Creative Activism and Intersectional Solidarity in the University of Puerto Rico Occupation of 2010

Abstract

This chapter asks how creative activism helps heterogeneous movements sustain solidarity without flattening difference. In the summer of 2010, students at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) launched a 62-day occupation to protest austerity measures introduced by Governor Luis Fortuño. Known as “The Creative Strike,” the occupation stood out for the presence of cultural expression. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and media, this qualitative case study shows how creative activism operated as a flexible infrastructure for managing ideological, organizational, and social diversity within the movement. The author analyzes three mechanisms: differentiated camp identities, expressive barricades, and the satirical radio soap opera Amor de Barricada. Together, these creative practices channeled internal tensions through symbolic boundaries and humor while sustaining intersectional solidarity. The findings contribute to scholarship on creative activism and intersectional organizing by demonstrating how cultural forms function not only as tactics of visibility but as mechanisms for managing internal diversity and maintaining cohesion.