Tía Pikachu
Giovanna Grandón | |
|---|---|
 Giovanna Grandón as "Aunt Pikachu" during a 2020 protest. | |
| Member of the Constituional Convention | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2021 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Giovanna Jazmín Grandón Caro May 6, 1975 Santiago, Chile |
| Political party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations | The List of the People |
| Website | www |
| Nickname | Aunt Pikachu |
Giovanna Jazmín Grandón Caro (born 6 May 1975), also known as Tía Pikachu (Aunt Pikachu) is a Chilean preschool teacher, political activist, and politician. Se obtained great attention attention during the 2019 Chilean protests, mostly due to her wearing a costume of the character Pikachu from the Japanese media franchise Pokémon. On the 16th of May of 2021, she was elected as a member of the assembly that will write the new Chilean constitution as a response to the 2019 protests.
Early life
Giovanna Grandón was born in Santiago de Chile to a family of 4 sisters, with Grandón as the oldest. From an early age, she helped her single mother with housework and taking care of her younger sisters. In her adolescence, she met Jorge Millán Abarzua, with whom she married in 1993 and had a daughter and three sons.[1]
She worked as a vendor and a door-to-door saleswoman and later studied a technical career in Early Education, which she began to practice in 1996 at the National Board of Kindergartens, where her work consisted largely of educating and caring for children at social risk in their early childhood. in 2020, Grandón said through a YouTube transmission that working as an educator was a difficult period in which the educators witnessed crude stories and experiences of their young students, who were at social risk.[2]
Giovanna began working as a school bus driver in 2015, providing services for a school in the Peñalolén commune.[3] Before the social outburst, she lived in the the Lo Hermida town, where she and her family were preparing to move to Piriápolis, in Uruguay, looking for a new horizon of opportunities to live in.[4]
Political career
In mid-2019, Grandón's son, who was only 7 years old at the time, had picked out his father's credit card and bought 600,000 Chilean pesos' (about 800 USD) worth of Detective Pikachu merchandise through a phone call. Seeing how they were unable to get a refund, Grandón and her husband planned to sell the items, but kept an inflatable Pikachu costume to use for Halloween.[5] They later attended what is now considered to be the biggest march of Chile, where 1.2 million people protested, with the Pikachu costume, which is where she gained her fame as "Tía Pikachu", due to a series of viral videos of her dancing at said protest.
The viralization of the videos led one of her daughters to create a special Instagram for the character: in 24 hours, the account already had more than 24 thousand followers.[6] This instance of her participation led her to become one of the symbolic characters of the manifestations of the social outbreak. Subsequently, she continued to actively participate in the protests that took place between October 2019 and March 2020.[7]
On February 23, 2020, she participated in a routine of the impersonator and comedian Stefan Kramer at the 2020 Viña del Mar festival.[8] By February 2020, she had made a national tour visiting the cities of Concepción, Valdivia, in Osorno, among others. As of March, she had participated in charity concerts with Anita Tijoux and the 31 Minutos characters.[2]
On March 8, during a commemoration of International Women's Day, Giovanna Grandón was shot with a rubber bullet in the foot during clashes with Carabineros police forces.[9] During the following months of 2020, he continued to participate in public social activities and demonstrations.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile, the protests ceased. however, she continued to be a voice of criticism towards the Chilean State and how the pandemic exposed the weaknesses of the public and private systems.[10][11]
With the announcement of the national plebiscite, with which the option of a new constitution would be voted, Grandón participated in the campaign activities for its approval.[12]
On October 31, 2020, she was attacked by the Carabineros while she was participating in a demonstration on the side of the Pío Nono bridge. During the conflict, her suit was ripped open, she was punched in the face by her and was doused with pepper spray.[13]
As of May 2021, she has used seven Pikachu suits, since "the chemicals in the water from the riot trucks deteriorate the fabric with which it is made."[4]
Constitutional Convention
As the mobilizations continued and demanded a change of the constitution. Grandón's supporters began to ask her to formalize his possible candidacy as a member of the Constitutional assembly which will write the new constitution. With the results of the national Plebiscite, on October 26 of the same year she announced her interest in being a constituent candidate.[14] She also pointed out that she rejected many offers from political parties to have her as a candidate.[15]
With the creation of the The List of the People pact, she joined it as a pre-candidate in November. Later, she obtained the sponsorships and signatures to make her candidacy official.[16]
On May 16, 2021, she was elected as conventional constituent of the 12th district in the elections with 20,935 (5.64%) votes in her favor.[17][18]
References
- ^ "El 18-O de la Tía Pikachu". La Crisis Puertas Adentro (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Guzmán, Andrea (2020-03-20). "Así baila Tía Pikachu, símbolo del estallido social chileno". Vice (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Arros, Fernanda (2019-10-29). "¿Quién está detrás de Baila Pikachu?". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Caminos, Mauricio (2021-05-12). "Reforma constitucional en Chile: la historia de la "Tía Pikachu", de fenómeno viral a candidata". La Nación (in Spanish). ISSN 0325-0946. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
- ^ Crzu Giraldo, Juan (2019-10-30). "La historia tras "Baila Pikachú"". The Clinic (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Debowicz, Maia (2019-11-02). "¿Quién es "Baila Pikachu"? La historia detrás del muñeco inflable que se volvió viral en las protestas de Chile". Infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Gajarado, Luc (2019-10-29). "Hablamos con la tía Pikachu: "Hay que seguir manifestándose, con fuerza, amor y empatía"". POUSTA (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "[Fotos] Kramer sorprendió invitando a Viña al Sensual Spiderman, Pareman y la tía Baila Pikachu". Radio Cooperativa (in Spanish). 2020-02-24. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ ""Carabineros estaban reprimiendo bien fuerte": Tía Pikachu asegura haber recibido un perdigón en medio de la marcha del 8M". Chilevisión (in Spanish). 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Jure, Fernanda (2021-06-23). "Así sobrevive la Tía Pikachu a la pandemia desde Lo Hermida". Chilevisión (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Iván, Rimassa (2020-05-25). "Tía Pikachu: "Teníamos créditos para comprar autos, celulares y televisores y ahora da lo mismo… no hay comida"". Futuro (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "VIDEO: Caravana del APRUEBO recorrió Santiago y fue aplaudida por todo el pueblo, la Tía Pikachu arriba de un tren causó sensación". Gamba (in Spanish). 2020-09-03. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
- ^ "'Tía Pikachu' relata violento intento de detención: "Un carabinero me pegó un combo en la cara"". El Desconcierto (in Spanish). 2020-10-31. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "La "tía Pikachu" se prepara para ser constituyente: "Nadie dice que nos regalen todo o nos den todo fácil. El tema son las oportunidades"". ADN (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Tía Pikachu asegura que rechazó apoyos de partidos políticos para ser constituyente: "Que la gente decida"". Chilevisión (in Spanish). 2021-11-15. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Elecciones 2021: Un día de campaña con "Tía Pikachú"". Teletrece (in Spanish). 2021-03-24. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Puebla, Diego (2021-05-17). ""Tía Pikachu" se proclamó como constituyente: "Quiero agradecer a los que nunca soltaron la calle"". ADN (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Anglesey, Anders (2021-05-17). ""Aunt Pikachu" triumphs in Chile election to draft new constitution". Newsweek. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)