Students and Class Struggle in Brazil

By 1977 the struggle of the students against the military regime came to dominate the political scene in Brazil. Responding to the imprisonment of a group of students and workers who distributed a pamphlet on May 1, Sao Paulo students mobilized and took to the streets. Despite police intervention, more than 10,000 protested in the center of the city, demanding liberation of the May Day prisoners, amnesty for all political prisoners, and the reestablishment of democratic liberties. It should be underscored that one of the main slogans of the manifestation was Freedom for the workers and the oppressed to organize and to demonstrate a slogan which illustrates that the struggle of the students had transcended the limits of the liberal-democratic problematic and explicitly attempted to achieve solidarity with the workers. The movement spread rapidly to the entire country. In the main cities (Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, POrto Alegre, etc.), university strikes multiplied as did street demonstrations, protest assemblies, and confrontations with the police. In June, an attempt was made to convene a national student congress, but the police intervened and imprisoned 800 students. In Sao Paulo in an attempt to impede a new protest manifestation, the regime mobilized 32,000 police who occupied the city; nevertheless, there were various impromptu meetings and demonstrations. On August 23, 1977, a National Day of Struggle took the form of student strikes and demonstrations in the large urban centers, with such slogans as Down with the dictatorship, and For democratic liberties and against the rise in the cost of living. In some cities, such as PBrto Alegre, the demonstrations were the most important to occur since 1968, despite violent police intervention. The student movement quickly became a political center, mobilizing the intellectuals against the regime and receiving the solidarity of sectors of the Church, of artists, journalists, lawyers, etc. These events were not exceptional. Since the establishment of the military dictatorship in Brazil with the coup d' etat of April 1964 until 1977, the students have been the most active and organized social sector in the struggle against the regime. Forms of resistance have changed; the movement has ex

Amnesty · Criminalization · Democracy · Dictatorship · Imprisonment · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Slogan · Sociology · Solidarity · Brazilian cultural history and politics · Law · Public Administration · Youth, Politics, and Society

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