The problems we face in our daily lives can generate in us a great feeling of impotence. After all, how could a single person act to improve a school's infrastructure, improve access to a population in need of basic sanitation or, alone, demand that large companies treat their employees in a fair? It is exactly for this reason that the popular organizations. They are an attempt by a group, or several, to solve these and many other problems through direct action. The day September 3rd was the date chosen to celebrate the actions of change that come from this form of popular action.
Among the forms of popular organization are the various social movements that were formed in search of changes in society. These organizations exist from actions that are born from "civil society", that is, from the citizens, or from the sphere private companies, being formed informally and spontaneously or legally constituted and with representation institutional. Therefore, the expression "organized civil society" has become the usual way of referring to these entities and the phenomenon that we witness today an increase in the participation of citizens in matters that are routinely treated as belonging to the sphere public.
The history of Brazil, as well as that of all Latin American countries, is full of very important events that resulted from the clash, sometimes political, sometimes violent, waged by social movements that started precisely from the action of citizens. The military regime that lasted for 21 years, between the years 1964 and 1985, came to an end thanks to the great pressure that came from popular organizations, which emerged in response to the barbarity of crimes committed by the military, such as torture and murder by political or arbitrary motivation, and to acts of curtailing individual freedoms, such as censorship and curfews that were deployed.
Organizations such as the student movement and those of a labor nature, such as the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), which emerged in this moment of repression, they were responsible for large acts of protest that strongly affected the integrity of the government. military. The famous strike of the ABC paulista of 1980, in which about 300 thousand metallurgists paralyzed their activities for 41 days, is proof of the effectiveness that popular organizations can have. Its effects culminated in the weakening of the military dictatorial government, which finally collapsed in 1985.
Social movements originating from popular organizations are characteristic of a plural society, which is built around the political struggle for collective or individual interests. Therefore, the organization of individuals for a cause is a characteristic of a politically healthy society. Those who act in pursuit of political representation act in such a way as to produce direct or indirect pressure on a state's body politic.
Speaking of this subject from the theoretical perspective, there are authors who identify in social movements and popular organizations two distinct forms of popular manifestation. For authors such as Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, social movements are rational phenomena, in which the subjects voluntarily gather around a common cause or idea so that there is a paradigm shift or defense of a direct. Others, such as Le Bon, Tarde and Ortega y Gasset, see in popular manifestation the irruption of irrationality, a kind of disruption of the established order. For all these authors, however, social movements have some points in common: they express a desire to change some social aspect and symbolize the existence of a social tension about some point in the environment or the condition experienced in the society.
by Lucas Oliveira
Graduated in Sociology
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/03-setembrodia-das-organizacoes-populares.htm