Human rights memorials in turmoil: Antagonistic memories in contemporary Chile

Abstract

This article analyzes the political geography of conflicts around memory of the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990). These have intensified since the social mobilizations that began on October 18, 2019, due mainly to attacks on monuments to the dictatorship's victims. Based on a descriptive analysis of their vandalization and an in-depth study of two particular cases, we assert that, although transitional policies permitted the installation of condemnation of human rights violations as the majority position in society, conflicts about the dictatorship's legacy persist, even 30 years after it ended. They are expressed antagonistically (Mouffe, 2013; Bull & Hansen, 2016) by sectors that do not participate in the debate about the past and, instead, undertake actions that position the victims as subjects who must be eliminated, attacking the most iconic representations of public recognition of the victims: memorials in their honor. This article argues that it is still possible to consider the development of agonistic memories within the Chilean memory landscape. It is a path of recognition of the suffering of the other that, at the same time, allows discussion and conflict between political sectors, formed around different interpretations of the past, to become part of the everyday life.