Los Pobladores Y La Política En Los Años Ochenta: Reconstrucción De Tejido Social Y Protestas Nacionales

Abstract

In the 1980s, Chilean pobladores (shantytown residents) were one of the collective actors with greatest visibility in the social protests against the Pinochet dictatorship. Nevertheless, they did not go on to play an active role in the Chilean transition to democracy. From a historical perspective, this article seeks to problematize the relationship between pobladores and politics. First, it emphasizes the kinds of creative knowledge and skills that pobladores gained through forming associations and carrying out collective actions between 1976 and 1983 which enabled them to become relevant social actors in the National Protests between 1983 and 1986. Second, it exa- mines the relationship between pobladores and the political parties that were rebuilt in the midst of a cycle of national protests. While the various opposition parties diverged in their strategies for ending dictatorship, they all essentially recreated traditional political forms. This new situation generated convergences and tensions between parties and pobladores, particularly as the gap widened between national political proposals and the aspirations and dynamics of organized pobladores at the grassroots. Finally, it analyzes the events of 1986 that started to define the terms of a transition to democracy in which pobladores would be relegated to playing a supporting, secondary role in the re-democratization of state and society.

Keywords: Shantytown residents, Social Movements, Protest, Political Parties, Transition.