Brazilian Youth Activism

Abstract

This article discusses alternative forms of political participation among Brazilian youth today. The prevailing context of social and economic inequalities in Latin America stands as a key factor for understanding young people’s experimentations with new forms of activism. The article considers research based on in-depth interviews with twenty young residents of Rio de Janeiro about new youth collectives engaging with issues of social change. The analysis shows that the meanings of politics and political action are extended to encompass direct and effective action motivated by a personal interpellation against social injustice. It also shows the importance of experiencing politics as a “bottom-up” undertaking resistant to hierarchical constraints and characterized by individual autonomy. Finally, the article discusses whether this new political engagement may evade a broader political view of conflicting social forces at play and impose limitations on the construction of a political project that can be embraced by different collectives.