Rebeldía en Calama: desafío al orden centralista chileno en un contexto de boom minero

Abstract

Protests in the mining city of Calama in 2011 represent a milestone in the history of Chilean territorial protest mobilizations. Considering their claims, namely, 5 percent of copper generated profits –the recovery of regional royalties gained in 1955 and 1973 and later revoked by the military dictatorship–, and the nationalization of resources, the Calama's social movement differs from other local and regional collective actions related to contentious representation and nimby (not in my backyard) phenomena. All of these actions were motivated by specific economic reasons, against environmental negative externalities or based on a State-claiming approach (peticionismo). This article is a case study of the Calama movement revolving around three issues: the presence of an individualistic leadership; the existence of two historical identities –the mining and the “ata-cameña” identities–; and the development of inclusion and solidarity mechanisms.