Social media and the streets: student occupation in Brazilian High Schools

Abstract

Since 2011, across the world, young peop1e have occupied buildings, city squares, and streets as part of a wide array of protests. Such experiences attest not only to "the collective power of bodies in public space" (Harvey 2011) but a1so to the significant role played by young people within them. Whether taking place in Tunis, Spain, Chile, or Wall Street, these movements share a commonality in their deeply democratic perspective and organization, putting them at odds with contemporary capitalist politicaI forms. ln Latin America, the occupations with the biggest impact have been those carried out by primary and high school students. Their fame began with La Rebelión Pingüina ("Penguin Revolution"), a Chilean student movement named after the black and white uniforms students wore when protesting on the streets in 2006 as they mobilized for free education and public transportation. The Penguin Revolution triggered Chile's biggest sequence of rallies since the fall of the Pinochet dictatorship and in addition to demonstrations, students also occupied schools (Hernandez Santibafiez 2018). Like othel' Latin American student occupations, Brazilian activists and tudent engaged in new forms Df politicai action. This was characterized by change in decision-making processes meant to promote a less hierarchical organizational model through increasing use Df collective and deliberativt practices. The student movement also sought increased autonomy in relation to conventional politicaI parties, unions, and other traditional politicai institntion . ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion