Chilean Student Activism and Florida

Four Chilean Diputados, all of them former student activists, wrote a letter in solidarity with the Floridian students fighting for gun control. The letter noted the history of student activism in Chile.

I am curious to see whether this gets any attention in the United States. My first thought was that I have no idea whether they actually have anything in common with the Floridians because in Chile the struggle is rooted in the quest for greater socio-economic equality in general while in Florida it has nothing to do with socio-economic status and instead is single-issue.

My second thought is that setting that point aside, there is a real model here for how to go from activism to trying to change the system from within by getting elected. And this is a time, I think, where that there is an opening for that in the U.S. Brendan O'Boyle wrote something along these lines in Americas Quarterly just a few days ago.