One-hour long interview (in Spanish) with the legendary founder and longtime leader of Brazil's Movement Without Land (MST), João Pedro Stédile

On Tuesday (March 2, 2021), I interviewed João Pedro Stédile, the legendary founder and former president of the Movement Without Land (MST), for my co-edited book "Progressive Governments and Social Movements in Latin America: The 'Creative Tension' between Resistance and Convergence" (with co-editors Kyla Sankey and Ronaldo Munck) to be published by Rowman and Littlefield as part of the “Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom” series. Stédile discussed the relations between the MST and the Workers Party (of Lula) and stated that the MST paved the way for Lula's election as president in 2003. He also says that unlike the previous neoliberal government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff always engaged in dialogue with the MST and other social movements but that there was a fundamental difference between the MST and the PT government: while the government attempted to maintain social peace on the basis of an "equilibrium," the MST engaged in social struggles to achieve class aims. He also points out that the MSM turned down the request of PT leaders for the MST to name various cabinet ministers (possibly members of the MST itself) as ministers at the outset of Lula's first administration. The MST, in contrast to the pro-PT labor confederation (the CUT), assumed this position in the name of social movement autonomy. Stédile ends the interview saying that in the face of the repressive Bolsonaro government, unity among leftist parties and social movements has been forged on the basis of concrete demands including COVID vaccinations for all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fcuriNDOoU