Crisis of Wellbeing and Popular Uprising: The Logic of Care as a Path to Social Emancipation in Chile

Abstract

On 3 March, the Health Ministry publicly acknowledged the first case of coronavirus in Chile. By that point, it had been almost five months since the beginning of one of the largest social revolts in the country’s history. This extensive popular uprising has been characterised by the eruption of multiple national protests, and by the appearance and strengthening of diverse, non-traditional political organisations. And while it was sparked by a small increase in subway fares, it has highlighted the build-up of discontent generated by the structures of a deeply unequal society. It is against this backdrop that the COVID-19 pandemic arrives in Chile, a country that, for almost 50 years, has implemented far-reaching neoliberal structural adjustments in an uninterrupted fashion, initially imposed in 1975 by the civil-military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and deepened by the subsequent democratic governments. The objective of this text is to elaborate a general reflection on the present crisis from within a genealogical framework, one that will foster an analysis of certain elements of the post-dictatorship moment as key to comprehending the present.