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

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

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'', 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 carts that connected these two regions of Argentina and facilitated cattle exports from the

pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "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 of Uruguay; and Brazi ...

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

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. 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 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 have an impact on producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing ...

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 A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid society is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief fr ...

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 a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

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 (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

. 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 Secre ...

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 merchant and o ...

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 Mass murder in 1905 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 events 1905 murders in Chile

Background

Demonstration

Red Week

See also

References

Bibliography