The way in which the manifestations took place in Quito, Ecuador, between the 3 and the 13 October 2019 was strongly influenced by one of the largest mobilisations of the indigenous movement in the last 30 years. On the 9 October, at least 20,000 indigenous protesters were expected in the city. This led to a complicated definition of spaces. Where would all these people stay and what would the next few days be like for 20,000 people who were "visitors" to the city?
Through an ethnographic analysis, the research-based project focuses on representing and reconstructing a series of events that were mostly classified with an violent, racist and classist character, leaving aside a huge organisational process that transformed specific typologies and the urban fabric for 11 days. The project aims to legitimise the participation of certain actors and the importance of the social structures that emerged during these days. The physical spaces in which the manifestations were developed were witnesses of encounters between actors, but at the same time they defined spaces of encounter that allowed the emergence of organisational structures that initiated an important network of critical thought and political action in the country.
See also Structural Fissures or The city as scenario for political encounters
Through an ethnographic analysis, the research-based project focuses on representing and reconstructing a series of events that were mostly classified with an violent, racist and classist character, leaving aside a huge organisational process that transformed specific typologies and the urban fabric for 11 days. The project aims to legitimise the participation of certain actors and the importance of the social structures that emerged during these days. The physical spaces in which the manifestations were developed were witnesses of encounters between actors, but at the same time they defined spaces of encounter that allowed the emergence of organisational structures that initiated an important network of critical thought and political action in the country.
See also Structural Fissures or The city as scenario for political encounters
Relation of powers
The legal context of the demonstrations in Ecuador in 2019 was an indication of the government's increasingly neoliberal stance. Previous economic measures adopted by the government - such as Trole 3 - underline the omission of any tax liability, benefiting the elites and leaving the state without revenue for social purposes. Until then, 166 economic groups continued to owe the State a total of $2.260 billion. 78% of these debts fell to the 10 largest investors in the nation. At the same time, the government signed a 4,600 million dollar loan with the IMF, which demanded austerity measures such as cutting social spending and reducing the cost of public employees - measures that directly affected the most vulnerable.
Temporal programming
5 institutions opened their doors as shelter houses with different programs to receive the indigenous people who arrived in the city. 4 of them were universities and 1 was a cultural centre. The 0 point of the manifestations was the Arbolito Park, which was an important public space for meetings related to social uprisings due to its proximity to the main governmental institutions. The support given by the feminist and student front was a key to the manifestations: thanks to them, the program organised was varied and offered different forms of psychological and physical support for all the people involved. The organisation between the shelter houses was crucial: due to the high level of violence in the park, donations could not be delivered on-site. The donations were delivered at universities and then distributed between the shelter houses. The communication between the academic institutions was via digital media, while one person was responsible for direct the communication between the park and the other shelters. The shelter houses provided approximately 12,000 beds for the indigenous movement. Although the facilities were overcrowded, there weren't enough places to sleep. Many informal shelters were set up in private homes and even small schools.
Research
During the research process of the project, the media blackout that took place during the manifestations was noticeable. The official media tried to minimise the uprising manifestations across the country and only reported on acts of vandalism that took place during the days of the manifestations, which had no relation to the participants in the protests. Social media forums became a main source and public space for information, organisation and discussion, where each actor could present and share their social denouncements.
53% of Quito's citizens claim to have consulted different social media sources to find out about the manifestations. These multiple social denouncements through social forums were one of the main sources for this research. Other important sources were 3 interviews carried out via Skype with 3 people who volunteered in the Arbolito Park and at the Universidad Católica del Ecuador during the days of the mobilisations.
During the research process of the project, the media blackout that took place during the manifestations was noticeable. The official media tried to minimise the uprising manifestations across the country and only reported on acts of vandalism that took place during the days of the manifestations, which had no relation to the participants in the protests. Social media forums became a main source and public space for information, organisation and discussion, where each actor could present and share their social denouncements.
53% of Quito's citizens claim to have consulted different social media sources to find out about the manifestations. These multiple social denouncements through social forums were one of the main sources for this research. Other important sources were 3 interviews carried out via Skype with 3 people who volunteered in the Arbolito Park and at the Universidad Católica del Ecuador during the days of the mobilisations.
11 Days of resistance in October 2019
The collage aims to overlay multiple stories, happenings, reports, choreographies and structures that took place on the Arbolito-Park between the 11 days of the protest. The park was a crucial point for all the people involved during the protests: as a meeting point to start the various manifestatoins, as space where assamblies took place and as the crucial meeting point for the organization between the shelter houses and the spaces were the public force repression was most prevalent. Around 30 000 people gather on the park daily, many of them even had to sleep there due the overcrowded institutions.
In the drawings, some of the stories are told from its specific location where they took place, some of them positions are assumed, and others - in order to protect the identity of certain participants involved on the protest from the political persecution in Ecuador - were fictional situated. The density of information visible in the drawings aims to highlight the complexity of the ground of all this happenings. Many of them would seem like situations that could take place on normal days on different urban spaces, but the overlapping and simultaneously appearance of events, reveal the almost fictional nature of the manifestations.