Levante Popular da Juventude (Popular Youth Uprising, LPJ)

Social movements are constantly finding ways to uplift youth, organize them, and develop their leadership. It is a matter of survival and a means to grow the movements. But youth are not just future peasants or workers. They are not just adjuncts to communities and movements, but they also have their own unique struggles and visions. And in Brazil, like elsewhere, they are also building their own movements.

Since 2006, Levante Popular da Juventude (Popular Youth Uprising, LPJ) has organized youth across Brazil to fight for young people’s rights. The movement draws together students from schools and universities, youth in urban neighborhoods and rural communities, all in partnership with the youth sections of Brazil’s Via Campesina member organizations.

LPJ, as with most partners we accompany, combines tackling immediate needs with political organizing. The youth of LPJ run the National Network of Popular Courses of Podemos+, which helps prepare their low-income peers for university and the related placement exams. They also engage in mass social action and political education. For example, they launched nationwide actions against those who committed torture during the 20-year military dictatorship. And with our support, they are conducting a nationwide course on grassroots feminisms.

As crisis and conflict intensify, many question what Brazil’s future will look like. LPJ answers with a powerful voice: it will be built by the urban and rural youth of today, driven by a vision for a more just and liberated society.