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The Chilean urban insurrection began in Santiago de Chile with the attack on 20 metro stations in 6 hours,18 October 2019. Suspended by COVID 19 in March 2020, this performance is called a protest for social justice. Nearly one year later, the 6-hour siege of Capitol Hill in the USA is the public image of “surreal insurrectional violence” and “the greatest threat to American (sic) Democracy”. In Chile, the epicentre of unprecedented violence and destruction is Plaza Baquedano, Santiago de Chile. This hole in the ground, with an emptied plinth, and the exhumed Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from Chile’s victorious Pacific War (1879-1884), is at the centre of what is called Ground Zero. The first business of the new Government is an Amnesty for crimes committed during the urban insurrection, with a new Constitution being written as background, continuation, and result of the same.  In this article, the author documents the unmaking of Plaza Baquedano, verified by morning-after media, overla
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  Cleaning the tomb of the unknown soldier with seven conversations, January 18, 2020,   Plaza Baquedano. The unprecedented protester violence and destruction of the Chilean urban insurrection began on October 18, 2019 with the arson attacks on 20 metro stations in 6 hours in Santiago, the capital city. This terrorism’s epicentre was Plaza Baquedano, now called Ground Zero. After two months of incessant violence and destruction, the material damage was estimated at $US 106 million (not including the Metro of $US 350 million). In Plaza Baquedano are Metro Baquedano and the Monument to General Baquedano with the tomb of the unknown soldier. The Monument was constantly attempted to be toppled and the tomb made a permanent protest pyre. On January 18, 2020  I decided to clean the tomb’s bronze plaque to reveal the embossed text for anyone who could read. I had 7 conversations. 1. Carabineros (Chilean Police) checked my Chilean ID and we talked about the monument.  2. A woman with two child
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  Bienvenidos a ACABland. ?Por qué nos encapuchamos? 18.0 Welcome to ACABland. Why do we wear balaclavas? Chilean October Crisis 2019-2020 Abstract (250 words) Variation on a Theme Park is a book concerning global cities, privatisation of public space and the culture of contemporary urbanism as consumption. The absence of authentic citizen engagement is what characterises the theme park city and its variations. In 2018 Chile was voted tourist destination of the year and the cultural heritage residential barrio Lastarria, in   Santiago, was nominated as one of the 12 hipster locations. This essay is a mapping of a cultural precinct and a review of street art that traces the shift from cultural tourism to the normalisation of violence during the five-month Chilean urban insurrection that began on 18 October, 2019 (18-O). The area, now known as Ground Zero, is mapped as a cultural tourist precinct from 2010-2019 and then its subsequent transformation after 18-O. The concept o
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