Our objectives The challenge to build a magazine was posed out of the need for instruments that foster the dissemination of critical thought that questions neoliberal dogmas and that contributes with arguments to the movements in defense of public education in the Americas. This challenge was assumed by the Researchers Network of the Initiative for Democratic Education in the Americas (IDEA Network), establishing a four-monthly calendar and an electronic format for easy international distribution. The participative spirit, open to debate and to the contributions of IDEA Network colleagues and others, is reflected in the name of this effort: “Intercambio” (EXCHANGE). The selection of this title also intends to ratify the importance of mutual knowledge of what is happening in our countries, as an opportunity to learn from our struggles and to call on one another for solidarity. The “Intercambio” magazine will aim to address themes linked to the following: the right to education and the neoliberal threat; the public school of our times; educational quality; responsibilities and rights of teachers, other education workers, and students; the education-society relationship, and democratic initiatives and proposals for the transformation of the school. We believe that this set of themes -broad but clearly oriented- will be an incentive for professors and researchers in the production of materials elaborated out of and for the continental social movement in defense of public education. Our hope is that the magazine will become a gathering space -an open and diverse reference of analysis and proposals- for all the social organizations participating in the IDEA Network and many more who share the objective to preserve education as a social right. We also hope that teachers, other education workers, mothers and fathers, students, and social activists, will make it their own as well. We encourage each of you our readers to send your comments and to collaborate with articles to continually improve and open permanent EXCHANGE (Intercambio) committed to the educational cause of our peoples. Editorial Committee