Contradictions in Multicultural Indigenous Policies: A Systemic Analysis of the Chilean State’s Response to Mapuche Demands

Even though no part of the world is untouched by the global economy, the role played by the State continues to have an impact on the resistance of indigenous peoples, and Chile is no exception. At present, the Chilean government presents several contrasting faces to indigenous peoples. On the one hand, it offers multicultural public policies based in “Development with Identity”, whose formal objective is to generate economic and social development from the ground up. In contrast, in areas where the indigenous communities are in conflict with large companies over the control of natural resources, the Chilean government considers these communities to be terrorists, denying their basic legal rights. At present, there is a diversity of positions within the Mapuche movement and within Mapuche communities with respect to the Chilean State, although the media tend to emphasize only the violent conflicts. Our paper analyzes the development of the “conflict” between the Mapuche and the Chilean State due to the extractive activities of private companies from a systemic perspective, situating this conflict within the larger international political and economic system.