The Meat riot (Spanish: ''Huelga de la carne''), in the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

in October 1905, was a violent riot that originated from a demonstration against the tariffs applied to the cattle imports from Argentina.
Primeros movimientos sociales chileno (1890–1920)
'. Memoria Chilena.Orlove, Benjamin S. 1997. "Meat and Strength: The Moral Economy of a Chilean Food Riot". ''

Cultural Anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

'', Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp. 234–268.

Background

The establishment of the Buenos Aires-Mendoza railroad in 1885 ended the lengthy and costly trade with

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

s that connected these two regions of Argentina and facilitated cattle exports from the

pampas The Pampas (; from Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all o ...

to Chile, albeit in the last portion of the route the cattle had to walk over the high

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

es of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. Lacoste, Pablo. 2004
La vid y el vino en América del Sur: el desplazamiento de los polos vitivinícolas (siglos XVI al XX)
''

Revista Universum ''Universum'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal specialising in social sciences and humanities of Latin America. It is published by the Instituto de Estudios Humanísticos Abate Juan Ignacio Molina (University of Talca) and is also financed by th ...

'', 19, pp. 62–93. These imports resulted in a lowering of meat prices in Chile. In 1887 '' Sociedad Nacional de la Agricultura'' (National Agriculture Society), a landowners organization, proposed to put a tariff on the Argentine cattle that Chile was importing from Argentina. In 1888 the attempt to pass this as a law in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

was frustrated by several urban workers social organizations, the Democrat Party, and mine owners that protested against it. ''Sociedad Nacional de la Agricultura'' continued to support the implementation of a tariff and in 1897 it was passed as a law in congress, principally as part of a

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

law package. The package was supported by the Democrat Party, but in 1898 and 1899 it called for the abolition of the tariff returning to its old stance. In 1902 a series of demonstrations against the tariff took place. Scholar Benjamin S. Orlove suggest that it was the rise of staple

food prices Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices affect producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing and food di ...

that led to renewed protests against the tariff in 1905. This would have been because high staple prices would have led people to have less money available for buying meat. The prices of meat themselves remained stable in the period preceding the Meat riots.

Demonstration

In September 1905, members of the Democrat Party and several mutual aid societies of Santiago met to form an umbrella organization named ''Comité Central de Abolición del Impuesto al Ganado'' (Central Committee for the Abolishment of the Livestock Tariff). The new organisation called for a demonstration on Sunday October 22. State authorities approved a demonstration route. The plans for the demonstration spread through word of mouth and support from the

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

Catholic newspaper '' El Chileno''. At the place and time of meeting in Santiago on Sunday, it has been estimated that fifty thousand people gathered. Another estimate puts the number at twelve thousand of which at least 6000 belonged to the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

. 2006
Una Mirada al Movimiento Popular Desde dos Asonadas Callejeras (Santiago, 1888–1905). III. La “Huelga de la Carne”
Revista de Estudios Históricos. Considering that Santiago at the time had 320 000 inhabitants, the demonstration was huge. Apart from those that gathered in Santiago demonstrations were held all over Chile. From the meeting point at La Alameda, a demonstration group that included ten neighborhood associations plus 41 trade unions and mutual aid societies marched to

Palacio de La Moneda Palacio de La Moneda (, ''Palace of the Mint''), or simply La Moneda, is the seat of the president of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency, and General Se ...

where they planned to deliver a petition to president

Germán Riesco Germán Riesco Errázuriz (; May 28, 1854 – December 8, 1916) was a Chilean political figure, and he served as President of Chile between 1901 and 1906. Early life He was born in Rancagua, the son of Mauricio Riesco, a Spanish people, Spani ...

Red Week

Upon arrival to La Moneda it was found that president Germán Riesco was not there. A minor group of protesters were told by government representative that the president was at his residence a few blocks away. This minority group marched to the residence where protest leaders were allowed to enter to deliver the petition document and to chat with the president. The chat went over to lengthy discussions. Meanwhile, the majority of the protesters were unaware of the meeting and thought that the president had turned his back on them by refusing a meeting. A rumour saying that the president had left Santiago spread. In this atmosphere violence erupted. Demonstrators attacked "buildings and public structure" and police attacked the demonstrators. Police stations, private residences, telegraph and telephone lines were attacked and stores were pillaged. At 4–5 o'clock most workers retired from the city centre. By the same time the looting intensified.

References

Bibliography

La "huelga de la carne"
retrieved 03. September 2008 {{coord missing, Chile 1905 labor disputes and strikes Riots and civil disorder in Chile Massacres in Chile Food riots History of labour relations in Chile 1905 riots 1905 in Chile Protests in Chile October 1905 1905 murders in Chile Attacks on police stations in South America Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1900s Mass murder in 1905 Looting in South America 20th-century mass murder in South America Argentina–Chile relations

Background

Demonstration

Red Week

See also

References

Bibliography