[News] Common pots in the 80s: much more than hunger palliatives

[FNX Magokiler]

The pandemic and quarantines revived situations that for many were relegated somewhere in memory. The difficulties in going out to work, the increase in unemployment – which in July 2020 reached 13.1% – and the problems of the elderly and those infected with the virus in obtaining food were triggers for the multiplication of common pots and community kitchens.

At different times in Chile's history there have been situations that have led to the organization of communal pots – strikes, takeovers or economic crises – but in general they have been transitory phenomena, just as happened during the pandemic.

This is a clear difference with the common pots that were created during the dictatorship, according to psychologist and anthropologist Clarisa Hardy in her book Hunger + dignity = common pots, published in 1986, and which collects the experience of the common pots in the area. eastern Santiago between 1974 and 1985. There he points out that they were “more stable and permanent responses from the po[CENSORED]r sectors to survive.”

Less dining rooms, more pots
Between 1970 and 1973 unemployment did not reach 4%, but from that year on the figure began to rise dramatically. Faced with this reality, the first unemployment benefits and children's meals programs emerged, which in 1976 were no longer just for minors, but fed the entire family unit.

At the beginning of 1976 there were 263 soup kitchens in Santiago supported by the Catholic Church, with 25 thousand beneficiaries, and by December 1977 they had increased to 323, with 31 thousand beneficiaries, according to data from the Vicariate of Solidarity.

 

 

From then on, these dining rooms began to decrease and be replaced by common pots that brought together families living in the same town or camp. The idea was to cook together but eat separately. That is, one member of each family went to get the rations and take them to her house.

Starting in 1981, the pots acquired greater strength and importance, especially during the economic crisis of 1982, which was the time when the highest level of unemployment occurred (19.6%). At the end of that year there were 121 dining rooms and 34 common pots and two and a half years later, the dining rooms were only 30 and the common pots reached 232, according to the registry of the Labor Economy Program (PET).

The situation was quite critical. The minimum family income in 1984 had half the purchasing power of ten years ago and 30% of the po[CENSORED]tion lived in conditions of extreme poverty. In this sector, almost five out of every ten children suffered from some degree of malnutrition.

As the pots multiplied, they began to establish themselves as subsistence, po[CENSORED]r and territorial organizations, with specific tasks, norms, duties and rights. They operated on a site provided by a family, by the church or a community facility, and were financed mainly by regular fees from each family and, to a lesser extent, by activities they carried out to generate funds. Usually, sales of kneaded bread, sopaipillas and empanadas, and sometimes with raffles, dances, peñas and used clothing bazaars. They also received donations of money and food from private institutions or individuals. In this area, the support of the Catholic Church, mainly from the Vicariate of Solidarity, was fundamental in the donation of food. Other institutions were added to the Vicariate, among them, the Hogar de Cristo.

 

https://www.elmostrador.cl/noticias/pais/2023/09/18/ollas-comunes-en-los-80-mucho-mas-que-paliativos-del-hambre/