Jazmín Espinoza

Last June 13, progressively and from different parts of the country, resistance and protest actions called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) were carried out to demand that the government offer effective responses to the severe crisis affecting Ecuadorian families. After a year of dialogues promoted by the government, without any concrete results, the indigenous organizations decided to mobilize. The demands were reflected in ten points, one of them being the reduction and freezing of fuel prices. Various groups and organizations such as popular neighborhoods, unions, feminists, sexual diversities, among others, joined the days of protest.

Faced with this situation, the graduate students of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Flacso Ecuador) decided to show their position of rejection of the repressive response of the State against the protesters since they represented a severe violation of human rights. The Student Committee worked for eleven (11) days —of the seventeen (17) that the strike lasted— looking for the opening of a room in the Flacso Library for continuous academic dialogue assemblies between students from different universities, having a collection center for donations, giving shelter to protesters in vulnerable situations and facilitate accommodations for students from the provinces who, due to the protests, could not return to their families.

To achieve these objectives, two delegations were created:  the Internal Communication Delegation, in charge of informing students in real time about the demonstrations and generating statements on social media networks about student actions; and, the Delegation of Donations and Volunteers, which served as a link between the population, the protesters, the student volunteers and the student organization.

During the dates of the national strike, higher education institutions —whether undergraduate or postgraduate— received criticism from different sectors of public opinion for the decision taken by the authorities: they did not allow their facilities to be reception spaces for protesters. Flacso was no exception and, for that reason, the Internal Communication Delegation issued statements to reject the measure taken by the university management.

For its part, the Delegation of Donations and Volunteers was in charge of the logistics and collection of supplies, food and clothing for the protesters, who were in precarious conditions during the strike.  Economic donations that amounted to 2,400 dollars also arrived, and the registration of 120 volunteers who came to carry out tasks of medical assistance, legal support, cleaning, and cooking, among others, was coordinated.

With these two delegations operating, other students from the Student Committee began to design and define the strategies and methods of nonviolent resistance for their subsequent execution. The chosen strategies were mainly protest and persuasion, such as:

• Formal declarations of the Student Committee to the public opinion. Five releases were issued rejecting the violence and repression in the strike.
• Permanent general assemblies to organize the Student Committee and, later, to discuss the position of the students during the strike. This was a free space open to the community.
• Discussion forums with guest professors from the academic community, with a human rights approach in the face of the repressive decisions made by the president.
• Generate contact with other universities that were doing similar work.
• Gather signatures of teachers, workers, students and graduates to request new activities in the facilities such as the collection center, shelter and a place of residence for students from the province and abroad.

Regarding the last point, 300 signatures were collected and delivered to the authorities. The initial response was negative, claiming that at that time the facilities were in use for the semi-annual meetings of the Flacso International System and, therefore, a security protocol had to be maintained for said event. In this sense —according to Flacso Ecuador— it was not possible to open the facilities for public use.

However, taking advantage of the situation, the Student Committee called a sit-in through the Communication Delegation to protest on the outskirts of Flacso as a method of nonviolent physical intervention. Added to this action was the seizure of the commemorative plaques found in the public park that adjoins Flacso. Posters were placed there with the names of the protesters killed in the marches both in October 2019 and the one that was in progress (June 2022). In addition, it was decided to include a letter signed by the teachers and students in order to request the establishment of a dialogue table with the authorities of Flacso.

The background described above resulted in the installation of dialogue tables between the authorities of Flacso Ecuador and the Student Committee. The authorities’ position was closed due to concerns that the police force would invade the facilities as had happened with other universities that were helping protesters. However, to this argument, the Student Committee stressed two points. First, the condition of reciprocity that the students and the academic institution have with the communities was expressed, being reciprocal with those who constantly receive us to carry out large field investigations. And, second, an ultimatum was launched, which consisted of sending a public letter as a student body to totally distance itself from the political position of the leadership or any other institutional pronouncement that is not related to the protection of the rights of the protesters.

Finally, compared to the three initial requirements, the opening of the collection center, the opening of the shelter for protesters and the opening of a residence channel for fellow students, only two of them could be achieved. The management fully accepted the opening of the collection center and the reception center or shelter, although the latter with some conditions. The main one was to keep in reserve the fact of receiving protesters since, by taking a political position, Flacso Ecuador could be the target of police and acts of violence as had happened in other universities. Thus, an agreement was reached at the cost of silencing the social networks that had generated so much noise and support since the start of the strike.

One element that must be taken into account is that during the state of emergency the right to freedom of association and assembly was suspended. But, due to its importance and in the midst of the negotiations with Flacso Ecuador, it was possible to have a room on the floor of the Flacso Library to hold the dialogue and debate assemblies between students of the Student Committee, which would allow the generation of critical thinking about current political times.

In this way, the public collection center for donations and activities of the Flacso academic council was achieved. The reception center offered thirty (30) places for women, children and adolescents in vulnerable conditions. Flacso’s doctor was permanently available, offering medicines and food with adequate protein conditions every day.

With all this work done, we can say that the methods used around eleven (11) days of coordination gave more qualitative than quantitative results. It is important to emphasize that this could be done from each space and individual criticism that was reflected in a collective work. These days of national protest demonstrated the need to generate initiatives from students who are linked to the problems of social reality, beyond the academy.

Una recomendación a futuro puede ser la constitución de un comité para emergencias y un protocolo que permita dar lugar a acciones participativas entre el estamento estudiantil y la dirección universitaria, en tiempos de crisis. La experiencia del paro nacional reflejó el tipo de recursos que se pueden manejar, necesitar y crear. Como último punto quisiera recalcar la fuerza que tuvo el movimiento estudiantil de Flacso Ecuador para estar a la altura del momento histórico que representó el paro nacional.

A recommendation for the future may be the constitution of a committee for emergencies and a protocol that allows participatory actions between the student body and the university administration, in times of crisis. The experience of the national strike reflected the type of resources that can be managed, needed and created.  As a last point, I would like to emphasize the strength that the student movement of Flacso Ecuador had to live up to the historic moment that the national strike represented.

Jazmín Espinosa

He studies Rural Territorial Development at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Flacso Ecuador) and focuses his analysis on territorial conflicts that allow the use of nonviolent methods. Her undergraduate thesis is entitled “Violence and Nonviolence as liberation strategies in South Africa against apartheid 1948 – 1994”.

Translated by Damian Vasquez