The people want to study – the organization of pre-university courses as a tactic of struggle in defense of education

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The popular pre-university entrance exam school is a connected initiative of a revolutionary youth-led intersectional social movement called Levante Popular da Juventude. The volunteers who help run this program do so in an altruistic, supportive and self-organized way. They are people concerned with collectively building educational opportunities for a better future rooted in justice, peace, and liberation for all. By building ideals of selflessness in practice, and breaking with concepts such as meritocracy and selfishness our “cursinho popular” dares to challenge the status quo teaching students to think critically and defying the logic of capitalism.

In our popular pre-university entrance exam school, we seek greater access to education for people who would not have this opportunity in other ways, particular BIPOC and working class students from marginalized backgrounds. We also rescued the critical spirit and the deconstruction of misogyny, racism, lgbtfobia. We seek a more supportive and fair world, based on concrete action that affects and transforms people’s concrete reality, which brings us closer to Dr Matin Luther King’s ideas for a more just and peaceful world.

With our presentation, we intend to empower people by showing that in very different places in the world, people can organize themselves in a totally voluntary and solidary way to transform reality. Thus, we hope that this will generate courage, insipration and transnational solidarity to help people in the U.S. and Whatcom County to organize and also fight their own struggles.

Biologist Fabia Steyer holds a masters degree in Agroecology and Rural Development. She is a political activist in the social movement Levante Popular da Juventude, and coordinator at Cursinho Popular “Podemos +”.

Aline Prata is the director of the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center. She has organized for 13 years on a variety of intersectional issues, both locally and globally: from immigrant rights to taking money out of politics, gender equity and police demilitarization. Aline studied Conservation Biology in Brazil and is currently working on her Master’s in Environmental Studies at Western Washington University focusing on science policies and social engagement. During her undergrad, Aline was involved with student’s movement and later became an organizer with the World March of Women. After moving to the U.S. in 2015, Aline has worked as a writing mentor at Northwest Indian College and became one of the first members of the Environmental Studies Equity and Diversity Committee at WWU, being committed to bringing popular education praxis to her work in and out of the classroom. Aline’s work is grounded in transnational solidarity and she is devoted to connecting peace activism in Whatcom County to a perspective from the global South. When she’s not at the PJC’s office, you can find her dancing salsa with Rumba Northwest.

Audience: Community, Educators, Human Rights / Social Justice Professionals, Young Adults
(14+)