Abstract

This chapter will examine how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted social movements and collective action in Chile. While the pandemic affected collective action everywhere, its impact was more dramatic in Chile because this country had experienced a major uprising in late 2019. During this uprising, massive protests took place displaying a wide array of tactics, from peaceful to disruptive and violent actions. Thus, when the extremely weakened government of President Sebastián Piñera mandated quarantines in March 2020, Chilean society was in a state of mobilization which turned it unprone to adopt a strict discipline. This explains why, during the months of quarantine, the number of collective protests – as measured by ACLD’s dataset – surprisingly increased compared to the previous year.