The Ides of March in Mexico: Direct action on social networks and in the streets by the digitally-connected feminist masses

Abstract

This article analyses the cycle of mass protests by digitally-connected Mexican feminists between March 2019 and March 2020. Taking a descriptive approach to the analysis, the study triangulates qualitative and ethnographic methods with social network analysis. The article recounts how this period, which was marked by increasingly transgressive conflict, began with the #MeToo campaign between March and April 2019 and culminated on March 8 2020 with the women’s march and strike. The article considers how the feminist movement was increasingly radicalized through the emergence of repertoires of direct action and became a collective social actor of major relevance in the country. This change was evident in its disruptive power within professional guilds, study centers, and institutional politics, as well as the establishment of strategies and synergies with new, unexpected, and a very diverse range of social actors.