Brazil: Life Inside an MST Landless Workers’ Settlement

Michael Fox ‘Out there they call us riff raff. But we are really organized. And we are able to build much more than people out there believe.’ For nearly 40 years, Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) has been fighting the concentration of landownership among the country’s elite through the direct occupation and settlement of fallow…

Women of the Earth: Landless Women

MST Photo: MST in Minas Gerais Coluna Aromas de Março extols the importance of women in Popular Agrarian Reform in the struggle for a more egalitarian country All over the world we are experiencing a crisis of the capitalist production model, which expresses its contradictions in different aspects, among them: political, economic, social, and environmental….

Brazil: Landless Women Denounce Repression at the National Day of Struggle

MST MST in Pará On Wednesday, there were several incidents of repression against women by the police and private security forces In mobilization all over the country, the National Day of Struggle of Landless Women gathered in 22 states and the Federal District, with marches, occupations of lands and public agencies and a series of…

Ahead of its 40th Anniversary, MST Releases a Letter to the Brazilian People

Peoples Dispatch National Coordination meeting of the MST. Photo: Matheus Alves Following its national coordination meeting, the MST reaffirms its commitment against oppression and in defense of food security The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) released, on Friday January 27, the Letter to the Brazilian People, a document with political messages and guidelines to activists…

João Pedro Stedile: “Human Beings are at Risk”

João Pedro Stedile Between October 23 and 25, the International Conference for Peace took place in Rome. João Pedro Stedile, leader of MST Brazil, delivered a lecture on the critical situation of humanity and its precarious situation on earth. I thank you for the honorable invitation to participate in this important conference of wise people…

João Pedro Stedile: The Left and Lula

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2c_XgXUmg In part two of our conversation with João Pedro Stedile, he discusses the governability and decision-making capacity of the Lula government in the face of a conservative senate and chamber of deputies. João Pedro Stedile of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement and the International Peoples’ Assembly, discusses the prospects of the Lula government as…

João Pedro Stedile: “Lula’s Victory is a Political and Social Victory, Not Just Electoral”

Peoples Dispatch In part one of this two-part interview, Stedile discussed the major challenges facing the incoming Lula government, the Bolsonarista blockades, and Lula’s priorities for foreign relations. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party emerged victorious in the historic elections held in Brazil on October 30. With almost 50.9% of the votes,…

João Pedro Stedile: Brazil’s Divided Bourgeoisie

João Pedro Stedile, Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) national directorate member : The Brazilian bourgeoisie that once marched united and gave us four coups is now divided thanks to contradictions in the class struggle. Economic, environmental and political crisis in Brazil has resulted in a split within the bourgeoisie and some have now abandoned Bolsonaro…

Gilmar Mauro: “Defeating Fascism in Brazil is Fundamental”

Days after the first round of elections in Brazil, Gilmar Mauro, of the national board of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement spoke to Peoples Dispatch about the challenges ahead for people’s movements in Brazil to secure the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party of Brazil.

Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers’ Movement Elects Six Candidates

Landless Rural Workers’ Movement MST candidates from left to right: Marina, Rosa Amorim, Valmir Assunção, Missias, Marcon, Adão Pretto (Photo: MST) The MST elects candidates in the South, Southeast and Northeast of Brazil for state and federal office The Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) made history this Sunday, October 2, by electing 6 candidates for…

Ending Hunger, Reviving Agriculture: The MST’s Vision for Post-Election Brazil

João Pedro Stedile of the national leadership of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) talks about the current crisis in the agrarian sector and the way forward. He explains how the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro has wrecked agriculture, leading to a rise in hunger. He also talks about the MST’s proposals for reviving the sector which…

Joāo Pedro Stedile: Lula, BRICS and Latin American Integration

Joāo Pedro Stedile, one of the national directors of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) provides an analysis (in Spanish) of the situation in Brazil going into the October 2nd election. Recorded by Kawsachun News in São Paulo on September 29, 2022. What’s expected from Lula’s foreign policy if he returns to the presidency? Kawsachun News…

João Paulo Rodrigues: “Brazil Has a Great Responsibility in Latin America”

Brasil de Fato MST national leader, João Paulo Rodrigues – Guilherme Santos/Sul21 João Paulo Rodrigues is a member of the national coordination of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) and represents the MST within Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign for the presidency of Brazil.  In an interview with Brasil de Fato, Rodrigues speaks about the upcoming 2022 Brazilian general…

“Dialogue Among Family,” says MST Leader on Meeting with Colombian Vice President Francia Márquez

Michele de Mello Francia Márquez met with leaders of Brazilian popular movements on July 26, in São Paulo – Photo: Vinícius Poço de Toledo Agrarian reform, agro-ecology, and integration were topics discussed between the MST and the vice-president-elect of Colombia The Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST) was one of the organizations that met with the…

Gramsci in the Midst of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST)

Tricontinental Dossier no. 54 (July 2022) An Interview with MST Militante Neuri Rossetto Introduction Despite the persistent hegemony of capitalism and its ruling neoliberal ideology, various forms of resistance, social struggle, and proposals for an emancipated future continue to emerge. This is taking place in the face of economic, political, social, and environmental crises as…

Breaking the Map with the Machete’s Edge: The Internationalism of the Landless

João Pedro Stedile Landless, but with a lot of history, the peasants of Brazil’s MST have been practicing internationalism as a principle since 1984. As in their own flag, the machete overflows the borders and traces the itinerary of new possible maps. For the Landless Rural Workers Movement of Brazil (MST), the dialectic between nationalism…

A Space for Rebels: MST’s Florestan Fernandes School

Maria Gorete Sousa A look into the Landless Rural Workers Movement’s autonomous, international political formation school. ENFF (Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes/Florestan Fernandes School), was born out of a decision made by the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (Movimento de Trabalhadores Sem Terra/MST) to create a political education system for activists from the cities and the countryside….

South Africa: A Place of Hope in a Time of Spiraling Crisis

Nigel C Gibson Illustrator: Anastasya Eliseeva The eKhenana occupation in Cato Manor, Durban, is a significant site in the struggle for a South Africa that respects the humanity of all. South Africa has many moments in its long history of struggle that are recognised internationally as turning points. These include the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, the…