Racism in Chile

Racism in Chile encompasses any type of racial or ethnic discrimination by a group of inhabitants or organizations of that country towards groups from other nations or from it. Its origins go back, as in other Latin American countries, to the colonialism of the 16th century, specifically during the formation of the Spanish Empire and the processes of extermination,[1] slavery or miscegenation of the natives of the area.[1]

Types of racism in Chile

Racism against indigenous peoples

With a significant racist mentality, the conquest of the territories of Bolivia and Peru in the 19th century was justified.[2] Chileans saw themselves as representatives of the superior white race, conquering the lower race.[2]

Between the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, what was called the Selk'nam genocide took place, where European, Argentine and Chilean settlers exterminated the Selk'nam or Ona people, an Amerindian people who inhabited the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, in the extreme south of the country. This genocide had both economic and racist reasons in between.[3]

This attitude was maintained in the Pinochet-led dictatorship, which remained in power until 1990, an example of that is that the Chilean admiral José Toribio Merino described the Bolivians as "metamorphic representatives of the camel".[2]

Despite the significant dismissal of the local population,[4] Chileans still have widespread neglect of the indigenous population,[5][6] particularly the Mapuche, who have been distinguished by considerable opposition.[7]

Racism against black people

Due to the early ban of slavery after Chile's independence and the previous few black slaves during the Spanish rule, Chile had almost no black population.[8] Since the end of the military dictatorship, the first immigrants arrived, but few where from African ancestry, being most of them from neighbour countries like Peru. In 2014, for the first time a bigger group of black migrants arrived in Chile and created a diaspora [9] mainly from Haiti.[10] Neo-Nazi movements chasing black people in the country were recorded in the 90's and early 00's, but they targeted mainly LGBT, homeless and punks due to the lack of black people at the time.[11]

Anti-semitism

The first case of large-scale incitement of anti-Semitic hysteria in Chile was the idea of the "Andinia Plan" formed in the 19th century in parallel with the beginning of the migration of Jews from the Russian Empire to the American continents: fears arose between the Chilean population about the desire of the Jews to steal the lands of Patagonia to form their own state in them.[12]

According to the Anti-Defamation League, cases of desecration of Jewish cemeteries and insults, or the call for retaliation against Jews, graffiti in synagogues are widespread in Chile.[12]

References

1. Roitman Rosenmann, Marcos (January 19, 2013). "El racismo en América Latina y el pueblo mapuche en Chile". www.jornada.unam.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved June 7, 2020.
2. Ericka Beckman. "Imperial Impersonations: Chilean Racism and the War of the Pacific". Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
3. "Genocide In Chile: A Monument Is Not Enough". intercontinentalcry.org. September 2, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
4. Cruz-Coke, R.; Moreno, R. S. (September 1994). "Genetic epidemiology of single gene defects in Chile" (PDF). Journal of Medical Genetics. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
5. Aguirre, Camila Toro (February 5, 2019). "Condenados a la pobreza: estudio revela que la inversión pública es tres veces menor en el mundo indígena" (in Spanish). El Mostrador. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
6. "Las realidades de los pueblos indígenas de Chile" (in Spanish). Diario Concepción. May 2, 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
7. Tricot, Tito (September 25, 2017). "La racista y violenta represión contra el pueblo mapuche". eldesconcierto.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved June 7, 2020.
8. Gallego, José Andrés (2005). La esclavitud en la América española (in Spanish). Encuentro. p. 19. ISBN 978-84-7490-765-0.
9. "Racism in Santiago, Chile - "Morena, morena! Rica! Que rica!" — Machetes y Miel". machetesymiel.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
10. Blanco Abarca, Benjamín (February 13, 2011). "Así vive la "petit Haití" de Santiago" (in Spanish). La Tercera. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
11. Socorro, Julián (2003). "El movimiento neonazi en Chile entre 1990 y 2003" (PDF) (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Universidad Diego Portales. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
12. "Anti-Semitism in Chile: Jews Accused of Plotting to Take Over Patagonia". gatestoneinstitute.org. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2020.