Critical community solidarity against neoliberal governance in the Americas: Red SEPA and the struggle to transform education systems

Purpose This article analyzes the formation of the SEPA, a network of various grassroots organizations, teachers’ unions and student organizations created in 1999 as a counterweight to neoliberal educational governance in the Americas, founded on critical community solidarity (CCS). Design/methodology/approach The article is a qualitative study based on Critical Discourse Analysis, in which two main sources of data are used: semi-structured interviews with participants of SEPA and a review of working documents and publications of the organization. The theoretical approach is based on critical solidarity and critical interculturality. We consider this approach useful to build a community analysis of transnational solidarity for educational decolonization and against neoliberalism in education. In addition, this conceptual toolbox allows us to build a strategic and original analysis of the struggle for the vindication of local knowledge and educational experiences. Findings The results of the article show that SEPA has achieved significant results in three areas: (a) the development of non-neoliberal educational governance; (b) the importance of CCS as a transnational strategy to counter Western neoliberal educational governance in the Americas; and (c) the construction of an intercultural educational paradigm in which indigenous knowledge occupies a central place in the policy-making process. Originality/value The research addresses a little-studied case of educational solidarity developed from within communities, with the aim of building a different model of regional educational governance.