Indifference to past human rights violations in Chile: The impact on Transitional Justice Success, 1990-2017

• In Event: Transitional Justice and Memory in Chile

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain how and why a sector of the Chilean population is indifferent to past human rights violations committed during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-90), and also what the consequences of that indifference are in Chile today. An explanatory sequential and non-nested mixed methods design has been applied: the quantitative analysis is based on the 2013 National Bicentennial Survey (N=2,004), and the qualitative analysis is carried out from fifty-three in-depth and semi-structured interviews to indifferent and non-indifferent individuals. It is argued that indifference to past human rights violations is the result of various processes of socialization that influence the individual, being relevant life experiences and social interactions related to political issues. According to the survey, 16.02 percent of the sample is indifferent to past atrocities. Regarding the causes of indifference, binomial logistic regression highlights: political orientation, socio-economic status, generational cohort, and perception of social conflict. The interviews’ analysis shows that the three most common sets of variables that explain indifference are: the predominant emphasis on search for family and personal well-being, discomfort with politics, and fear of a recurrence of the pre-coup d’état crisis and post-coup authoritarian experiences. Indifference is dynamic and visible, with different intensities. The indifferent are a heterogeneous group. Regarding social consequences, the indifferent may actively promote indifference in their interactions; indifference has become a socially accepted norm by other sectors, and indifference facilitates the persistence of the culture of impunity over time.

Author

• Hugo A Rojas Corral, Alberto Hurtado University