‘a revolt within a revolt’: feminist political ideas in Chile’s social uprising

This article analyses the role of feminist activists and feminist political ideas in Chile during the 2019 popular revolt. In the last months of 2019, a popular anti-neoliberal revolt was marked by social protests, violent and nonviolent civil disobedience and political upheaval. Feminists, specifically from the collective Coordinadora Feminista 8 de Marzo (C8M), became central during this period. They not only participated in the organisation of protests and artistic interventions but also helped to install and advance feminist ideas in mainstream public debate. Based on qualitative interviews with feminist activists, conducted between February and April 2021, this article identifies three strands of feminist political ideas that were predominant during and after the popular revolt: 1) autonomism as anti-neoliberal organising; 2) the resurgence of the idea of political-sexual violence; and 3) the link between neoliberalism and the precariousness of life. Following these three strands, this article argues that what occurred in Chile was a feminist revolt, understood as the potencia to transit from concept-building to demand-making in order to push forward feminist horizons as a central political idea.