Covid-19, right-wing populism and agrarian struggles in Brazil: Interview with João Pedro Stédile, national leader of the MST

ABSTRACT

The pandemic has underlined the need to continue fighting for paradigmatic change, including toward food sovereignty for our people and agroecology to produce while preserving nature.

KEYWORDS:

• Brazil
• MST
• agroecology
• food sovereignty
• Covid-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

2 In 2019, the Chamber of Deputies opened a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry to investigate the dissemination of fake news from a group that has been called as ‘the office for hate’. The investigation is ongoing, but several Federal Deputies – who participated in the dissemination of false news and were elected in 2018 – revealed how these false news have been and are still being disseminated supporting Bolsonaro. Also, in 2019, some judges were threatened on social media, resulting in an investigation by the Supreme Court, which is still ongoing but has already revealed dozens of businesspeople who financially support the spread of false news.

3 The reference to the Pope has a historical and a contextual perspectives: (a) historically, the MST was born in 1984/1985 partially as result of social and educational works of the Catholic Based Communities and of the Liberation Theology (see Stédile and Fernandes 1999); (b) contextually, Latin America is a ‘culturally catholic continent’ and the recent statements by Pope Francis supporting social justice and the possibilities for alliances with the churches’ progressive sectors are crucial for connecting to the grassroot people of the MST but also keeping faith and hopes in the struggle.

4 The election of Bolsonaro is also linked to conservative religious groups, particularly an increased power related to the growth of Evangelical Pentecostal churches. According to Garcia (2019) ‘The churches provide a solid social base for conservatism in the urban peripheries where they did grassroots work during the campaign. There are reports of cults where a pastor promoted Bolsonaro and his allies directly, distributing campaign pamphlets together with church pamphlets against abortion, etc. On the day that he won the election, Bolsonaro began his speech with a prayer led by an evangelical pastor, live on national television. For the left, the question now is how to rebuild the work at the grassroots and re-establish a dialogue with the poor in the favelas and in the peripheries, and in the churches, to counter reactionary groups.’

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Sergio Sauer

Sergio Sauer, PhD in Sociology, is a professor in the Graduate Program of Environment and Rural Development (FUP) and in the Center for Sustainable Development (CDS), University of Brasília (UnB), and holds a research scholarship from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) - Brazil.