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Paper short abstract:

Practicing the Philosophy of Violence, the Chilean Urban Insurrection began on 18/10/19. COVID 19 suspended it on 27/3/22. In public space, self-identifying “el Pueblo” violently expunged those who were not, decimated material culture, de-civilized daily life, and selfied as cultural tourism.

Paper long abstract:

Che Guevara’s cold-blooded killing machine makes concrete humans abstract for the greater good of humanity. The Proletariat is self-identified by what is negated. In the Chilean Urban Insurrection, 2019, the self-identifying “el Pueblo” (the people) violently expunged those who are not el Pueblo from public space, decimating material and urban heritage and de-civilizing daily life. Plaza Baquedano, Santiago de Chile, was unmade as epicentre and monument to this national pandemic of violence. This psychodrama began with the attack on 20 Metro stations in 6 hours on 18 October 2019. Legitimized as the right to protest, the mass hysteria spread city-wide and then up and down the country. This collective psychosis claimed 27 lives through mass looting, arson, vandalism, and assault, before being suspended by COVID 19, 27/03/2020. The national cost was 4 billion USD in material damage and 3.5 billion in lost economic growth. The authors begin before the urban insurrection, mapping cultural tourism and responding with a series of community actions. After, the riots by the self-named Primera Linea (Frontline) are photographed and draw another cultural map. The authors’ protest interventions against the violence and destruction precede and follow the violent extortion of the writing of a new Constitution, the election of Lista del Pueblo (the People’s List), and the renaming of Plaza Baquedano as Plaza de la Dignidad (Dignity Plaza). To conclude, the authors intervene to assess foreshadowed laws of President Gabriel Boric’s coalition, Apruebo Dignidad (Pro-Dignity) for new Sites of Memory, and new Rights to Protest.