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E I G H T Legacies of Activism: Personal Empowerment, Movement Survival Brazilian and Chilean women activists from the popular classes have shared, to a large extent, a common trajectory. Their experiences have been closely intertwined with the history of the liberationist church, for it was in the base communities that most got their initial taste of activism. They mobilized in various ways during the democratic transitions, only to watch in dismay as the movements in which they participated collapsed under the weight of circumstances beyond their control during the democratic era. This common history has often itself been interpreted in rather broad brushstrokes . At times those brushstrokes have painted an optimistic picture of the ability of new social movements, such as that emanating from the base communities, to fundamentally alter the lives and societies of Southern Cone activists. At others, they have depicted an image of lost opportunity, in which the women’s risks and efforts at organizing came to little or naught once elections were held. As Judith Adler Hellman (1995) has pointed out, studies of social movements often make three claims about what they can do: (1) transform consciousness or empower actors, (2) win concrete gains for their protagonists, and (3) contribute to democratization in a vital way (174). Much of the debate about interpreting the trajectory of base communities and their related movements in the Southern Cone has focused on the first and third points: empowerment and democratization. Too often, as Hellman argues, these terms themselves have been left vaguely defined. Again, too often, they have been cast in an either-or light. Did base communities empower women or not? Did they contribute to democratization or not? In this book, we have sought to develop a more nuanced understanding of the legacy of liberation theology and of popular women’s organizing in the base communities. We have used several means to do so. First, we have focused on the women activists themselves and their own perceptions of the trajectory that they, their church, and their movements experienced, rather than telling the story from “the outside.” Second, we began from the assumption that the base communities and the movements they inspired should be seen as part of a cycle of protest during redemocratization. This assumption allows us to go beyond either-or debates about the contribution of these movements to democratization and frees us instead to define and delimit a more varied legacy. Finally, we have adopted a comparative approach. Looking at activists in both Brazil and Chile has enabled us to begin to examine the ways in which political and religious context affected not only movement organizations and their trajectory, but also the lived experiences of women activists. In this chapter, we return to the themes of personal empowerment and alliance-building. After summarizing the long-term effects of activism in each area, we make some cross-national comparisons to show how context has affected the legacy of the liberationist church for future activism. In the second half of the chapter we return to the question of evaluating the impact of earlier activism for building civil society, connecting our study to debates about the role of religion in civil society and the effect of women’s movements on democratization. Surviving the Doldrums: The Long-Term Impact of Activism The social movement activism that accompanied redemocratization in both Brazil and Chile was extremely intense. Although we know and the women mention that base communities spent considerable time building trust, passing on political information, celebrating religious services, and reflecting on the Bible, the activists often convey a sense of almost frenetic activity in those heady days of opposition. Marches, protests, and meetings on scores of issues seemed to follow one after another. Indeed, the Brazilian activists sorely needed the ubiquitous “agendas” that they carried to keep track of their many activities. Life—perhaps particularly political life—cannot always be lived at such a pitch, however. Inevitably, circumstances change, opportunities evaporate, activism becomes institutionalized and routine. In short, for any one of a number of reasons, the “feverish” movement Edna described, noted in Chapter 4, subsides into more ordinary, day-to-day routines and is replaced by “politics as usual.” Perhaps this is especially true for periods of activism that accompany redemocratization, because the return of elections signals precisely the return of routine politics, rather than a place for the “extraordinary” mobilizations needed to challenge the military regime. Movements and their hallmark protests become less and less visible, but...

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