Hasta que valga la pena vivir / Until life is worth living

Gender, political violence, the new constituent process and the role of women during the biggest rebellion against the neo-liberal system in Chile

On October 2019 in Chile started the biggest popular rebellion against the neo-liberal system in LatinAmerica and one of the deepest processes of social change thanks to a constant struggle starting from a simple protest up to change the highest roles of the state and the change of the Constitution. A struggle that is followed despite the hard repression suffered, died people, wounded and imprisoned. Under the pretext of protesting against the increase in the metro ticket fares instigated by the government of Sebastian Piñera, a struggle waged by the Chilean people against a system which, in fact, is one of the most unequal of the entire continent, where 1% of the population controls 33% of national wealth. After one year of intense clashes finally, on October,26,2020, with an historical referendum, the country voted to change the constitution of the Pinochet era.
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Different women have played a fundamental role in this social change process: On May,2021 the elections for the constituent have marked a landslide victory for those who are struggling to change the system. Iraci Hassler, a woman mayor was elected in Santiago and Elisa Loncòn, a Mapuche woman, was elected as president of the constituent assembly, marking an epochal change in the history of this country. At the Presidential elections ballot of Dec 19,2021 there was a historic district record of voters and Gabriel Boric, 35 years old leader of the left coalition ‘Apruebo Dignidad’ was elected as younger president in the history of the country and was the candidate who received more votes ever. Boric became known in the country in 2011 as a student leader in protests against private education and was elected deputy for two mandates. He won with 55% of preferences by beating the leader of the extreme right José Antonio Kast.
Once again, Different women have played a fundamental role in the new president campaign. Among these a fundamental role he had his doctor Izkia Siches, who, after the victory of Kast in the first electoral round, resigned as President of the ‘Colegio Médico de Chile’, the Association of Country Surgers, which played a central role during the pandemic, to become the manager of the Boric campaign. Just elected president, Boric's first statement was "My commitment as president will take care of democracy”.

Since the beginning of the protest, more than 5000 Chileans have been injured, 35 have died and 460 have suffered eye injuries that have caused loss of vision due to shots fired on the face of the police. These are the official data which in reality should be much more serious. Continued human rights violations, abuse and rapes by the police have been reported. The women’s movement is playing a fundamental role in the protest because women have been the main victims of these abuses. According to statistics, at least 291 cases of sexual violence have been reported in five months of protests, 512 for torture and 1446 for excessive use of strength during detention.

In Chile according to statistics released by the Chilean network against gender violence, the numbers of femicides are constantly worsening.
In 2018 in the country a woman was killed every 74 hours. In 2019 only 29% of cases of domestic violence went to trial but in the first months of 2020 the situation became dramatic: A women is currently killed every 21 hours.