For seven years, we have produced a widely acclaimed podcast; now, covering the uprising in Chile, we are preparing to make our first documentary film. But we need your help to acquire the supplies we need.

A full-scale uprising is unfolding in Chile. Starting in October, people of all walks of life have come together to block austerity measures, fight police repression, and defy a military occupation. Sparked in part by a revolt in Ecuador, the uprising in Chile represents the crest of a global wave of revolts from Haiti, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, and Sudan to Honduras, Catalunya, and Lebanon.

All around the world, neoliberalism is in crisis. Far-right nationalists have cashed in on this crisis to push through the Brexit and win elections from Italy to Brazil; with his rhetoric about so-called “globalism,” Trump aims to present his own brand of xenophobic capitalism as the only alternative. In Chile, however, people have responded to the crisis of neoliberalism with a popular anti-capitalist movement with a predominantly anti-authoritarian character. In a time when reactionaries have been passing themselves off as rebels while many activists have despaired of changing the world for the better, the Chilean uprising offers a much-needed dose of inspiration and a promising model for future movements worldwide.

We have been on the ground in Chile since day one, publishing a series of bilingual podcast episodes detailing each stage of the uprising and interviewing a wide range of participants. Yet audio recordings alone cannot do justice to the global implications of what is happening in Chile. After seven years producing the Ex-Worker and Hotwire podcasts, we want to shoot our first documentary film.

But we need your help.

Expanding from podcast to video won’t be easy. We are asking for supporters to help us acquire the equipment we need to shoot a feature-length documentary. A list of the resources we need appears at the end of this text. We can get donations here from South America, North America, and Europe. If you can contribute any of the items that we need directly or help us purchase new equipment, please reach out to us at podcast@crimethinc.com.

We’ve decided not to start a kickstarter or gofundme for this project; it wouldn’t feel right while so many comrades in Chile need money for medical and legal expenses as a consequence of their courageous contributions to the movement. One form of movement infrastructure that is severely lacking in Chile is a legal, public way to raise money from outside of the country. If you know any lawyers or NGO accountants with knowledge of Chilean law and banking, please put them in touch with us.

We’ve been covering anarchism in Chile for years now; we have a network of trusted comrades here and we are well-informed and willing to do whatever it takes to bring you important lessons and inspiring stories. We just need the equipment and technical means. With your help, we can produce complete versions of the film in both English and Spanish and make them freely available to all.

We have to move quickly now if we are to be ready to begin filming when the students who started the uprising last October go back to school at the end of February. The date for the constitutional plebiscite is set for April 26, just days before May Day. The plebiscite is the biggest concession won through street protest so far; it will decide whether Chile’s dictatorship-era constitution will be replaced by a new one. What happens next will illuminate the prospects and pitfalls facing social movements around the world in the 21st century.

We want to make a film that will spread the inspiration that the Chilean uprising has awoken in us—so that the crisis of neoliberalism will cease to serve the Trumps and Bolsonaros and Putins of the world and become an opportunity to start building a world without capitalism, without the state, without patriarchy—a world that isn’t ordered by authority and competition but by freedom and cooperation.

The conflicts that have come to a head in Chile today will erupt everywhere soon. This is a rare moment in which we can prepare for the upheavals that are looming ahead on the horizon. We are uniquely positioned to bring the most important lessons and inspiring moments from Chile to audiences and movements around the world. Please help us.

What We Need

A Panasonic Lumix g95 camera or any other camera that shoots in 4K with a decent stability and a good auto-focus

A GoPro with a waterproof case

A powerful laptop or desktop Mac with plenty of RAM for video processing

SD cards

External hard drives

Cloud storage

Batteries

Zoom lenses

Lens cleaner

A lens protection filter

A full-face 3M gas mask with extra cartridges

A monopod and/or shoulderpod

A digital recorder and decent boom microphone

A lavalier microphone and receiver—or two

A high DPI scanner

Motion graphics and subtitling volunteers

Any kind of hookup or discount on international airplane tickets

And, possibly, soundtrack music

Contact us: podcast@crimethinc.com