The earlier future: continuities and ruptures in Brazilian student movements

Abstract

During 2008, the reflections on the struggles of students multiplied around the world due to the 40th birthday of may 1968. In Brazil, the most paradigmatic issue was not so much the discussion of the 1960s struggles, but its “updating” of the current national context, based on the ruptures that recent protests of Brazilian students, with many actions and occupations between 2007 and 2008, may provoke in the scenario of student movements. A central hypothesis proposed in this paper is that these movements are manifested in accordance with cyclical dynamics and through feedbacks with other social movements. To observe this dynamics of continuity and breaks, some elements for a theoretical and methodological approach are proposed, which allows us to interpret student movements as a sui generis social movement. It is also performed a cyclical analysis of student collective actions in Brazil, and in historical perspective and compared with the dynamics of other social movements, the main features of the contemporary struggles of student movements in the country are evaluated.