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Occupy and resist! School occupations in Brazil

A show of student dissent in 2015 and 2016 highlighted the return of mass mobilisation in Brazil, and paved a path for new forms of youth political engagement.

By Paula Alegria and Marcielly Moresco
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School students sleeping on the floor of their school in Meier, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
School students sleeping on the floor of their school in Meier, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

School occupation in Méier, Rio de Janeiro, May 2016. Image: Sofia Leão. All rights reserved

IMAGES: Sofia Leão

On 20 June 2013, a Thursday, an estimated 1.25 million people participated in protests throughout Brazil, in a show of mass popular unrest rarely seen before. Though the initial impetus for the demonstrations had been the Movimento Passe Livre (Free Fare Movement) – an 0.20 cent increase in public transport fares – the agenda widened as the month went on, taking in other, sometimes contradictory grievances, including police violence, the rising cost of living and the impact of the World Cup and Olympic Games. This show of popular dissent over several days came to be known as the ‘Jornadas de Junho’ (literally, ‘June Days’).

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0