The Political and Economic Dimensions of Everyday Life: The Conflict as a Political Institution of a Landless-Cooperative in Brasil

Taking as a case study a cooperative belonging to the Landless Movement (MST) of Brazil, this article analyzes the place of conflict and the relationship between the economic and political dimensions of daily life. It presents an analysis on the way to balance the political principles and practices of cooperativism and the constraints imposed by the market economy, by trying to understand how the political experiences of the subjects participate in establishing a social order around a common political project, under permanent construction.

Agri-Food Markets towards Agroecology: Tensions and Compromises Faced by Small-Scale Farmers in Brazil and Chile

One of the main dilemmas faced by small-scale farmers’ movements advocating for agroecology in Latin America lies in the trade-offs between the economic opportunities arising from the organic food market expansion, and the political principles at the core of their action. To provide insights on this issue, a survey was performed in Brazil and Chile. Between March 2016 and December 2018, data were collected through direct and participant observation, documentary analysis, and interviews conducted to peasant organizations’ leaders, technicians and policymakers. In Brazil, the research focused on the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (The Landless Movement); while in Chile, due to the absence of such a national social movement, it considered a wider set of actors, including the Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Agropecuario (National Institute for Agricultural Development). The results show how social movements are navigating between the mainstreaming pressures of the conventional markets, dominated by the leading agri-food corporations, and the political efforts they have been doing to build civic food markets as alternatives to conventionalization patterns. Finally, we argue that social scientists should better explain the tensions and compromises the social movements go through in order to coordinate different and complementary marketing strategies.

Quando rezo é canto, quando canto é rezo: trajetória educativa de um Coletivo de Cantantes e Brincantes na Educação do Campo Kilombola

This article presents the description and analysis of a cartographic research for the construction of a prayer song sung in the terreiro in praise of the Orixás. The cartography (Deleuze & Guatari, 1995) is an “intervention-research” (Kastrup et al, 2015) that allowed us to collectively organize the research songbook When pray is singing, when singing is pray as a map, though partial, of cultural events taking place in the Kilombola community Morada da Paz, at the same time that it allowed us to deepen in the popular Brazilian music to get to know songs that have as their theme the praise of the Orixás. As a result of this research, in addition of a cancioneiro that was presented in different educational spaces for three years, we organized workshops with themes related to education for ethnic-racial relations, rural education and Kilombola education. We relate these contents to a proposal for education in the Kilombola field, based on the articulation of the pedagogy of the landless movement (Caldart, 2000) to the Kilombola education guidelines, education for ethnic-racial relations and enchantment pedagogy.

Social Movement Consolidation and Strategic Shifts: The Brazilian Landless Movement during the Lula and Dilma Administrations

During the center-left Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party—PT) governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2002–2010) and Dilma Rousseff (2011–2016), the Brazilian Landless Movement took advantage of particular governmental changes—increased access to education, improved small-farmer support programs, and expanded agrarian reform development policies—to strengthen its leadership and organization. Instead of expanding, the movement turned inward to address internal weaknesses. It benefited from the PT’s ambiguous position with respect to the politics of agrarian reform. Since each administration dedicated considerable resources to public policies that the movement favored, neither government engaged in significant land redistribution. Durante los gobiernos de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2002–2010) y Dilma Rousseff (2011–2016), ambos pertenecientes al centro-izquierdista Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), el Movimiento Brasileño Sin Tierra aprovechó cambios gubernamentales particulares, como mejores programas de apoyo a los pequeños agricultores, mejor acceso a la educación y políticas ampliadas para el desarrollo de reformas agrarias, para fortalecer su liderazgo y organización. En lugar de expandirse, el movimiento se tornó hacia sí mismo para abordar debilidades internas. Se benefició de la posición ambigua del PT con respecto a las políticas de reforma agraria. Y dado que ambas administraciones dedicaron considerables recursos a políticas públicas favorecidas por el movimiento, ninguno se abocó a supervisar una redistribución significativa de la tierra.

Consumo de álcool entre jovens e adolescentes do Movimento Sem Terra / Alcohol consumption among young people and adolescents of the Landless Movement

Objetivo: identificar prevalência e fatores sociodemográficos relacionados ao consumo de álcool entre jovens e adolescentes do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra. Método: estudo transversal realizado com 288 jovens, cujos dados foram coletados no II Festival de Artes das Escolas de Assentamento do Paraná, no ano de 2014. Os dados foram analisados descritivamente e a associação pelos testes qui-quadrado, exato de Fisher e razão de prevalência. Resultados: dos participantes, 79,9% referiram consumo de álcool em algum momento da vida, dos quais 98,3% consumiram pelo menos uma vez no último ano. O consumo no último no mês (53,3%) e consumo excessivo episódico (14,4%) esteve associado ao sexo masculino (RP: 1,40; p=0,01; RP: 2,10; p=0,03, respectivamente). Conclusão: jovens do Movimento Sem Terra apresentaram comportamento vulnerável para o consumo de álcool, sobretudo os do sexo masculino.

A formação política de jovens assentados e sua relação com a efetivação da Escola do Campo

The present article presents some results of a Master’s degree research on the contributions of Paulo Freire State High School along the process of political education of young settlers who lives in the municipality of Abelardo Luz, in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It aims to identify this school’s contributions in the process of political education of these young people and understand the relation between such a formation and the struggle for a field school. This qualitative study used as tools for collecting data school observations, analysis over its political-pedagogical project, and semi-structured interviews. We based our analysis on authors such as Pistrak (2000; 2009), Freire (1987; 2004), Snyders (2005), Dalmagro (2003; 2016), Vendramini (2007) and Caldart (2000; 2004). Paulo Freire school is contextualized along with the research subjects, students’ and educators’ characteristics, highlighting some contributions given to the school in connection to the political education of its students. One of the conclusion is that the participation of the Landless Movement and school takes place according to the political-pedagogical project based on Study Complexes, contributing to the fulfillment of a field school when it reaffirms a school formation as a right and reinforces the permanent need of school occupation. It is reinforced the school as a room for struggles, a terrain where contradictory forces face each other, leaving room for action.