Anarchist DNA? Sociotechnical ensembles and apparatus of incrimination of political dissent in Chile

• In Event: Tecnologias de controle e máquinas de violência: reconfigurações das práticas de gestão de conflitos na América Latina

Abstract

In Chile, the use of DNA identification techniques for the determination of genetic material has consolidated, being used for paternity suits, sexual crimes and legal investigation of detenidos desaparecidos (enforced disappearance) cases. However, in the last five years, this form of biometric identification has also become very important in trials against young people, usually students accused of performing what the Public Attorney calls “anti-systemic violence”. This paper will present preliminary findings based on fieldwork conducted in Centro de Justicia in Santiago in 2017. The work will also be informed by trial documents, newspapers, and activist statements about the uses, meanings, and effects triggered by this new kind of scientific evidence of DNA, as well as geo-reference technologies, fingerprints by AFIS system and surveillance of social media activities. This contribution focuses on how these new control practices are integrated with classical forms of political repression as plainclothes cops monitoring, wiretapping, and seizure of books and political pamphlets related to anarchism. In addition, the paper will discuss certain forms of resistance performed by political prisoners, such as the refusal to give DNA samples to police, and the efforts made by defense counsels to bring into the court biochemical controversies in using mixed DNA samples.

Author

• Andrea Roca, Universidade de São Paulo