Economic, physical and psychological violence in Chile
Abstract This article proposes that the experience of Chile demonstrates that the owners of capital (national or international) have not and will not hesitate to use extreme violence to impose a model of capitalist development designed to satisfy the needs of capital: maximum profits. By examining two time periods, this article provides examples of the links between organized violence and the creation and development of physical and psychological trauma. The analysis draws connections between the violence of the Pinochet dictatorship and the contemporary repression used to enable the extraction of timber from traditional Mapuche territory. The article shows how the violence, which was key to the imposition of neoliberalism after the 1973 coup d'état, continues today. The forestry companies privatized and sold by Pinochet to the elite continue to rely on Pinochet-era state forces and repressive tactics to accumulate profits. This article concludes by pointing to the need for academic research on the trauma of today's victims of political violence.
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Format: | Digital revista |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Universidad Católica de Temuco. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.
2021
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Online Access: | http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2452-610X2021000200335 |
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Summary: | Abstract This article proposes that the experience of Chile demonstrates that the owners of capital (national or international) have not and will not hesitate to use extreme violence to impose a model of capitalist development designed to satisfy the needs of capital: maximum profits. By examining two time periods, this article provides examples of the links between organized violence and the creation and development of physical and psychological trauma. The analysis draws connections between the violence of the Pinochet dictatorship and the contemporary repression used to enable the extraction of timber from traditional Mapuche territory. The article shows how the violence, which was key to the imposition of neoliberalism after the 1973 coup d'état, continues today. The forestry companies privatized and sold by Pinochet to the elite continue to rely on Pinochet-era state forces and repressive tactics to accumulate profits. This article concludes by pointing to the need for academic research on the trauma of today's victims of political violence. |
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