SPUTNIK NEWS (MOSCOW), BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY -- We are joined by Anthony Pahnke, assistant professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University to talk about his new book, Brazil’s Long Revolution: Radical Achievements of the Landless Workers Movement, to talk about the dynamics, internationalism and anti-capitalism of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), and how the MST’s history of struggle could ground it against a reactionary government under the recently elected Jair Bolsonaro.
“Once families and the movement take the land, farmers tend to grow organic, sustainably farmed food and crops for local consumption,” Pahnke says. “They also try to set up schools that are run by the movement but that are financed by the Brazilian government. There have been thousands of schools set up throughout the country. We’re talking K – 12 and also higher education. ...
“In addition to providing education for historically marginalized people, the movement also tries to set up collectively owned and managed cooperatives where people work together. They have relatively equitable salaries and so on. ... When families occupy the land, they usually try to set up a clinic.”