Ni Una Menos and the Streets of Latin America

Introduction
On June 3, 2015, tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Buenos Aires carrying signs that read “Ni Una Menos” — “Not One [Woman] Less.” What began as a protest against femicide in Argentina quickly became a continental movement. From Mexico to Chile, women chanted the same words, demanding an end to gender-based violence, economic precarity, and state complicity.
This essay examines Ni Una Menos not only as a protest but as a new model of feminist politics: mass, populist, intersectional, and rooted in the rhythms of the street. It argues that the movement redefined feminism in Latin America by merging struggles against gender violence with broader fights against austerity, corruption, and inequality.

Femicide as Catalyst
Latin America has some of the highest rates of femicide in the world. The murder of 14-year-old Chiara Páez in Argentina in 2015 was a breaking point. Her death symbolized the convergence of domestic violence, state neglect, and cultural impunity.
The slogan Ni Una Menos captured both grief and defiance. It was not abstract theory but visceral demand: no more women should be killed, no more lives lost to patriarchal violence. The immediacy of femicide transformed feminism from an elite discourse into a mass populist outcry.

The Street as Political Stage
In Latin America, the street is not only a site of protest but of politics itself. Ni Una Menos marches filled plazas, highways, and neighborhoods with chants, drumming, and performance art. The street became a feminist classroom, court, and parliament.
Unlike small-scale lobbying or NGO workshops, these mobilizations were spectacular in size and creativity. Women carried green handkerchiefs (pañuelos verdes), painted their bodies, and staged die-ins. The movement was impossible to ignore: it made feminism visible in spaces of everyday life.

Intersectionality in Practice
While femicide was the catalyst, Ni Una Menos quickly broadened its agenda. Activists linked gender violence with:
+ Economic inequality: protesting austerity policies that left women vulnerable.
+ Labor rights: demanding recognition of domestic and care work.
+ Reproductive rights: mobilizing for safe and legal abortion, culminating in Argentina’s historic legalization in 2020.
+ State violence: denouncing police brutality, corruption, and authoritarianism.
This intersectional approach was not imported from academia but forged in practice. Feminism on the streets of Latin America did not separate private from public, gender from class, or violence from economics — it insisted that all were entangled.

Transnational Resonance
From its Argentine origins, Ni Una Menos spread across the region:
+ In Mexico, protests highlighted disappearances of women amid cartel violence.
+ In Chile, student feminists connected Ni Una Menos to struggles for education reform.
+ In Brazil, the movement intertwined with fights against racism and authoritarianism.
Each context adapted the slogan, showing that Ni Una Menos was not a fixed doctrine but a traveling grammar of resistance. Like music, it could be remixed without losing its urgency.

Feminism as Populism
Critics sometimes describe Ni Una Menos as “too populist,” lacking theoretical precision. But its populism is its power. Feminist movements in Latin America gained mass legitimacy not by staying in seminar rooms but by filling plazas with ordinary women: workers, mothers, students, Indigenous activists.
The green handkerchief became a populist symbol, recognizable across borders, much like the raised fist in labor movements. Feminism here was not elite; it was popular, embodied, loud.

The Role of Art and Performance
Performance has been central to Latin American feminism. In 2019, Chilean collective Las Tesis staged “Un violador en tu camino” (“A rapist in your path”), a choreographed chant against state violence. Videos of women blindfolded, pointing in unison, went viral globally.
Art transformed feminist protest into collective ritual, echoing both Indigenous traditions and avant-garde performance. It reminded the world that activism can be aesthetic — and that aesthetics can carry politics further than reports.

Challenges and Contradictions
Of course, Ni Una Menos is not without tensions. Movements face co-optation by political parties, fragmentation across class and race, and backlash from conservative groups. The rise of far-right leaders like Bolsonaro in Brazil or Milei in Argentina shows that feminist populism meets equally populist opposition.
Yet even amid backlash, the streets remain alive. Feminism in Latin America has proven resilient, adapting slogans, strategies, and symbols to shifting political climates.

Global Lessons
Ni Una Menos offers lessons for global feminism:
+ Mass participation matters: feminism must leave elite spaces and enter public squares.
+ Intersectionality must be lived: connecting gender to economics, race, and environment strengthens rather than dilutes movements.
+ Aesthetics are politics: symbols, chants, and performances are not decoration but core to mobilization.
+ Solidarity is contagious: a slogan in Buenos Aires can resonate in Berlin, Hanoi, or Cape Town.

Conclusion
In the streets of Latin America, feminism has found new life. Ni Una Menos transformed grief into defiance, private suffering into public demand, and isolated voices into continental chorus.
Its power lies not in perfection but in presence — bodies on streets, handkerchiefs in the air, chants reverberating across borders. It reminds us that feminism is not only theory but movement, not only discourse but rhythm, not only critique but creation.
“Not one less” is more than a slogan. It is a promise: that every life counts, every voice matters, and every step in the street can carry us closer to justice.