ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief sketch of young people in Ecuador who were mobilizing around their right to be heard, listened to, acknowledged, and respected. Young people were sick and tired of gun violence and political inaction. They were also outraged by characterizations of teens as “self-involved,” complacent, and quiet: Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA [National Rifle Association] telling nothing could have been done to prevent this, call BS. Like their peers in Ecuador, teens in the US tried to build alliances and broader movements to effect policy change. They deployed savvy media strategies, engaged in direct actions and contentious politics, lobbied elected officials, and sought friends and allies in “high places.” Children’s rights have advanced dramatically in Latin America in the past quarter-century. This change has major implications for citizenship in the region’s democracies.
