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Podemos cambiar el mundo / We can change the world
Chilean student leader Camila Vallejo was nominated as a Time magazine Person of the Year 2011. With the explosion of student protests for equal access to education, her voice became internationally recognized as representing the new wave of rebellion that spread from the Arab world to Europe, the United States, and Latin America in 2011. The New York Times compared the charismatic twenty-three-year-old to Comandante Marcos and Che Guevara. In this book of speeches and interviews, Camila argues “we are the 99 percent and we can change the world.”
132 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2012
About the author
Camila Vallejo
4 booksCamila Antonia Amaranta Vallejo Dowling es una geógrafa y política chilena. En las elecciones parlamentarias de 2013 fue elegida diputada por el distrito 26 (La Florida) y actualmente es la más joven del total de 120 parlamentarios.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 5, 2017
Debemos romper con aquella burbuja universitaria que instala el individualismo, la competencia y el exitismo personal como patrón de conducta para los estudiantes por encima de ideas y conceptos fundamentales como son la solidariad, la comunidad y la colaboración entre nosotros.
Somos contrarios a la visión de que la universidad es solo venir, sacarse buenas notas, y abandonar cuanto antes sus aulas para salir pronto a ganar dinero en el mercado laboral; tenemos los ojos lo suficientemente abiertos como para darnos cuenta de que afuera hay un mundo entero por conquistar, que este mundo requiere de nuestra entrega, de nuestro esfuerzo y de nuestro sacrificio y que para quienes ya hemos abierto los ojos a las inequidades sociales que asoman por todos los rincones de nuestra ciudad, se nos vuelve imposible volver a cerrar la puerta y hacer como que nada hemos visto o como que nada ha pasado. Nuestro compromiso por la transformación social es irrenunciable, porque necesitamos hoy , más que nunca, una profunda discusión respecto del país que queremos construir, y, a partir de esto, cuál es el tipo de universidad que se pondrá al centro de dicha construcción
Camila Vallejo Dowling, a sus 23 años, fue una de las principales líderes de la movilización estudiantil de 2011 en Chile. Sus discursos en pro de un nuevo modelo de educación hicieron eco en todo el mundo porque calan en cualquier economía neoliberal, su activismo representa ese deber ser de la juventud que no todos , por pereza o falta de perrenque, podemos alcanzar... que orgullo que seas mujer y sudamericana Camila.
Su discurso en la asunción de la presidencia de la Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile es el escrito estrella del libro.
Somos contrarios a la visión de que la universidad es solo venir, sacarse buenas notas, y abandonar cuanto antes sus aulas para salir pronto a ganar dinero en el mercado laboral; tenemos los ojos lo suficientemente abiertos como para darnos cuenta de que afuera hay un mundo entero por conquistar, que este mundo requiere de nuestra entrega, de nuestro esfuerzo y de nuestro sacrificio y que para quienes ya hemos abierto los ojos a las inequidades sociales que asoman por todos los rincones de nuestra ciudad, se nos vuelve imposible volver a cerrar la puerta y hacer como que nada hemos visto o como que nada ha pasado. Nuestro compromiso por la transformación social es irrenunciable, porque necesitamos hoy , más que nunca, una profunda discusión respecto del país que queremos construir, y, a partir de esto, cuál es el tipo de universidad que se pondrá al centro de dicha construcción
Camila Vallejo Dowling, a sus 23 años, fue una de las principales líderes de la movilización estudiantil de 2011 en Chile. Sus discursos en pro de un nuevo modelo de educación hicieron eco en todo el mundo porque calan en cualquier economía neoliberal, su activismo representa ese deber ser de la juventud que no todos , por pereza o falta de perrenque, podemos alcanzar... que orgullo que seas mujer y sudamericana Camila.
Su discurso en la asunción de la presidencia de la Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile es el escrito estrella del libro.
September 9, 2012
Camila Vallejo rose to international prominence as the leader of the Chilean student protests. The protests began in April/May 2011 and are entering their third phase in fall 2012. The students' central demand is free and high-quality education for all.
As Vallejo writes, Chile used to be known for its "modern" education which was accessible to the common people while maintaining a high standard (p. 121). When democracy was restored in Chile in 1990 after Augusto Pinochet's military regime, ensuing neoliberal reforms left public educational institutions severely underfunded and made education in effect a privilege of the wealthy. Only 40% of Chilean youth enter higher education and only 30% study in public institutions. Even at the Universidad de Chile, which is a public institution, the two highest income quintiles account for 70% of the students while the two lowest account for only 20% (p. 84). The University Selection Test (Prueba de Selección Universitaria), which is a standardized university admissions examination used in Chile since 2003, shows that the difference between the scores of the students graduating from private schools and the students graduating from public municipal schools has been growing year after year (p. 85).
Slippery slope, that is what the student protests are all about. Not that the current situation is not bad as it is but what animates the protests is the fear that once you give in there is no end to the concession that the students are required to make. Vallejo argues convincingly that if nothing is done, the current trend will have the effect of closing education to lower socioeconomic classes completely. Once the people are deprived of access to higher education, they are deprived of any means to fight back against deprivation and exploitation in general (p.127). It is for that reason that education is a cornerstone of the neoliberal system (p. 122). It is also for that reason that education has to be claimed as the basic human right that it is (p. 106).
It would be interesting to study the connections between the Chilean student protests in 2011-2012 and the Quebec student protests in 2012. My copy of this book was signed by another leader of the Chilean student protests, Camilo Ballesteros, when he visited Montreal on February 4, 2012. I was surprised to find out that even the pots-and-pans protests in Montreal (casseroles) had a precursor in the Chilean cacerolazo in protest of the police brutality during the student protests in 2011 (p. 41).
Vallejo puts forward his case with great eloquence and lucidity. She is happily devoid of the abrasiveness that some activists think is a workable strategy to get their message across. She is exceptionally photogenic, which is a good thing. Above all, she makes sense.
As Vallejo writes, Chile used to be known for its "modern" education which was accessible to the common people while maintaining a high standard (p. 121). When democracy was restored in Chile in 1990 after Augusto Pinochet's military regime, ensuing neoliberal reforms left public educational institutions severely underfunded and made education in effect a privilege of the wealthy. Only 40% of Chilean youth enter higher education and only 30% study in public institutions. Even at the Universidad de Chile, which is a public institution, the two highest income quintiles account for 70% of the students while the two lowest account for only 20% (p. 84). The University Selection Test (Prueba de Selección Universitaria), which is a standardized university admissions examination used in Chile since 2003, shows that the difference between the scores of the students graduating from private schools and the students graduating from public municipal schools has been growing year after year (p. 85).
Slippery slope, that is what the student protests are all about. Not that the current situation is not bad as it is but what animates the protests is the fear that once you give in there is no end to the concession that the students are required to make. Vallejo argues convincingly that if nothing is done, the current trend will have the effect of closing education to lower socioeconomic classes completely. Once the people are deprived of access to higher education, they are deprived of any means to fight back against deprivation and exploitation in general (p.127). It is for that reason that education is a cornerstone of the neoliberal system (p. 122). It is also for that reason that education has to be claimed as the basic human right that it is (p. 106).
It would be interesting to study the connections between the Chilean student protests in 2011-2012 and the Quebec student protests in 2012. My copy of this book was signed by another leader of the Chilean student protests, Camilo Ballesteros, when he visited Montreal on February 4, 2012. I was surprised to find out that even the pots-and-pans protests in Montreal (casseroles) had a precursor in the Chilean cacerolazo in protest of the police brutality during the student protests in 2011 (p. 41).
Vallejo puts forward his case with great eloquence and lucidity. She is happily devoid of the abrasiveness that some activists think is a workable strategy to get their message across. She is exceptionally photogenic, which is a good thing. Above all, she makes sense.
Want to Read
March 15, 2015Sinceramente, quede totalmente fascinada por como hablo en el foro Emancipación e Igualdad.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews