The Mexican #YoSoy132: the (unexpected) emergence of an activist network

The movement #YoSoy132 in Mexico began in May 2012. It represented an uncontainable social eruption, a self-gener­ated call to action which took to the streets and squares of the country’s main towns and cities. This article seeks to highlight the specific nature of these protests by examining the collective action and the experience of the use of infor­mation and communication technologies (ICT). As an activist network, #YoSoy132 developed within a cycle of protests that simultaneously create «common spaces» in city streets, and on the web 2.0, as was also the case with the Arab Spring, the 15-M movement in Spain and Occupy Wall Street in the United States, among other examples. This collective actor generated a performative being-together based on a call for democracy. The article examines the emergence, development, discourse and impact of #YoSoy132 through the analytical frameworks of collective action.

Key words: social movements, networks, information and communication technolo­gies (ICT), #YoSoy132, Mexico

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