The Chilean awakening in the global decade of social movements

Abstract

This article analyzes the Chilean Awakening in light of this global wave of social movements and citizen revolts that emerged since 2010 in all regions of the world. Based on interviews, direct observations and analysis during the Chilean outbreak and a series of international mobilizations throughout the decade, the author points to eight characteristics shared by these international mobilizations that contribute to an analysis of the Chilean movement and its impacts: the scales and spaces of action; the form of reticular and adhocratic organization; the demands formulated in terms of dignity, social justice and democratization; the subjective dimension of these movements; the expressive and artistic dimensions; the spaces of encounters and experience; the intersectional dimensions and the evolution of the relationship to institutional politics. The last section invites us to make the link between social movements, institutional politics and social change more complex. Without denying the importance of political processes, reducing social movements to their impact on institutional politics is an analytical bias that prevents us from understanding some fundamental dimensions of these actors and the most crucial part of the change they drive.

s that prevents us from understanding some fundamental dimensions of these actors and the most crucial part of the change they drive.