Plans and Theories

MST leader Stedile addresses questions on current situation

The recent historical trajectory of Latin America has been marked by the dominance of the neoliberal project in the '90s. Then there were uprisings in several countries and the people elected progressive governments that dominated the 2000 scenario (with the victory of Chavez) until 2013. In this last period there were three political-economic projects on the continent.

The first was the neoliberal project that represented the interests of big local capital and transnational companies and especially U.S.banks

Landless Workers’ Movement analyzes the situation and makes proposals

1. The current global crisis of capitalism, initiated in 2008, is causing increased unemployment, increased social inequality and concentration of income and wealth, besides intensifying the use of repressive state apparatus worldwide.

2. Big capital is unable to provide outlets for capitalism’s crisis. They emphasize that it will be a deep, long crisis, which will require structural reforms. Its social consequences are still unpredictable.

Brazil - Cablegate : How the US Sees the Landless Movement in Brazil

cablegateNatalia Viana, 22 December 2010, 14.00 GMT 

New cables published by Wikileaks reveal that the U.S. embassy and consulates in Brazil are deeply concerned about the Landless People’s Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra or MST). The diplomats claim that the three decade old movement is losing power because of outgoing President Lula’s land poverty reduction programs.

[01/27/08] Interview with Joao Pedro Stédile: ‘The WSF Has to Agree On Common Actions Against Common Enemies’

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 24 (IPS) - Joao Pedro Stédile thinks that the World Social Forum (WSF) should remain a debating arena for civil society, because with all its breadth and variety, to attempt to agree on resolutions is "an illusion." The Brazilian landless movement activist is also in favour of holding the WSF every three years, instead of annually, he said in an interview with IPS correspondent Mario Osava. A member of the group that founded the WSF in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in 2001, Stédile is regarded as one of the main theorists of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), and he belongs to the local chapter of Vía Campesina, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).

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