“The rapist is you”: lesbians and dissidents reinterpret feminist anthem in Santiago

Lesbians and dissidents reworked the feminist anthem and emphasized the violence promoted by cisheteropatriarchy.

December 21, 2019

By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile

At least 40 lesbians and other LGBTQ+ women took to the streets of Santiago yesterday to replicate the performance by the feminist collective Las Tesis. The performance was created by four Chilean women living in Valparaíso, with the intention of contributing to the feminist movement's ongoing protests that began in October. Yesterday, some verses were modified by the feminist movement to emphasize the harm that heteropatriarchy inflicts on lesbians and trans people.

Like a feminist anthem joined by thousands of voices, the political action has gone around the world pointing to the patriarchy, the government, judges and police as the main culprits of violence against women.

"Sleep peacefully, being a dissident"

They first gathered in Santiago's Plaza de Armas, in front of the Metropolitan Cathedral. From there they marched to the Palace of Justice, then to La Moneda Palace, and finally to Plaza Italia, now renamed "Plaza de la Dignidad" (Plaza of Dignity) by the protesters. At each location, they sang "Un violador en tu camino" (A Rapist in Your Path), written by Lastesis, but with some modifications to the original lyrics, to denounce heteropatriarchy and cispatriarchy as promoters of lesbophobia and transphobia.

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One of the verses of this song is an excerpt from the anthem of the Chilean Carabineros. But yesterday they sang it differently: “ Sleep peacefully, dissident, without worrying about the straight fascist, for your sweet and smiling dream is watched over by your Jalabinero lover ,” they shouted.

In addition to chanting loudly “the rapist is you” and “the oppressive state is a rapist,” the women raised their voices with other slogans: “Burn, burn, we want to see the rapist cops burn,” “Hetero friend, if you’re confused, become a lesbian and leave that jerk.” They also demanded justice for hate crimes like that of Nicole Saavedra Bahamondes, murdered at 23.

A political act against discrimination

The call to action spread through social media a few days prior. Claudia Amigo and Franchesca Carrasco led the activity at all points. “For us, this action is much more than just an artistic performance. It is a political act to show ourselves to society and for those who pass by us to realize that transphobia, lesbophobia, and violent and sexual discrimination do exist, not only at the hands of the Carabineros (Chilean police), but also in our homes, in our workplaces, in our lives, and in our daily routines ,” said Claudia, a lesbian activist for parental rights for diverse families.

Franchesca is a trans activist and member of the Neutres collective. For her, the most important aspect of the event was to draw the attention of the authorities: “We cannot and never have been able to walk peacefully through the streets of this country ,” she asserted. And although she acknowledges that it has been difficult to organize the diverse community to take to the streets en masse to protest for justice and against inequality, as millions of Chileans have done in the last two months, she hopes that many more will join future Lastesis LGBTI actions. The next one will be on Monday, December 23, in front of the San Francisco Church.

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