Neoliberalism, law, and strikes: Law as an instrument of repression at the University of Puerto Rico, 2010-2011

The exercise of power in the student strikes at the University of Puerto Rico in 2010-2011 was determined in part by Puerto Rico's colonial condition, and at the same time the strikes influenced the ideological construction of the country's colonial conflict. The law was used by both sides as a strategy for advancing their interests. At the same time, the criminalization and state terrorism employed in response to the strikes were the same strategies traditionally used against Puerto Rican independence movements, and the university administration and the government developed new ways of thwarting political demonstrations. The colonial conflicts and the student strikes fed each other and created a new pattern of political discussion and action.