Trevizo's Rural Protest: The 1968 Student Massacre

The first two chapters in Rural Protest: And the making of democracy in Mexico, 1968-2000, highlight the significance of social groups during the transition from the PRI’s regime into democracy, as well as the historical importance of the student massacre in 1968. Chapter one discusses the importance of social movements, and how movement-counter movement dynamics with government repression can either abolish these movements, or strengthen them by banding the people together in more radical approaches. Chapter two transitions into how these social movements exposed the violent and abusive tactics of the PRI on an international stage with the 1968 student massacre during the Olympic Games and cost them legitimacy not only within Mexico, but on a worldly stage. It has been documented that most of the literature based on democracy states that …show more content…
In chapter one, Trevizo aims to break the stigma that social movements are weak and useless by showing that democracy starts with civilization. In order for the PRI and their repressive tactics to be disbanded, it is imperative that strong willed social movement groups fight the PRI to bring democracy to Mexico . The repressive ways of the PRI made them vulnerable to counter movements from social groups, which brought commodore among the people, and weakened the government . Trevizo has portrayed the indigenous people and social movements as resilient in the movement-countermovement dynamics with the PRI and refusing to back down to their repression and violence . Chapter 2 shows how the social groups took the fight as far as they needed to with the PRI in order to get their rights and democracy in the 1968 student massacre. The student movement of