Political formation of activists and party-affiliated activists in the 2013 protests: experiences and political subjectivation

This article analyzes the meanings attributed by party-affiliated activists and activists to their experiences during the 2013 protests in Brazil, and how these experiences impacted their political formation. Based on Jacques Rancière’s perspective, it investigates how these lived experiences express politics as disagreement and processes of political subjectivation. The methodology is based on semistructured interviews with 37 participants from seven states. The results indicate that the collective actions of 2013 reveal the movement’s power and depth, leaving a mark on its participants despite the repression. However, the diversity of demands and ideological ambiguity lead some of the interviewees to contextualize the historical importance of 2013, an assessment influenced by the political developments that followed from 2016 onward.

Keywords
2013 protests; political formation; political subjectivation; activism; party activism; experiences