Kiltra resistance: Doing autonomous politics with street dogs in post-uprising Chile

During the 2019 uprising in Chile, free-roaming dogs, so-called kiltros , confronting police were turned into symbols of resistance and gained significant attention in studying kiltro politics . While this analytical focus is stimulating for scholars, it is also troubling. It may narrow down such politics to rioting during mass protests and lead to the iconisation of kiltros. Therefore, we expand the focus by scrutinising less spectacular forms of kiltro politics in and after the uprising. Drawing on the ethnographic case of Los Pies del Cerro, an anarchist squat in Santiago, we argue that kiltra resistance emerges through cultivating autonomous collectivism in three more-than-human processes: making rules, carrying out reterritorialisations and cultivating affinities. In these instances, daily compañerismo (comradeship) of human and dog squatters is forged, allowing us to shift from Harawayan companion to compañera species and reframe the popular motto ‘Resist like kiltro!’ as ‘Resist with kiltras!’.