popular neighborhoods. Insurrectionists and lifestylist elements had active
squats until largely closed down during el caso de bombas where the state targeted them
for insurrectionist bombings. Subsequently the defendants were all cleared, however the
squats have not since returned to pre-repression levels of functioning.
A Panorama

The position of the libertarian movement in Chile shows the direction a mature movement
can have when it invests in becoming rooted in popular struggles and communities. Chile
faced unique challenges due to the social disruption that the combined terrorism of the
dictatorship and neoliberalism. Building often with very little, the anarchist movement
has grown roots and stand in strategic positions today within Chilean social struggles.
There is much to be learned from these experiences, when taken with our analysis of our
time, our place, and our conjuncture. The future of both Chile and its anarchists lies
today in their fight within Chilean society, and with the fight of the international
working class against imperialism and new methods of submission in this era of crisis.


Thanks are due to Jose Antonio Guti?rrez for his input concerning Chilean history, and to
all the compa?erxs in Chile who assisted in my research, writings, and travels.

Related Link:
http://miamiautonomyandsolidarity.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/a-panoramic-impression-of-the-chilean-libertarian-movement/

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