Chile's 2019 October Protests and the Student Movement: Eventful Mobilization?

Abstract

A wave of massive, at times violent, protests raged in Chile from October to December of 2019, opening new possibilities for the country's politics. This paper investigates to what extent these events affected the organization, identity, and strategies of a pivotal actor in the cycle and, for the past two decades, an important driver of domestic political change: the student movement. Based on a qualitative analysis of media coverage and in-depth interviews with key student movement figures, it argues that, although the events in question were a national turning point, they did not necessarily constitute a critical juncture for the student movement. In explaining this somewhat paradoxical outcome, the paper supports the established view that the transformative impact of protest events on social movements depends on the strength of the movement's organization and the character of its protest repertoires. In addition, it also highlights that some factors overlooked by the broader social movement literature-including the eventfulness of antecedent mobilization and the locus of protest-mediate the consequences of protest events on the movements involved.

Protestando en la cuna del neoliberalismo. Factores explicativos macrosociales del movimiento estudiantil universitario chileno en la postdictadura (1990- 2019)

“…Finalmente, los últimos años se caracterizan por un proceso de protestas que, aunque protagonizadas en alta medida por estudiantes universitarios, tienen otros objetivos, siendo centrales el desarrollo de una educación no sexista en 2018 (Troncoso, Follegati y Stutzin, 2019) o la transformación del modelo político y social chileno en 2019 (Somma et al 2020). Aunque este último ciclo incorpora algunas lógicas, tácticas y temas históricos del movimiento estudiantil chileno (Villalobos 2021), es posible apreciar un importante repliegue del movimiento estudiantil como actor social, afectando su estructura orgánica, influencia e impacto en el sistema político (Somma y Donoso, 2021;Palacios-Valladares 2020).…”

A long road: Patterns and prospects for social equity, diversity, and inclusion in public administration

“…On October 4, 2019, the panel responsible for setting the fare of the Metropolitan Public Transport Network in Santiago, Chile, decided to increase the toll by 30 pesos. Upon implementation, postsecondary students moved to evade metro turnstiles and stage protests (Palacios‐Valladares, 2020). In response, the government attempted to delegitimize them by framing the demonstrations as solely violent and mobilized Carabineros [national law enforcement] to establish order (Muñoz et al, 2021, pp.…”

El movimiento estudiantil chileno: de la lucha por la educación al estallido social del 2019

“…Por otra parte, ciertamente se ha sostenido que las movilizaciones estudiantiles iniciadas el 2019 no significaron un cambio identitario significativo al interior del movimiento estudiantil chileno [87] . Empero, consideramos que estas sí dieron cuenta de algunas transformaciones que ya venían gestándose desde años anteriores, las que se consolidaron durante este proceso.…”