LGBTI+ people are organizing against repression under the slogan “Dissidences in action”
LGBT+ activists seek to organize against repression and torture by police and military forces amidst the social uprising.
Share
By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile
Photos: Josean Rivera
While the demonstrations in Santiago and other cities in Chile continue to intensify, and the National Institute for Human Rights (INDH) reports at least 18 deaths and 2,138 arrests—including 243 children and adolescents and 407 women — LGBT+ activists are seeking to join forces to organize against police and military repression and torture amidst the social uprising triggered by the metro fare increase, but fueled by decades of inequality.
This Wednesday, following reports of sexual abuse and torture during arrests , self-organized LGBT+ individuals gathered for the First Emergency Assembly in response to the national situation, in a space provided by the Student Federation of the University of Chile (Fech).
Shane Cienfuegos, activist and coordinator of the research area at the Neutres Collective, convened the gathering. He began organizing it yesterday via chat and audio messages, unsure whether many or few would attend, as Santiago was paralyzed from the first day of protests, when the metro was forced to close due to several burned stations. “I’ve been in the streets since all this began, and as the days went by, I realized that Chilean civil organizations were converging, raising slogans, engaging in debates, and articulating the struggle against this fascist state, but without the sexual and gender dissidents. While some comrades were out there with their banners, the reality was that there was a lot of fragmentation. That’s why I thought of organizing something, but I didn’t know how. And that’s where Organizing Trans Diversities (OTD) helped me,” Cienfuegos told Presentes.
To their surprise, more than 150 people arrived at the Assembly with the same concern and disagreement with the package of social measures that President Sebastián Piñera announced yesterday, during the fourth night of curfew in Santiago.
“Get the military off the streets”
With a political class facing one of its greatest challenges since the return of democracy, and half the country under military control since the declaration of a national state of emergency, the daily presence of the military and allegations of police abuse were recurring themes during the meeting. This is the most pressing concern.
“First and foremost, one of our demands is that the military be removed from the streets. Because in that context, the bodies of dissidents are the most vulnerable. That's why one of the goals of this meeting is to design a strategy to join the protest, but also to protect each other. We are in a state of emergency, and it's necessary to know, for example, what to do in the event of an arbitrary arrest, especially in the case of trans people who face so many difficulties with their identity cards,” Cienfuegos explained.
For Franco Fuica, president of the OTD, visibility for LGBTI people is essential in this time of social upheaval to dismantle a myth that, in his opinion, is deeply ingrained in society: “Normally, in social conflicts as large as this one, LGBTQ+ people are never present, they are not taken into account. It is also believed that these issues don't matter to us, but on the contrary, we have been able to face our own personal changes, we have achieved changes and rights for our community, such as the Gender Identity Law, and in that sense, I believe we have valuable experience to share to contribute to the discussion taking place in the country today, because ultimately, what is being demanded in Chile are social changes,” he told Presentes.
“This crisis hits close to home for trans people”
The crisis affecting large sectors of the country also directly impacts the lives of trans people, Fuica emphasized: “This isn’t being discussed, and it’s our duty to address it. We face precarious employment, discrimination, and exclusion, especially from the healthcare system. This also needs to change.”
At the assembly, the formation of several committees was agreed upon, and two slogans for upcoming street protests were unanimously chosen: “Desire and revolution, dissent in action” and “We're going for everything for everyone.” A meeting was also scheduled for this Friday, with the location to be determined. The objective will be to consolidate a petition representing diversity, which, among other points, calls for an end to police and military abuses, and respect for human rights and individual identity.
The group's overall coordination was entrusted to Cienfuegos, Fuica, and Marion Stock, representing the Lesbian Feminist Network. “It's clear that dissidents are now part of the social movement. The demands of the country and the injustices we want to change also affect us. We have been historically made invisible, and that's why our first duty is to make ourselves seen in this conflict, to organize ourselves, to fight on different fronts, and to develop a long-term set of demands,” Stock told Presentes.
"We're going for everything for everyone"
We are Present
We are committed to a type of journalism that delves deeply into the realm of the world and offers in-depth research, combined with new technologies and narrative formats. We want the protagonists, their stories, and their struggles to be present.
SUPPORT US
FOLLOW US
Related Notes
We Are Present
This and other stories don't usually make the media's attention. Together, we can make them known.