Rising Together: The political Power of Social Movements

As everybody knows there has been a worlwide movement for my political rights, this is, that my right to be a candidate and my right to be elected and thus become a politician be effectively respected. This worldwide movement didn't start in 2020 during the Pandemic years, like many think, started when I was a candidate for the first time in 2016. This year this movement is doing ten years. In 2020, when some people don't allow me to be a candidate was when the movement started to become this really huge worldwide movement that we all can see today on internet, mainly on my social medias. This worldwide movement isn't only to my pre candidacy, but also for justice, for reparations for me, my family and millions other who has had their rights violated around the world and those are waiting for justice.  This post is a summary of two articles. The first with the title above was published at https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/media/2021/May/rising-together-the-political-power-of-social-movements. The second was written by AI from Google Chrome.

Heinz College professor Silvia Borzutzky has been studying the impacts of movements for decades. While she says movements can organize more easily in the digital age, protests and political action have a long history and should see technology as a tool in the fight for justice, not a solution unto itself. In history books, commentary, and popular media there can be an understandable tendency to focus on transformatice leaders like Martin Luther King, or dramatic events like the Stonewall Uprising. A kind of mental shorthand takes over, we connect "there was a great leader who fought for progress" or "there was a catalyzing incident" to hard-won changes, such as shifts in public attitudes, civil rights or landmark judicial decisions. It's a clean narrative, but it ignores the reality of social movements and the many people who work, organize, assemble, and demonstrate to push for change as part of those movements, sometimes for years or even decades. "I've been teaching American politics for a long time and I often hear myself saying that we need to look more closely at the civil rights movement," said Professor Silvia Borzutzky, a political scientist who has published extensively on political movements in Latin America. While lasting policy and structural changes may be the end goal, Borzutzky suggest that some of the greatest impacts of social movements come in the form of expanded political participation and gains in public support. Inspired by her recent work on social unrest in Chile as well as justice protests in the U.S., Borzutzky created a Social Movement Course at Heinz College with her research assistant, that allows students the space to deeply analyze the origins and impacts of a movement of their choosing. During the course, students heard from academic experts and practitioners in this space. Also, students researched and presented on a movement from across the world, including movements related to the environment and climate change, disability rights and inclusion, pro-democracy, and human rights. While social movements may be most effective when they are locally based and powered by people, there is a role for large institutions to play. Borzutzky refers to support from the U.N. for human rights movements in Latin America. The U.N. not only has the money and resources to finance, for example, investigations into human rights abuses, it also has access to advanced technology. Technology has played a growing role in the success of movements, in particular the growth of social media. However, as Borzutzky notes while social media has a role to play, it can't be the only element and must not take the place of on the effective leadership and localized activism. On and off social media, Borzutzky makes one other key point regarding how we talk about movements that organize and communicate online. She says politicians, media figures, and everyday users of social media should be careful not to conflate groups like the Proud Boys with movements like Black Lives Matter. They aren't comparable.

Movements for the political inclusion of victims of systemic human rights violations in Latin America focus on transforming historical injustices into active political participation. These grassroots and transnational initiatives and direct political representation to prevent future abuses. Core Pillars of Inclusion Movements:   1) Transitional Justice and Truth Commissions: Movements leverage testimonies to hold state and non-state actors accountable. Organizations use documentation of historical violence to force institutional reforms in the legal and political spheres.   2) Direct Representation and Peacebuilding: In post-conflict areas, victims directly participate in peace negotiations to ensure their demands shape constitutional reforms. A notable example includes delegations of victims participating directly at peace negotiation tables.  3) Collective and Reparative Justice: Activists advocate for structural remedies. Rather than only offering monetary compensation, these movements push to dismantle the systems that allowed the violations, guaranteeing non-repetition through civic education and anti-corruption policies.  Legal and Civic Mechanisms:  1)Inter-American System of Human Rights: Victims and civil society organizations (CSOs) litigate cases at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to mandate state reparations and overturn exclusionary domestic policies.   2) Shrinking Civic Space Activism: With rising authoritarianism and shrinking civic spaces in countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, and El Salvador, networks focus on securing international oversight to protect the fundamental rights of activists and journalists.