Social movements and the bus fare: a case study of two cycles of protests, 2005 and 2013 in Natal / RN
Social movements. Political confrontation.
This research arises from the observation of two episodes of protests against the increase of the bus fare in the municipality of Natal, in the years 2005 and 2013, based on the similarities and differences between the two moments, when the student organizations carried out social mobilizations against the readjustment of the bus fare. Between the two cases there are great organizational and repertory differences of the social movement, related to the presence of financial and material resources to mobilize the political events, the places of organization of the protests, the interpretation of the movements on the tariff and the changes in the political and organizational conduction of this social movement. Based on the Resource Mobilization Theory (TMR), Political Process Theory (TPP) and Interpretive Framework Theory, this dissertation seeks to analyze the differences between the two moments of the student protests, seeking to reveal continuities and differences between the two periods and what these differences reveal about (1) the social movements' frameworks on the tariff issue and the implication of these frameworks for political mobilizations; (2) the importance of material and political organization in relation to the repertoire of action of the social movement, that is, how much the material and leadership dimension affects the defined strategies; and (3) understand how changes in the bus fare have become one of the main stumbling blocks of the Christmas student movement. In both cases, 2005 and 2013, the opening of a political environment, originated by the same factor, the definition of increased bus fare, produced different forms of protest, preparation of protests, interpretation of the public transport fare, with continuities and discontinuities between both. These political and organizational differences within the same theme, analyzed qualitatively, help to understand the limits and possibilities for the action of social movements from the moment political opportunities arise, that is, when the political environment opens up for claims originated outside institutional politics.