#student revolt

There is an expression in guarani — an indigenous language spoken by over tree quarters of paraguayan population — that can accurately describe my feelings in the wake of last week’s events: chemopirî. This translates roughly as “goosebumps” but is much, so much more than that; it is a feeling so intense that your skin oozes with excitement. It is pure joy. It is hope. The reason for this feeling is that the paraguayan university students’ movement has organized itself to stand up for their rights and in doing so, it has shaken and continues to shake the old, corrupted structure of the UNA from its foundations, imprinting itself in Paraguayan history. The students are movilizing by the thousands and have garnered an unprecedent amount of support social media with the hashtags #UNAnotecalles and #PYnotecalles, which stand for “UNA, don’t be quiet” and “Paraguay, don’t be quiet” The students have turned public higher education upside down all the while maintaining an exemplary behavior. Students have assigned themselves a myriad of roles that go from patroling, cooking, cleaning, and handling donations, among others. They have peacefully taken over the university grounds, keeping organized at all times and rotating permanent patrols to make sure all evidence is safe — which is particularly important when considering that there have been a number of succesful attempts to steal or burn or even eat (yes, eat) documents that could be used as evidence.