Brazil: ‘We need to fight the coup plotters and shift the government’s economic program,’ MST leader
Brazil: ‘We need to fight the coup plotters and shift the government’s economic program,’ MST leader says
Friday, October 2, 2015
By Federico Fuentes & Alexandre Conceição
South America’s largest country, Brazil, has been rocked in recent months by a political crisis in part fuelled by a mass protest movement calling for the dismissal of centre-left president Dilma Rousseff. The protests come as the country officially moves into recession, with Brazil’s economy expected to contract this year by 2%.
Brazil has been governed by a Workers’ Party (PT)-led coalition for over a decade, firstly under Luiz Ignacio “Lula” da Silva and now Dilma, as she is commonly referred to. As one of a number of leftist parties to have been elected to government in South America since 2000, the PT has been particularly important to the process of regional integration due to Brazil’s large economy and strategic role in the region.
Many believe the PT – which emerged out of the anti-dictatorship and trade union struggles of the 1970s – is facing its biggest crisis yet, and there are strong signs that the party is shifting to the right.
In response, sections of the left, such as the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) – the largest social movement in Latin America – are reorganising and preparing themselves for the fight ahead.
Green Left Weekly’s Federico Fuentes interviewed Alexandre Conceição, a national leader of the MST, to get his views on the current political situation in Brazil and the left’s response.
More:
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/60226