Yo Soy 132 (I Am 132)
Is an
ongoing Mexican protest movement centered around the democratization of the
country and its media. Its main targets are former long-term ruling party
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), their presidential candidate Enrique
Peña Nieto, and the Mexican media's allegedly biased coverage of the2012
Mexican general election, where Peña Nieto is a favorite to become the new
president.
The name Yo Soy 132, Spanish for "I Am 132", originated
in an expression of solidarity with the protest's initiators.
On May 11,
2012, Peña Nieto held a conference in Ibero-American University. Many of the
attendees questioned and strongly showed their dissatisfaction with the
candidate. Prominent media outlets and PRI politicians dismissed the attendees'
reaction, saying that they had been smuggled by contending parties and were not
really students.
In
response, 131 students who apparently attended the event posted a video on
Youtube showing their student IDs and expressing discontent with the media
handling of the event. When people began expressing solidarity with the
students by tweeting "I'm the 132nd student", the name yo soy 132 was
coined.
The hashtag
sometimes included as #Yosoy132 emphasizes the movement's connection to
Twitter, where it was a worldwide trending topic for many days. The phrase
draws inspiration from the occupy movement and its slogan "We are
the 99%".The protest movement has been described as the
"Mexican spring" in local media, and as the "Mexican occupy
movement" in international press.
The
movement successfully demanded that the second presidential debate be broadcast
nationally, and has proposed a third debate covering a broader scope of issue
I would like to highlight how social media fuels Mexican youth protests
ReplyDeletePlease take a look to the following reactions - all of them praise te interest and involvement of young people in Mexico's politic future:
- Student: 'It was about time that Mexico woke up, that it stopped watching television'
- Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador praised the protesters:
"They are touching on a fundamental theme that has to do with the pretension of dominating the country through the almost absolute control of the media"
- Pena Nieto:
"It allowed me to see the interest there is among the youth to participate in this democratic process. How great that it is this way. It is a strength that we have built between all Mexicans"
- Grupo Televisa CEO Emilio Azcarraga:
"At Televisa we value the youth and we listen to their opinions. We are always open to them"
- Mexican Interior Minister Alejandro Poire:
"I am convinced that having youth that are enthusiastic, proactive, participatory youth that are demanding of us is without a doubt, a fundamental activity of our democracy, and it is there, and today it is being expressed with great vigor"