Research Report #01
Civil Society or Urban Peripheries in the Face of the Pandemic (March-July 2020)

Rebecca Abers and Marisa von Bülow

In this first research report, we draw a general profile of civil society initiatives that emerged between March and June 2020, based both on our own mapping and on other initiatives launched across the country. We focus specifically on the mobilizations carried out in the urban peripheries, without intending to cover the entire diversity of initiatives of Brazilian civil society. The text also offers initial reflections on the repertoires of collective action in use, on the mobilized agendas and agendas and on the relationship (or rather the lack of relationship) between these initiatives and public policies to cope with the pandemic. Access the report in Portuguese and In English.

Research Report #02
The Impacts of the Pandemic on Digital Activism

Marisa von Bülow

The second research report, written by Marisa von Bülow, focuses on the impacts of the pandemic on digital activism. The author argues that there is a digital turn in the actions of civil society organizations in the context of the pandemic. In part, this is due to the simple fact that actors use digital resources more. Most importantly, however, there is a deeper process of transformation, shown in this Report through examples of appropriation, diversification, adaptation, and creation of new bridges between online and digital arenas. This transformation is incipient and highly unequal, but the Report shows that the perception of civil society actors about the potentialities of digital activism has changed because of the pandemic, especially in the cases of civil society actors who have had to face the obstacles presented by digital exclusion. Access the second report in Portuguese and in English.

Transformations of digital activism and the COVID-19 pandemic

A shorter version of this Report was published in Spanish in Internet Ciudadana. Look here