The Birth of Mexico’s #yosoy132 Movement

Jun 2, 2012
9:24 AM

We are getting several questions from our networks asking us the following question: what is #yosoy132? At the end of this post is the mission statement that we translated from the original Spanish. The Spanish version originally appeared on the Facebook page of #yosoy132 (May 24 post). More information can also be found here.

In the meantime, the #yosoy132 movement has begun to get the attention of #OWS and other global movements:

For those who are wondering, what's all this about #yosoy132?

Here is a brief description.

How #yosoy132 Was Born

The #yosoy132 movement arose from social networks and the jeering of Enrique Peña Nieto Boo at the Universidad Iberoamericana [in Mexico City]. After this incident, the PRI [the Institutional Revolutionary Party] came out to say that the students who had booed Peña Nieto were recorded, and as a result 131 students were identified: their names, faces, account numbers and credentials were uploaded to YouTube and their membership in certain academic programs were established.

After that, the PRI admitted that yes these 131 individuals were students and they would be investigated. As a result, social media users created the #yosoy132 movement, and these users began to announce publicly that  they too were exercising their freedom of expression and support for the 131 students. "I am 132" or "we are all 132". 

The next step was to organize and set up a march [two weeks ago] that included students from the Ibero, but also students from other universities and ITAM Anahuac. We marched on the sidewalk, without affecting roads and shouted slogans against Televisa and other mass media outlets, demanding for the democratization of the media and more truthful information. We now call for many more colleges (public and private) to demand an end to media manipulation and the imposition of a candidate. That's what we took to the streets, without party, without color, without violence.

#yosoy132 is no longer a movement of students. Today it is a movement of ALL Mexicans.