Presented during the Hemispheric Institutes 8th Encuentro, Cities | Bodies | Action: The Politics of Passion in the Americas, in São Paulo, Brazil,  this round table discussion on contemporary social movements in the Americas allowed scholars, artists and activists to engage in diverse discussions with each other and with the Encuentro participants.

Jacques Servin: New Frontiers in Humor and Revolution
Jade Percassi: Culture and Communication in the Struggle for a New Society
Juan Marco Vaggione: Sexuality and the Law in Argentina: Challenges and Steps Forward
Julieta Paredes: The Red of Wellbeing, Suma Qhamaña
Víctor Hugo Robles: Free Sex Education!

Moderator: Nick Mirzoeff

Biographies

Jacques Servin (Andy Bichlbaum, US) is a co-founder of the Yes Men, a group that has accomplished numerous high-profile media interventions serving to highlight environmental, economic and social injustices and the systemic problems that lead to them. He teaches at NYU and at the Hemispheric Institute he heads the Yes Lab, which helps students and others carry out media interventions.

Juan Marco Vaggione (Argentina) is a researcher at the Argentinean National Council of Science and Technology (CONICET) and Professor at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, National University of Cordoba, Argentina. His background is in law (Doctorate, National University of Córdoba) and Sociology (Ph.D., New School for Social Research). Interests: Religion, Politics and Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Rights.

Julieta Paredes Carvajal (Bolivia) is an Aymara lesbian and communitarian feminist. She is a founding member of Mujeres Creando, Mujeres Creando Comunidad and the Assembly of Communitarian Feminism. She is a writer, singer and anti-patriarchal poet.

Víctor Hugo Robles (Chile) is a journalist, homosexual activist, street performer and apostate known as “El Che de los Gays.” His work is featured in the documentary “El Che de los Gays,” which won the Audience Prize at the 2005 Bilbao International Gay/ Lesbian/Trans Film Festival. In 2010, he began a campaign for “apostasy” by publicly renouncing his Catholic baptism and becoming the first judicially recognized apostate in Chilean history.