The leftist leader you haven't heard of yet

She's all over the Spanish language news, but why do we in the English-speaking world never hear about Camila Vallejo? What she is doing in Chile should be an inspiration to all of us.

ON EDIT: I noticed somebody else posted a link about her while I was still typing my post. hehe. I guess she's becoming visible now. :)



--quote--
As the Friday afternoon sun dipped towards the horizon, some students at the University of Chile played ping pong or football and couples lounged and kissed in the last warmth of the day. But others had more serious matters on their minds: the wildly popular student uprising that has transformed the nation's political agenda. And for many of the protesters involved and those who sympathise with its aims, the face of the uprising is Camila Vallejo.

In a basement auditorium a group of 60 student leaders planned the next steps in their burgeoning revolution for free university education, with Vallejo centre stage.

<<snip>>

The government response has reminded many older Chileans of that same dark era. Three days ago, on Thursday, Chilean riot police ambushed Vallejo and a group of fellow student leaders just after a press conference in downtown Santiago. "They targeted the leadership with violence," said Ariel Russell, a University of Chile student who witnessed the attack. "We had not even started the march and the police apparatus was upon us."

<<snip>>

Over the next four hours, journalists were beaten and 250 people arrested. Twenty-five police were injured as masked youths with paint bombs and handfuls of rocks counter-attacked. All Thursday afternoon, downtown Santiago was awash in running street fights between heavily armoured police units and hundreds of protesters decked in shorts and tennis shoes, with scarves to shield them from the gas. ... The government blamed Vallejo for the chaos...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/08/camila-vallejo-latin-america-revolutionary?newsfeed=true
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/02/camila-vallejo-chile-s-hard-left-heartthrob.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/24/chile-student-leader-camila-vallejo

sans "leadership" and I, for one, like it that way.

word has been popping up lately in connection with OWS. Either that or I was having ADD moment, take your pick. ;-)