To mark three months of a deep social crisis, which began on 18 October, more than a thousand people gathered on Friday at Plaza Italia, the epicentre of the protests in Santiago de Chile, renamed by the protesters Plaza Dignidad (Dignity Square).
Most of the photos were taken on that day, less than a week after our arrival in the country. It would have been interesting to document this movement more, but living in a capital city is expensive and we had a tight travel plan: to reach Brazil by bike in order to be able to catch our return flight from São Paulo, which was delayed for 5 months after setting foot in Chile.
As a reminder: Triggered by an increase in the metro ticket in Santiago, demonstrations will be organised in Chile from October 18th. President Piñera reacted by declaring a state of emergency and deploying the army in the streets until 28 October. This is the first time that the army has been deployed since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship and the return of democracy in 1990.
This crisis was fuelled by the population's anger at the deep socio-economic inequalities, while the country was often praised for its stability and economic results. Since then, the demonstrators have not stopped demanding Dignity and denouncing a failing state in the areas of education, health and pensions, etc., as well as protesting against police (los pacos ) abuses and gender-based violence. During the three months of the uprising, 29 people were killed, five of whom were killed after the police intervened, and more than 2,000 people were injured, 350 of whom suffered serious eye injuries. (1)
This social crisis has opened the door to a possible change in the country's constitution, which has been in force since the dictatorship. The referendum, which was supposed to be held in the spring of 2020 and was postponed to 25 October of the same year because of the covid 19 epidemic, "saw almost 79% of voters approve the drafting of a new constitutional text to replace the one adopted in 1980 under the Pinochet regime". (2) On 11 April 2021, Chileans will elect 155 representatives to write the country's new constitution.
If you wish, you can listen to a short radio programme entitled "Chile: how to rebuild a nation? ":
https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/les-enjeux-internationaux/2021-les-grands-dossiers-dune-annee-diplomatique-45-chili-comment-rebatir-une-nation
To be continued!
(1) https://fr.euronews.com/2020/01/18/la-contestation-continue-au-chili-trois-mois-apres-le-debut-du-mouvement
(2) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/élections_constituantes_chiliennes_de_2021
If you want to go further and to surely better understand the images presented here you can for example read these articles:
https://www.leparisien.fr/international/chili-manifestations-monstre-a-santiago-une-universite-incendiee-09-11-2019-8189763.php
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/01/17/le-chili-toujours-dans-l-incertitude-trois-mois-apres-le-debut-de-la-crise-sociale_6026373_3210.html
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/01/17/plaza-italia-c-ur-de-la-contestation-chilienne_6026238_3210.html
(All these links were consulted on 24 March 2021)
To mark three months of a deep social crisis, which began on 18 October, more than a thousand people gathered on Friday at Plaza Italia, the epicentre of the protests in Santiago de Chile, renamed by the protesters Plaza Dignidad (Dignity Square).
Most of the photos were taken on that day, less than a week after our arrival in the country. It would have been interesting to document this movement more, but living in a capital city is expensive and we had a tight travel plan: to reach Brazil by bike in order to be able to catch our return flight from São Paulo, which was delayed for 5 months after setting foot in Chile.
As a reminder: Triggered by an increase in the metro ticket in Santiago, demonstrations will be organised in Chile from October 18th. President Piñera reacted by declaring a state of emergency and deploying the army in the streets until 28 October. This is the first time that the army has been deployed since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship and the return of democracy in 1990.
This crisis was fuelled by the population's anger at the deep socio-economic inequalities, while the country was often praised for its stability and economic results. Since then, the demonstrators have not stopped demanding Dignity and denouncing a failing state in the areas of education, health and pensions, etc., as well as protesting against police (los pacos ) abuses and gender-based violence. During the three months of the uprising, 29 people were killed, five of whom were killed after the police intervened, and more than 2,000 people were injured, 350 of whom suffered serious eye injuries. (1)