Opinion – Latinoamérica21: Chile: the mirage of a plurinational country

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The defeat of the “approval” in the plebiscite was overwhelming and unappealable: 63% of Chileans opposed the proposed text that the Constitutional Convention drafted for almost a year.

The bad work of the Convention, the arrogance of its members, mistakes and horrors of some of its members, fake news, ideology or identity politics are some of the reasons that have been presented to explain, using football jargon, the defeat of “approval”. by rout.

However, sectors of the political class, openly or clandestinely, point to the recognition of plurinationality and the alleged excessive ambition of the representatives of indigenous peoples, who managed to successfully position their demands in the text, as important factors for defeat. Continuing with the analogy, “they played like never before and lost like always”.

This becomes more relevant considering that even in areas with a high indigenous population the rejection of the proposal won. In this framework, it is worth asking what will happen to indigenous demands and representations, many of which were part of the plebiscite text.

The process was born full of illusions. For the first time in more than 200 years of republican history of domination and colonialism, indigenous peoples would enjoy their own representation. That 20th century chimera of reaching out and having their own voice in matters that concern them would become real.

However, it was an ephemeral mirage, a fleeting yearning that today hangs by a thread, practically nipped in the bud.

The Constitutional Convention had 17 indigenous constituents: seven Mapuche, two Aymaras and one Rapa Nui, Diaguita, Changos, Atacameños, Quechuas, Colla, Kawashkar and Yaganes. All elected from reserved seats.

In other words, the Chilean State, recognizing the lack of protection and inequality when it comes to achieving its own representation, granted indigenous peoples the certainty of being able to participate in the most relevant democratic instance in decades, being protagonists, contrary to what had happened until then, with a voice and own vote.

But, to be more precise, without the active struggle of the indigenous movement itself, nothing would have been possible. Seen in retrospect, this representation could appear as an opening of the political class to the demands of indigenous peoples.

However, a closer look shows that the process by which reserved seats were achieved replicated the dynamics of the way public policies related to indigenous peoples were carried out.

In other words, from top to bottom, these are indigenist policies that reappeared after the electoral defeat of the proposal.

Despite this, the 17 seats were approved and demonstrated, despite the differences or divisions that may exist between them, the ability to reach agreements both internally and externally.

They managed to position themselves on all the Convention’s commissions, although at the beginning they only wanted them in an “ad hoc” commission and they even positioned Mapuche doctor Elisa Loncon as president of the Convention for the first six months.

In this way, indigenous constituents managed to put into the text historical demands of indigenous peoples related to territory, natural resources, collective rights and, naturally, the recognition of Chile as a plurinational state. They played as a visitor and obtained a beneficial result.

This did not go unnoticed by the right. Representing a central part of the campaign against the constitutional proposal, those who opposed the text argued that indigenous people would have privileges, that the Constitution was indigenist (intentionally misusing the term) and a series of directly fallacious and racist reasonings.

Before the elections, there were those who spoke of the Chilean “Brexit”. However, it seems possible to argue that it was more similar to the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, in which the campaign against independence also rested on fallacious arguments.

Despite this, it is completely impossible to explain the magnitude of the defeat by the disinformation campaign alone.

There are multiple factors that can explain this, and the indigenous person is undoubtedly one of them, as it refers to the racism installed in an important part of Chilean society. Racialized ideology imposed by the ruling classes.

With the overwhelming triumph of rejection, the defenestration of what represents plurinationality and the indigenous has been practically transversal.

From the chauvinist and extreme right’s delight to the more sedate arguments of the traditional left, they all point to a similar conclusion: stripping indigenous peoples of power and influence in a potential new constituent body, returning all advancement to the status quo of domination. 19th century colonial and racial

The proposals being debated for another eventual constituent process reflect the previous one, either by subtracting seats for indigenous representatives or simply eliminating them, as proposed by the conservative right.

This shows that the party elites in the negotiations blame the actions of indigenous representatives for the defeat. Some even went further, demanding self-criticism and that they should apologize for what happened. Furthermore, for a possible new Constitution, plurinationality has already been ruled out.

Regardless of the brazenness of these claims, the analysis of the role of indigenous members must be done, but it needs to be constructive and real, far from the self-interested attacks that populate the media after the plebiscite.

But above all, the witch hunt in search of forced mea culpa leads nowhere, representing just another chapter in the irredeemable relationship of domination and racism.

Returning to the football analogy, apologizing for your actions is as absurd as demanding that Uruguay apologize to Brazil for winning as visitors at the Maracanã in 1950, in a minority and with an audience against them.

In the case of indigenous representatives, moreover, playing with the imposed rules.

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