Brazil's Social Movements and the Current Political Context
Over the past two decades left-leaning governments have come to power throughout Latin America, sometimes referred to as the “progressive block” or “pink tide.” In Brazil, the Workers’ Party (PT) was founded in the early 1980s, at the same time as oppositional labor movements, women’s right’s groups, radical church-based organizations, and rural social movements were gaining force across the country. Now in power for a fourth consecutive term, what has the rise of the PT meant for these social movements? What is the relationship between the PT, social movements, and the mass mobilizations for free public transportation in June of 2013? And what are the implications of the current mobilizations calling for the resignation of Brazil’s PT President, Dilma Rousseff?
Rebecca Tarlau (Friends of the MST/Stanford Postdoctoral Scholar), a long-time researcher and collaborator with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST), will lead a discussion about the Brazilian political context. Rebecca will also give an update about the arrival of 20 MST leaders in the US in August 2015, and how people can get involved in this exchange.
