Notes on the criminalization of social movements in Latin America: examples from Brazil and Mexico

Abstract

This article examines the relationship of States and social movements, focusing on the criminalization of protests in Brazil and Mexico. The criminalization of protests is a polysemic process, which can be observed in recent years in both countries, through control strategies deployed by the media and state institutions, including (albeit not exclusively) the criminal justice system. This article sheds light on the persecution of young protesters, who have gained visibility in recent movements in Latin America as actors in student movements and in movements without a generational focus. The article analyzes protests as events, focusing on the relationship between social movements, democratic regimes and violence, which is sustained in the recurring utilization of methods of criminalization of social movements in both countries. This phenomenon, we conclude, expresses the persistence of characteristics of colonial, dictatorial and authoritarian regimes.

Keywords

• Criminalization
• Repression
• Social Control
• Collective Action
• Social Movements.