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This paper is a written dialogue among four activists from the Emancipa Popular Education Movement in Brazil, following the principles of Freirean pedagogy as a 'circle of culture'. It delves into how popular knowledge can be experienced as popular power, narrating the history, struggles, and strategies employed by the Emancipa movement in their pursuit of democratizing Brazilian universities. The discussion is set within the context of Latin American structural inequalities and the issue of educational exclusion in Brazil. It emphasizes the vital role of contesting culture and knowledge as part of the movement's fight against social injustices perpetuated by peripheral capitalism, including racist violence and gender oppression. The paper adopts emancipatory pedagogy as the method to empower and mobilize grassroots efforts in this transformative endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a debate anchored in a dialogue between concepts of insurgent planning and humane urbanism and the idea of a subaltern urbanism through the lens of a critical reflection on the role of city-building professionals. The paper explores the idea of an insurgent urbanism as a collaborative praxis of city design and development that arises from the protagonism of marginalised communities and the accumulative knowledge of social movements, activists and scholars. It focuses on three different learning dimensions based on the experience of teaching/research actions developed at a self-organised squat in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 2018 and 2022. Dialoguing with ideas of social learning, it shows that these practices have created a relevant exchange of different types of knowledge and have contributed to the development of other solutions that challenge the hegemonic and neoliberal city production and can therefore be seen as alternatives for the development of more egalitarian and imaginative futures that expand beyond the context of squats in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 2015–2016, high school students in Brazil occupied hundreds of schools across the country. Students fought to keep public schools open, funded, and functional, against outsourcing and privatisation, and in solidarity with teachers' trade unions and strikes. The 'primavera secundarista' ('student spring') was the most significant school student movement since the struggles against the military dictatorship (1964–1988). This paper firstly addresses the political dynamics of the primavera secundarista. Secondly, it discusses the movement's educational practices, which flourished in the months that students occupied their schools. Thirdly, it discusses the forms of community and solidarity that students built with other social actors and how they each learnt from this. In doing so, the paper builds on the work of Aziz Choudry and other scholars of social movement learning to argue that such student movements are prime sites of counter-hegemonic knowledge production and dissemination. Shown through the Brazilian high school occupations, the paper highlights how student movements are unusual in being situated in formal epistemic institutions, and yet are not widely recognised, especially in high schools, as blending formal and informal learning to produce and share knowledge-from-below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an approach to understanding dramatic social change, entwined with belief revision and shifting knowledge. It explores the interplay between rapidly changing material and ideological conditions through the concept of a rupture. Ruptures are breakdowns in existing social and epistemic practices and relations: periods which call into question what is normalized, such that something else can grow through the cracks. Ruptures do not guarantee any particular replacement, but rather facilitate the emergence of new practices and understandings of the world. Ruptures thus create conditions of possibility for people to explore new social relations and ideas. To develop this idea, this paper draws on Franz Fanon's writings on the Algerian anti-colonial revolution (1954–1962), as a paradigmatic rupture, as well as two smaller-scale ruptures: the student-worker movements over 2015–2016 in South Africa (#FeesMustFall) and Brazil (the primavera secundarista). In their respective contexts, each movement has substantively challenged prevailing practices and understandings that had been hegemonic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses why Egypt's labour movement, while having played a significant role in the run-up to the 2011 revolution, has been increasingly marginalised politically ever since, failing to achieve either significant labour-specific gains and/or broader objectives related to the overall process of political transformation. It does so by investigating Egypt's movement of independent trade unions, the most dynamic element within the country's labour movement, from a comparative perspective. Specifically, the paper uses the experience of Brazil's New Unionism in the 1980s as a contrasting case, identifies the factors that have enabled and constrained what is arguably the most successful example of a New Unionist movement in the Global South, and applies this explanatory framework in an in-depth study on the trajectory of Egypt's New Unionism since 2011. The study identifies four key differences between the Brazilian and the Egyptian case that help explain the post-revolutionary trajectory of independent labour in the latter: the different sequencing of neoliberal reforms and political liberalisation; the revolutionary character of the Egyptian uprising; the different role of individual movement entrepreneurs; and the lack of significant socio-political allies in the Egyptian case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the decentralisation of decision-making processes in local government. Empirically, I analyse how Brazilian housing movements are included in participatory processes by examining the ways in which participatory models integrate social movements in spaces of decision-making. I argue that the rules and focus on incremental policy-making limits the participation of social movements. Findings suggests that unequal power structures at local councils, barriers to the participation of citizens, and the lack of transparency of government decisions all prevent social movements from having a more influential voice in decision-making. Although previous studies in Brazil examined the integration of citizens in government institutions, this paper contributes to the literature in two ways: firstly, it provides new evidence on the impact of decentralisation in local government. Secondly, by examining the attitudes of housing council members towards popular political participation, it provides new insights into the limits of decentralisation and participatory governance in contemporary Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding the growing interest in cyberactivism in Brazil since the 2013 protests, not much is known about the previous unfolding of this kind of activism before it became a major actor in challenging the political system. Thus, this paper aimed to offer a first outline of cyberactivism's history in Brazil, taking into account which actors and practices were present in each moment, stressing their continuities and discontinuities. To this end, we used existing empirical literature – predominantly focused on particular actors, practices or moments – to gather data, facts and processes. Our investigation found out three moments of cyberactivism in the country, disrupted by an entaglement of socipolitical and technological factors and classified on the basis of existent actors, practices and platforms. First, the emergence, whereby web portals served as a source of information and a space for self expression and political articulation. Second, the consolidation, in which blogs provided networks for debates known as blogospheres. And, finally, the routinisation, when the emergence of social networks – stimulating debates, individual political manifestations, exchange of strategic information and calls for demonstrations – enabled cyberactivism to become part of everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil society engagement around health care and population health improvement is an important driver towards Health for All. Research can improve the effectiveness of health activism by examining the resources, structures and strategies of civil society engagement. However, research to support such engagement faces epistemological and methodological challenges which call for specific research strategies. A four year multi-country study was undertaken by the People's Health Movement, a global network working for health for all. The research took place in six countries (Brazil, Colombia, DR Congo, India, Italy, South Africa) and globally, and was directed to understanding five domains of civil society engagement: movement building; campaigning and advocacy; capacity building; knowledge generation, access and use; and engaging with governance. The research plan and methods of data collection and analysis were tailored to address the objective of improving activist practice, while negotiating research challenges identified during the design phase. Results include insights into the practice of civil society engagement in relation to the five domains of activist practice, as well as experience gained in managing six methodological challenges which we describe as: making meaning, aligning research and action, managing power relations, valuing experiential knowledges, chaos and contingency, challenging preconceptions. Researching activism can produce useful insights into practice as well as support continuous improvement in the effectiveness of such activism. However, there are significant methodological challenges that can be addressed through appropriate strategies. More research, building on the approach described in this paper, can contribute to more effective civil society activism for health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2013, widespread popular unrest unexpectedly shook Brazil whilst the FIFA Football Confederations Cup was taking place. Nicknamed as the 'demonstrations cup' by protesters, this was one of the greatest uprisings in the history of the country, with its effects still being felt and discussed nationally and internationally. Despite the general consensus on the more immediate causes that sparked the movement – such as the protests by the Movimento Passe Livre against a 20-cent bus fare hike in São Paulo, heavy-handed police repression and the use of social media – there still lacks a holistic explanation about the historical processes that formed the inflammable scenario that triggered those demonstrations and their rapid dissemination. Using quantitative and qualitative data related to recent urban socio-economic changes and civil society mobilisation trends, the present paper constructs an original genealogy of the June 2013 'demonstrations cup'. As a result, it indicates a unique confluence of multiple causal factors, such as the rapid and generalised erosion of real income in the Brazilian metropolises, the degeneration of political representativeness and traditional movements, the emergence of new mobilisation tools and the dissemination of anti-mega-events critical subjectivities – hence providing a comprehensive and empirically informed account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic research conducted from 2011 to 2015 and the authors' long-term engagement in diverse aspects of HIV and human rights advocacy in Brazil, this paper explores key elements of the Brazilian sex workers' movement response to HIV and the broader political factors that profoundly influenced its trajectory. We argue that the movement has constantly challenged representations of prostitution by affirming sex workers' roles as political actors, not just peer educators, in fighting the HIV epidemic and highlight their development of a sex positive and pleasure centred response that fought stigma on multiple fronts. Moments of tension such as the censorship of an HIV prevention campaign and implementation of 'test and treat' projects are analysed, as are the complex questions that Brazil's 2016 political and economic crisis evokes in terms of how to develop and sustain responses to HIV driven by communities but with material commitment from the State. We conclude with what we see to be the unique, central components of Brazilian sex workers' approach to HIV prevention and what lessons can be learned from it for broader collective health movements in Latin America and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent waves of migrants are establishing an increasingly visible presence in the urban landscape of São Paulo, both in its centre and its peripheries. Though a city with a rich history of immigration and diversity, the arrival of migrants in recent decades has not been accompanied by specific municipal policies for the migrant population, an absence which affects in particular, low-income migrants. Urban social movements for migration take on the role of attempting to govern migration in the city by providing everyday support to migrants as well as mobilising them as a political group to demand changes on both national and municipal scales; yet these movements have limitations. The paper thus also highlights the agency of migrants in accessing their rights through empowering micro-level social networks and through individual negotiations with legal possibilities. Drawing on examples of institutional, activist and migrant practices in addressing questions of inclusion and exclusion in the city, the paper will trace the multiple and still fragmented ways of articulating rights and developing a sense of urban citizenship as newer waves of migrants join the urban landscape of São Paulo. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The struggle for healthy eating is a nascent social movement that represents active resistance to the hostile food environments created by multinational food and beverage corporations. Using a political economy approach and leveraging Winson's [2013.The industrial diet: the degradation of food and the struggle for healthy eating. Vancouver: UBC Press] concepts of dietary regimes and the industrial diet, this paper will examine the strengths and limitations of Brazil's new dietary guidelines and discuss its role as a precursor to a new dietary regime that incorporates social justice and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the main themes-we are here; this is who we are; insurgent citizenship; Amazon Nation-elaborated in this collection of papers on new Amazonian geographies, and extends their implications to ideas about governmentality and regional identity. The article contextualizes the papers in this issue through understanding Amazonia's role in the structuring of the contemporary Brazilian state through resistance to conventional modernist authoritarian development planning, and the creation of current places and politics through the assertion of new forms of citizenship, identity, governance and the rise of socio-environmentalisms as part of a new 'statecraft' from below. Modern Amazonia has reasserted itself by developing a set of alternative epistemes and practices which can be seen, in their language and ideologies, to invoke the idea of the 'Amazon nation.' This article emphasizes the cultural underpinnings of these processes in a contested Amazon that is now a major supplier of global agricultural commodities in its deforested landscapes, and pivotal for local livelihoods and planetary environmental services in its forested ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the social movement O Movimento dos Trabalharores Rurais Sem Terra (The Movement of Landless Rural Workers, often referred to as the MST). Based on empirical data collected in Ceara, Brazil during 2005, it explores the social and spatial practices that shape MST communities. Using Henri Lefebvre's theory of spatial production, a framework is developed for conceptualising Brazilian agrarian reform within the context of spatial appropriation and the tactics of counter-hegemonic ideology. Through an examination of emergent MST communities, the paper considers the production and constant rearticulation of space. This spatial analytic, it is suggested, offers new insight into the attributes that frequently distinguish individual MST communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central aim of this paper is to outline an 'ethnographic theory of democracy,' and so contribute to a deeper understanding of the concrete mechanisms through which so-called representative democracy effectively functions. After some general observations, the article therefore focuses on exploring a series of events surrounding the participation of a segment of the black movement of Ilhéus (Bahia, northeast Brazil) in the municipal elections of 1992 and 1996. From this ethnographic base, the paper then seeks to develop an overview of the participation of electors in the self-named democratic processes of modern nation-states, exploring phenomena such as electoral promises and vote buying, as well as concepts such as reciprocity and subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines social coordination by the Brazilian Black Movement in the area of Brazilian education. It explains how these developments relate to the construction of race-based public education policies in the country. Focus goes to the process of creation and implementation of law 10.639 in Brazilian Basic education. Using the concept ‘diffuse governance’, the argument is made that at present it are the multiple actions by the Brazilian Black Movement, in diverse arenas of dispute, and interacting with a range of actors, that enable us to understand the social coordination/regulation in the process of constructing and implementing Law 10.639. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the São Paulo Housing Movement's attempts to influence pro-poor housing policy in Brazil through a range of participatory arenas. Using the concept of ‘created’ and ‘invited’ spaces, it argues that where participants in such spaces are highly organised and politicised social movements, more complex interactions occur that cannot be captured by these labels. Here literature from the anthropology of the state canon can be more helpful. The paper draws on the idea of the invisible but moveable line between state and society, to examine how representatives of both movement and government struggle over where this boundary is best placed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the 1970s and 1980s, a strong social movement of rubber tappers in the Amazonian state of Acre achieved remarkable policy goals, gaining new forms of land rights as well as political representation through their alliance with indigenous groups, environmentalists, political parties and human rights advocates. Allies of the social movement entered politics and took state power in 1999 as the 'Forest Government,' building on the rubber tapper's legacy to embrace the unique cultural and political history of the state, and implementing ambitious plans for forest-based development under the banner of 'forest citizenship.' In the past 25 years, however, rubber tapper identity has changed rapidly as many rubber tappers migrate to urban areas, or increasingly shift from traditional rubber tapping to more intensive land uses such as commercial agriculture and small-scale animal husbandry. This paper uses data collected from household surveys, key-informant interviews and ethnographic research to explore the idea of what it means to be a 'rubber tapper' and 'forest citizen' today. We examine the contradictory nature of changing land-use and cultural revitalization efforts among diverse rural and urban populations, and the implications of this diversity for the future of the Forest Government's policies, and the rubber tappers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experience of market-led agrarian reform (mlar) implementation in Brazil. In doing so, it will also analyse the complexity of the Brazilian agrarian situation, the political struggles around the fight for land and the complexity of political forces involved in the contestation. The article examines the origins, implementation process and outcomes of mlar. The paper also examines the current impasse in resolving the agrarian question in the country especially those related to the strengthening of land property rights at the same time that there are increasing demands for land by social movements, putting into broader context the current political and operational difficulties being encountered by mlar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, scholars of “contentious politics” have paid increasing attention to the dynamics of space and place in the construction of organized resistance. To date, however, the literature has tended to focus on the social construction of space rather than the equally important spatial constitution of the social. In this paper, I analyze how particular understandings of space, or what I call “spatial imaginaries”—cognitive frameworks, both collective and individual, constituted through the lived experiences, perceptions, and conceptions of space itself—influenced the formation of the largest grassroots social movement in Brazilian history, the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (the MST). I analyze the decision to join the MST among small family farmers in southern Brazil and rural plantation workers in northeastern Brazil. People from both groups decided to join the movement, but the farmers from southern Brazil used their spatial imaginaries to embrace the act of occupying land and to create new frontiers for colonization while the rural workers from northeastern Brazil overcame the spatial imaginaries produced through the plantation labor system and joined the movement because they had few other options available to them. Because such imaginaries stay with people long after they engage in the initial acts of mobilization, incorporating this sort of analysis introduces an important dynamic component into the analysis of movement formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a summary of a thesis written by the author on the subject of agroecological education opportunities within Brazil's Landless Workers' Movement (MST). Topics addressed include the connection between agroecology and the ideology of MST, as well as the paper's advancement of a theory of political ecology of education.