Children's activism in South America: labor participation, politics and organization

Abstract

This article is the result of discussions of two researches developed in South America, which focus on understanding the labor and political participation of children in different contexts of the region. In order to bring visibility to child activism in the continent, the text addresses child participation in social movements such as "Sem Terrinha", understood as a project initiated by adults with the participation and involvement of children in the struggle of the Landless Movement (MST), and the protagonism of working children in Bolivia, who call on adults to participate in their initiatives to guarantee their labor rights. Thus, with discussions about child protagonism, popular education and child activism in South America, we try to make visible the action of children and adolescents and rethink adult positions, which discriminate against children because of their young age, and prevent them from living their childhood in a dignified way. In this sense, the concept of childism becomes fundamental for this discussion, since it aims to empower the experiences lived by children in the southern hemisphere, demonstrating the efforts that children have made in different social and geographical contexts, in search of fairer societies.