Education in the Brazilian Landless Worker Movement
A Conversation with Alessandro, National Leader of the MST Education Sector
Saturday, December 5th
7 PM
Location: Casa Mariposa – 127 N. Palomas Ave. Tucson, AZ
The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST), one of the largest social movements in Latin America, is internationally famous for its success occupying large unproductive land estates and pressuring the government to redistribute this land to over 1 million landless farmers. Less well known are the movement’s educational initiatives. Over the past three decades, MST leaders have drawn on diverse educational theories to develop a set of pedagogical practices for schools that encourage youth to stay in the countryside, foster collective forms of work, and participate in political struggle. Activists engage in contentious actions to support their educational ideas, while facilitating community discussions, organizing teacher trainings, and writing curricula with state actors. In the state of Paraná, the MST administers 11 public schools that are currently functioning within MST land occupations. MST leader Alessandro, one of the state coordinators of the education sector in Paraná, will talk about these educational experiences and how the MST has succeeded in both occupying land and occupying the Brazilian school system.
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