Illustration by Maddy Kloss

You’ve already read everything on Bwog and you still have an entire problem set to finish. Don’t worry, we’ve got an article from The Columbia Political Review to get your mind off those Finite State Machines, or whatever. Here’s another addition to BwogSalon, our feature where we showcase fine works from other recent campus writings. If you’d like your publication to be considered for this feature, tell us!

Name of Publication: Columbia Political Review

Edition: December 2011, Volume XI, No. 2 (Read the full issue.)

Description: The Columbia Political Review is the magazine of the Columbia Political Union, a multi-partisan, undergraduate student organization seeking to enhance involvement in the political process and to foster political discourse.

Selected Article: A little bit about Matt Getz’s article on the Chilean youth movement and an excerpt:
In the past seven months, a well-coordinated student protest movement has rocked Chile to its core. Sometimes whimsical, other times violent, these protests—the most sustained mobilization since the advent of democracy—have captured the hearts and minds of most Chilean citizens…

The movement, often called the Chilean Winter, has found an ideological home among the indignados: its attempt to recast national issues in the light of development and equality has won it many global allies. In Latin America, education protests have popped up in Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina. The UK, Italy, France, and Spain have also seen student mobilization.

Some of the snapshots from Chile’s ongoing student movement depict a lighthearted mobilization. Led by the charismatic Camila Vallejo, the students have used Twitter and Facebook to stage kiss-a-thons and superhero-themed costume protests. But other images have been more violent. Protesters have taken to the streets and set fire to government buildings and private businesses. In return, they have been bombarded with water cannons and tear gas. Chilean president Sebastián Piñera has even threatened to invoke national security laws to declare the protests illegal. This heavy-handed response has triggered red flags in a country leery of a return to authoritarianism.

 Illustration via CPR