The idea of ​​freedom in a repressive government and the territorial response

Ignacio Rojas Rubio
Academic at the University of Playa Ancha. Master's in Geography from UAHC. PhD in Geography from PUC. Member of the Open Intercultural Mapuche School “Kuifike Rhakidhuam”, Valparaíso. CLACSO Working Group on Latin American Critical Geographical Thought.

The convening of the National Security Council (COSENA) and the announcement of a security agenda by Chilean President Sebastián Piñera on November 7th clearly reflect an oppressive state that perpetuates authoritarian practices to maintain the status quo of the neoliberal institutional and economic system. This action significantly alters the government's priority social agenda, announced on October 22nd, which sought a "New Social Pact" for the country.

In addition to the above, the government's pursuit of social and economic normalcy, which was disrupted on October 18th, is a central aspect of the criticism leveled by the Chilean population. This has resulted in various forms of mobilization and social protest in response to the government's intransigence in addressing the people's demands expressed in the streets, primarily centered on the idea of ​​a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the country's constitution.

The social mobilization currently underway in Chile calls into question a series of fundamental principles of any modern democratic system, especially the idea of ​​freedom. In the various announcements made by the government, it is clear that the concept of freedom is understood within a consensus of the country's oligarchic elite, geared towards self-interest and self-promotion in order to maintain a capitalist economic system. In this sense, the "New Social Pact," proposed by the Sebastián Piñera administration, will be mediated by the order established by the individualism created by the private capitalist system and the strengthening of public order and national security. It can be argued that the conception of freedom proposed and disseminated by the current government is based on the "assistance" that the people provide for the self-realization of the dominant class. Thus, to achieve the idea of ​​freedom within the system, the working class is essential as a fundamental force of the capitalist system, and therefore, the main driving force of any revolutionary process that demands the right to freedom and social justice.

To delve deeper into this analysis, we must bear in mind that the concept of freedom is contained as the initial and central concept of the current Chilean Constitution in Article 1, which declares: “People are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” a freedom guaranteed through public order, according to the words of the Minister of the Interior and Public Security, Gonzalo Blumel. While it may seem contradictory that the freedom of individuals and society is promoted through harassment, fear, and discipline, this conception is not surprising in an institutional and economic system like Chile's. This idea of ​​freedom has its roots in Hobbes's concept of negative individual self-determination, in which human freedom signifies the absence of external opposition or resistance that could impede the achievement of desired goals. In this sense, preventing a person's movement during demonstrations, which represent the collective sentiment of a society, entails the restriction of that person's individual freedoms.

The individual freedom that the government seeks to implement as a political strategy is based on imposing a daily “normality” on certain productive groups of the population, relying on the fear of job loss and the coercion to protest in the streets. This fragments society, isolating those groups that march and demonstrate, and portraying the weakening and diminishing of social protest in the images broadcast by the mainstream media. Thus, the method for achieving individual freedom will be the exercise and intensification of violence, impunity, and terror by the police and security forces, as outlined in the 10 measures announced by Sebastián Piñera in his security agenda.

Contrary to this neoliberal understanding of negative liberty, there is the social liberty claimed by the population through a spatial political praxis characterized by various forms of protest, such as marches, road blockades, territorial assemblies, occupation of public space, town hall meetings, and/or putrawün (community gatherings), which seek to problematize and expose the delegitimization of Chile's institutional, economic, and financial system. These forms of organization respond to prefigurative practices of organization and resistance that have developed in the country, for example, for over 500 years by Indigenous peoples since the European invasion, in the political praxis that emerged in the industrial belts during Salvador Allende's government, or in neighborhood community organizing through communal kitchens that arose during the Great Depression of the 30s and the civic-military dictatorship to address the basic need for food.

The reworking and reinvention of the political struggle for social justice, which various social movements have long waged in the country—such as ethnic, sexual, gender, neighborhood, and community struggles—has broken with the prioritization and hierarchy of political struggle based on demands of a distributive nature. The possibility of choosing one's destiny through freedom of choice is a rallying cry adopted, for example, by the feminist movement in relation to the body and embodiment, or the freedom of self-determination claimed by the Mapuche people. These correspond to political practices that reflect a clear common sense of freedom, which contradicts the neoliberal political practices of the dominant class.

Categorizing the popular uprising as “apolitical” ignores a set of spatial political practices that the popular movement has been carrying out, albeit in a fragmented way, through a historical praxis that allows us to understand some of the priority demands expressed in various self-organized assemblies and/or community gatherings throughout Chile. For example, the demands for a new pension system, as seen in the No More AFP movement; environmental protection, as expressed in the mobilizations in Freirina in 2012; the struggle for water in Petorca and La Ligua; and the need for free, quality public education, championed by the secondary and university student movement, have all been spatial political processes that can be considered important antecedents in the level of awareness the population has acquired, leading to a process of mobilization, protest, and popular organization with a strong political consciousness.

In this sense, the spatial dimension is central to understanding the organizational and discussion processes taking place in different parts of the country, especially with the proposals of Territorial Assemblies, Cabildos, or putrawün, which seek to gather the demands and concerns of the population at a more local and neighborhood level. This return to and reinterpretation of territory by the population must be represented in different regulatory frameworks that guide the actions of the people, where the demands and reflections that the population is expressing in different places can be heard, so as not to lose local organization and to strengthen spaces for local dialogue and discussion.

This demand calls for a normative reconstruction that allows for greater ethical breadth and cultural integration so that the people can exert influence on the social, political, and economic affairs of the entire territory. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to move towards a Constituent Assembly that allows the people to draft a new constitution where the different categories of geographic space, such as territory, environment, and landscape, are considered, taking into account the diverse worldviews that represent the people and the different ethnic groups of Chilean territory.

The need for a normative reconstruction in which the people can experience freedom through participation in social institutions characterized by mutual recognition, where the Chilean population and the Indigenous peoples inhabiting the same territory recognize each other based on normative and cultural complementarity, is a fundamental aspect of discussions about a new constitution. The recognition and legitimacy of the people's voice and practices are fundamental for establishing influence in public affairs, that is, for establishing a new form of power that enables the production of a territory. Political-spatial praxis means defending and reclaiming the freedom of peoples against a false idea of ​​oligarchic freedom that seeks to perpetuate privileges.

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