A CARACTERIZAÇÃO DAS ORGANIZAÇÕES DE JUVENTUDE DE IRATI-PR

Abstract

The present research is aimed to qualify political organizations of youngsters from the city of Irati, PR, in 2013. In order to do so, it was sought to identify the organizations’ practices, their ways of conducting them and their conceptions of world and teleologies by taking as references some dimensions of the praxis category. It is a qualitative, dialectical-based research using documentary and bibliographical research as data collection tools in addition to field research. Initially, twenty-two forms were applied to the twenty-six organizations identified in the municipality, and organizations with political participation were selected based on the criteria of participation in public spaces of decision making, space for development and political debates, and/or search for the structural transformation of society. Considering this scenario, fifteen organizations were identified and invited to participate in the second stage of the research, which consisted of the attendant’s observation and participation in the Círculo de Cultura (Circle of Culture). Data analysis was carried out through content analysis in nine categories: origins, practices, material conditions, public receiver, external relations, internal relations, organizational arrangements, world conceptions, and purposes. Among the major results, the influence of parent institutions in the development of the demands and identities of the organizations was identified. Their practices are indicated by the production and diffusion of interpretations of social reality, while its conceptions of the world are divided into those based on elements of common sense (empirical), those based on Marxist referential and its derivations, and a third group of those whose theoretical framework is presented in a hybrid and non-systematized manner. Organizations with few resources and little structure prevail, and they have a range of actions at local or municipal level towards society and the youngsters of the organization itself. Most organizations have a partnership with other organizations and social movements for networks and forums, connecting their local demands to actions at a global level. Internally, it was observed that most organizations have a number of participants of less than twenty people, and that a significant part of these participants is linked to more than one organization. Moreover, switching of and from the organizations results in consequences such as the problem of inheritance (material and symbolic), which tends to be lost, besides the oscillation of the organizations once they can have periods of inactivity. Organizational arrangements based on the assembly-direction system predominate, but horizontality is also significant. It was noticed that two-thirds of the surveyed organizations’ purpose are related to protection and guarantee of rights. The overcoming of the capitalist system and the construction of socialism were identified in six organizations, and almost all of them presume that educational processes and methodological experiences are valid to construct socialism. In the experiences regarding the council and conference for youth, we saw an inter-organization action that led to the rise of the youngsters as collective subject in the city sphere. In the demonstrations held in Brazil in June 2013, the principle of horizontality was observed, as well as rejection of conventional structures of power and organization by means of social networks.