Camila Vallejo – Latin America's 23-year-old new revolutionary folk hero

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/08/camila-vallejo-latin-america-revolutionary


Camila Vallejo on a march in Santiago held on the anniversary of the Pinochet coup that toppled President Salvador Allende in 1973. Photograph: Aliosha Marquez/AP



As the Friday afternoon sun dipped towards the horizon, some students at the University of Chile played ping pong or football and couples lounged and kissed in the last warmth of the day. But others had more serious matters on their minds: the wildly popular student uprising that has transformed the nation's political agenda. And for many of the protesters involved and those who sympathise with its aims, the face of the uprising is Camila Vallejo.

In a basement auditorium a group of 60 student leaders planned the next steps in their burgeoning revolution for free university education, with Vallejo centre stage.

Vallejo sat behind her battered laptop, a small blue notebook on her desk and a rapt audience in front of her. When she speaks, her hands fly about, like birds snatching invisible prey. Her language is pointed and clear but, mixed with constant doses of humour and self-deprecation, she keeps her charges laughing.

As the second female president of Chile's leading student body, known as Fech (Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile), Vallejo – who is also a member of the youth arm of the Communist party, the JJCC – has presided over the biggest citizen democracy movement since the days of opposition marches to General Augusto Pinochet a generation ago.

[Speck Tater]

1. xchrom: You beat to the post by a couple minutes. K&R nt

[xchrom]

3. You got more links than I did.

She's amazing - I've been following the school protests in chile - & so I've been reading just a little about her here & there.
Now she's getting the attention she deserves for her hard work.

[Speck Tater]

4. I only heard about her because I'm studying Spanish and reading Spanish-language news sources. nt

[xchrom]

5. good for you -- and good job on the links. nt

[Speck Tater]

6. It's intersting that Yahoo Español refers to her as "una militante comunista".

http://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/fotos/la-joven-que-tiene-en-jaque-al-presidente-chileno-1317908725-slideshow/

They seem to be following AP's lead in that regard: http://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/l%C3%ADder-militante-comunista-mantiene-jaque-pi%C3%B1era-chile-150344116.html

[xchrom]

7. i guess that makes her scary to some one.

i doubt it'll scare chileans.

[a la izquierda]

8. Right wing pols in DC are probably...

shitting their pants, though.

[a la izquierda]

9. Right wing pols in DC are probably...

shitting their pants, though.

[txlibdem]

11. Is that so? Well then... ... Viva Camila

:woohoo:

[txlibdem]

10. I've been thinking we should all be learning Chinese ;-)

Stick with it (Spanish that is). Some old friends tell me it gets easier and easier. My advice is to go hang out with some Hispanics (or do you mean "old world" Spanish?). You learn so much more by using it instead of just studying it. And don't try to speak Spanish to someone from Brazil. That's all the advice this meds-filled noggin can crunch out for ya.

[marmar]

2. That's awesome.

k/r