Profile: Youth in Action: Eisla Vycent
Eisla Vyncent, poet and singer, resident resident of Parada Morabi neighborhood, in Duque de Caxias, in Rio de Janeiro, is an example of youth activism at 17 years old.
High School student, Eisla has been a sociopolítica militant since 11, but her effective participation, with a standpoint, was at 15. Until then, her development was more present in the cultural part, when her mother, Elizete Morabi, took her to conferences and meetings of UNEGRO, always encouraging her to sing in the event’s opening or closing. That was how Eisla began to identify with social debate spaces.
Eisla took the course of political formation Seja Democracia, aimed at young, black people from the favelas. It was at that moment that she started to stand as a youth activist, being the youngest integrator of Duque de Caxias’ UNEGRO. Since then, she joined the Mulher para Renovar, a movement that takes care of women victims of violence and seeks the feminine empowerment, led by her mother. Based on this movement, she created a project called “Juventude Revolucionária”, in which she invites the youth to representation and participation. Through this social engagement, doors opened to other student projects.
About participation on Politics Class
“When I entered the Politics Class, I realized that there were only doctors, graduates in various areas, and I was the only high school student present. It was really hard for me to express myself, but they welcomed me really well and stopped to listen to me. That’s when I thought: if doctors linten to me, why can’t the youth? So I’ve decided, once and for all, to join the social movement, to become a sociopolitical activist”, says.
By participating in international events by CEPIA Cidadania, during the years of 2020 and 2021, she developed a strong social side. Eisla stood out during a meeting between teenagers and young people from América Latina with anglo-saxon afros promoted by CEPIA and was invited to join the Generation Equality Forum. She sent a video talking about the importance of women participation and gender equality and, because of that participation, could join some CEPIA’s plans and events, which offered her a continuous development. The next step was giving lectures on schools and other environments.
Eisla summons her trajectory
I started giving lectures in state schools in 2021, the first one was at the Integrated Center of Public Education 441 Mané Garrincha (CIEP), where I study. This school is already pushing me up. I was asked to be part of the unity’s student council and I’m already working on my second project there. The first one was the ‘Resgatando a Cidadania’ and now we doing the ‘De Olho no ENEM – Exame Nacional de Ensino Médio’, in which the proposal is for the students to be the monitors, oriented by the teacher, but exercising the youth protagonist, to put themselves in a pride place in their own story. This project works as a school reinforcement, the classes are ministrated by last year students who identify with a specific subject. The didactic material is given by the State”, she explains.
Eisla intends, in a close future, to implement ‘De Olho no ENEM – Exame Nacional de Ensino Médio’ in other schools.
She says that she inherited her mother’s political vein and that this is a legacy she careers. Says, yet, that when she studies, recognizes and deepens herself in a place of need of positioning, realizing that it is time to take a stand socially and asks for society to recognize her position. Also asks that young people see her fight and follow her for realizing the need of occupying democratic spaces now. Society and social movements need youth’s presence, according to Eisla.
To finish up, Eisla says that, nowadays, her fight is for youth and for women. She often speaks, during lectures, on the importance of youth in democratic spaces, places where everyone has rights, and on the histories people carry. All of this in a historic frame, trying to rescue citizenship and to inspire feminine empowerment, the two most debated topics on her lectures.
