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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Solidarity: A Conversation with Messilene Gorete</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Cira Pascual Marquina – May 29, 2022</div></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><img src="cid:ii_l3t2k5gg0" alt="image.png" width="460" height="259"><br><p><em>The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement [MST, for its initials in Portuguese] is a powerful </em>campesino<em>
organization that struggles for radical land reform. The organization
has a long internationalist tradition, and sends solidarity brigades to
accompany </em>campesino<em> movements around the world. In Venezuela,
the MST’s brigade has been important in assisting the Caribbean
country’s communal and </em>campesino<em> movements. Here we talk with Messilene Gorete, an MST leader now based in Venezuela, about the organization’s work here.</em></p>
<p><strong>Internationalism has always been important to the MST. Here
in Venezuela, the organization's Apolônio de Carvalho Brigade has
accompanied </strong><strong><em>campesino</em></strong><strong> movements for almost two decades. How does the MST conceive internationalism?</strong></p>
<p>Internationalism is part of our organization’s “DNA.” Since the birth
of the organization, we have treated the struggles that take place
beyond Brazil’s borders as our own. Internationalism is one of our
driving principles.</p>
<p>If you take a look at the MST flag, you will see a man and a woman on
the map of Brazil, but you will also see a machete that extends beyond
the border. In other words, internationalism has been an organizational
principle since our movement’s early days. Later, we incorporated it in
our political strategy in a more formal way, because we understand that
the struggle for agrarian reform cannot be carried out in isolation.
It’s necessary to build ties of solidarity, learn with others, and
struggle together.</p>
<p>Our internationalism emerges from a longstanding tradition in Latin
America and around the world. The Cuban Revolution is a key example for
MST; the Cuban people’s extraordinary internationalism has taught us a
great deal. We also learned from the liberation struggles in Central
America, particularly the internationalist brigades that accompanied the
Sandinista and Salvadorian revolutions. Of course, the Bolivarian
internationalism of the Venezuelan process has also left its mark on our
organization.</p>
<p>We have learned a great deal from past and present practices of internationalism.</p>
<p>Today, in the MST, we understand internationalism as both a principle
and a practice. As a revolutionary organization, we can only survive if
we build and learn along with others in a solidarious manner.</p>
<p>The Apolônio de Carvalho Brigade, which is the MST brigade in
Venezuela, takes its name from a great Brazilian revolutionary: Apolônio
went to Spain to fight against Franco in the Red Brigades. That is why,
when we arrived in Venezuela, we took that name as an homage to him.</p>
<p><strong>One of the challenges that Venezuela faces today is
overcoming the rentier logic that turned the Venezuelan economy into a
dependent, “port-based” economy. The MST, with its vast experience,
accompanies </strong><strong><em>campesino</em></strong><strong> and
communal organizations around Venezuela, promoting sustainable
agriculture that can break with dependence and build food sovereignty.
How do you work with these local organizations?</strong></p>
<p>The Apolônio de Carvalho Brigade has been in Venezuela since <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/1423">2005</a>. Hugo Chávez requested that the MST bring its experience to Venezuela and accompany <em>campesino</em> organizations in food production. There was one goal in mind: transitioning toward food sovereignty.</p>
<p>Since then, we have accompanied diverse <em>campesino</em>
organizations in the country. We have made producing seeds a priority so
that local agriculture can ensure food sovereignty to the country.</p>
<p>But seed production cannot be an isolated goal. The objective is
changing the whole production model. The entire model must be radically
changed. For that to happen, one must apply an integrated
agro-ecological scheme.</p>
<p>In our work, we also focus on “encadenamiento” [linking] – Chávez’s
term for the production, commercialization, and consumption cycle. It is
something that we should be thinking about when attempting to build
food sovereignty.</p>
<p>The only way to break out of the rentier oil-based economy is through
a new consciousness. However, that consciousness will come only when
new production and organization practices truly begin to emerge.</p>
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<h2><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/mstchavezpng">mst_chavez.png</a></h2>
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<p><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/%5Bsite-date-yyyy%5D/%5Bsite-date-mm%5D/mst_chavez.png" title="Chávez visited the Lagoa do Junco MST settlement in Río Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2005. A cooperation agreement was signed during that visit. (MST)"><img src="https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/styles/full_content/public/images/%5Bsite-date-yyyy%5D/%5Bsite-date-mm%5D/mst_chavez.png?itok=EVCm0HNO" alt="Chávez visited the Lagoa do Junco MST settlement in Río Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2005. A cooperation agreement was signed during that visit. (MST)" title="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="460" height="230"></a></p><div>
<p><font size="1">Chávez visited the Lagoa do Junco MST settlement in Río
Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2005. A cooperation agreement was signed
during that visit. (MST)</font></p>
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<p><strong>What kinds of organizations and institutions does the MST work with in Venezuela?</strong></p>
<p>In our early days, we worked with the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/tag/crbz">Frente Campesino Ezequiel Zamora</a>. We also worked with government institutions and communal organizations.</p>
<p>We have assumed the communes as a priority. We support communal
organizations in Venezuela, but we also learn from them. The communal
model is something that the whole continent needs; it is a way of doing
things that transforms the existing system, and the Bolivarian
Revolution has turned it into a practice. This is very important for the
MST.</p>
<p>What we have been doing with the communes is help them however we
can. Yet it’s even more important to learn from people’s day-to-day
practices when they come together, build a commune in their territory,
and develop a production strategy that has the common good as its goal.</p>
<p>In a commune, all this happens while building a new hegemony. As
communal councils, social property enterprises, and the communal
parliament develop, the project takes shape as something viable in
people’s minds. I think that the greatest legacy of the Bolivarian
Revolution for those who struggle, including the MST, is the commune.</p>
<p><strong>The MST has a commitment to ecological agriculture. How do you promote that here in Venezuela? </strong></p>
<p>It is only possible to build a sovereign project if we really change
the productive model in rural areas. To do this some technical training
and preparation are necessary, but political education is also a must.
For such a change to happen, people have to understand that if we
struggle for a different societal model, if our horizon is socialism and
we work with the idea of a sovereign nation, then rethinking the ways
that we produce is urgent. In solving this puzzle, agro-ecology is an
important element.</p>
<p>We also think that technological agriculture should become a state
policy. In other words, agro-ecology is not just a quaint method to be
applied in <em>conuco</em> [subsistence plots] production; the model must be a viable one that can feed the whole of society in a sustainable manner.</p>
<p>When it comes to sustainable agriculture, our task is fostering it
and offering technical support and political education. The MST has also
donated seeds to the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/tag/communard-union">Communard Union</a> to help in the transition towards sustainable agriculture.</p>
<p>When we carry out workshops with <em>campesinos</em>, we teach
sustainable agriculture techniques: from the production of organic
agricultural inputs to non-toxic methods for eradicating pests.
Interestingly, the crisis and the blockade have torn down some of the
barriers to bringing about the shift to sustainable agriculture. Now,
many <em>campesinos</em> understand that it is both possible and
necessary to produce without chemicals. Nevertheless, the shift to
ecological practices in large-scale production is an outstanding
challenge.</p>
<p>In the end, our objective is not to force people to change their
agricultural model but to help generate the conditions so that they
understand that the shift is viable and necessary. After all, if that
doesn’t happen, producers will continue to be dependent on transnational
corporations, and the country will continue importing enormous
quantities of agricultural inputs. Needless to say, mainstream farming
practices have adverse effects on the life of the <em>campesinos</em>, but they also take a high toll on the environment.</p>
<p>A different societal model requires a change in the way production
takes place in rural areas. That is why we give both technical and
political workshops to communes and other <em>campesino</em> organizations.</p>
<p><strong>The MST is now part of the landscape of popular movements in
Venezuela. That makes sense, because Venezuela’s revolution considers
itself Bolivarian and, for that reason, Latin Americanist. What has the
MST learned from the Bolivarian Process?</strong></p>
<p>It’s been almost 18 years since the first MST brigade touched down in Venezuela.</p>
<p>Our method of forming brigades is as follows: MST internationalists
remain here for about two years and then we go back to Brazil, to share
our learning with other MST organizers. Overall, we think we have
learned a lot more than we have taught here.</p>
<p>The brigade members that come to Venezuela learn from the Bolivarian
Process. Sharing the MST experience in a country that is in the midst of
a revolutionary process constitutes a school for us. We learn a great
deal from the successes of the Bolivarian Revolution, but we also learn
about the contradictions in people’s day-to-day lives. We learn about
what we should and shouldn't do in a society that transitions towards
socialism.</p>
<p>Among the more concrete things that we have learned is how the
Venezuelan people have been the protagonist of their revolutionary
process – particularly the grassroots political organizations – and how a
process that is in constant movement raises the consciousness level of
the people through direct participation. It is not spontaneous
participation, but tied to territorial and national organization. This
is a huge lesson for us: people should be involved in organizational
processes in all spheres of life.</p>
<p>Also, as I was telling you earlier, the commune is a space where we
have learned a great deal. In communal spaces, people understand the
need to organize to build a different society.</p>
<p>We have also learned about people’s everyday creativity in the
Bolivarian Process. Sometimes, from the left, we have very closed
schemes about the level of preparation and planning needed to advance,
and that can become a barrier. In Venezuela, people know that all that
is necessary, but creativity – in a country where people are very
spontaneous – has been a virtue of the Bolivarian Revolution.</p>
<p>We have also learned a lot from the electoral processes. The MST
accompanies these processes because the electoral dispute is also a
battle for the defense of the revolutionary project. Elections here are
not about individual or group interests but about collective ones. This
is very different from Brazil, where elections are a kind of marketplace
and money tends to win and hold on to power. What is at stake in an
electoral process in Venezuela is a political project. Elections here
are not a marketplace.</p>
<p>Venezuela taught us that a campaign is not only a tool to get
elected; it is also a time to get closer to grassroots organizations and
foster the participation of the <em>pueblo</em>. The <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/tag/psuv">PSUV</a>
is the most advanced party in the continent when it comes to defending a
revolution in an electoral whirlwind. Of course, elections here happen
within the parameters of bourgeois democracy, but campaigns help build
another kind of democracy.</p>
<p>Finally, we have also learned from the Bolivarian Revolution’s
anti-imperialism and patriotic practices, which are very tangible in the
day-to-day life of the Venezuelan people. Brazil didn’t have a struggle
for its independence, and perhaps that is why we have a very fragmented
society, a society that doesn't have the defense of the homeland as a
core value.</p>
<p>From a political perspective, ours is a much more dominated society.
In Venezuela, we have learned about how to build a patriotic sentiment –
not within the framework of bourgeois nationalism, but with the
objective of having a truly independent country at all levels: economic,
political, and social.</p>
<div id="gmail-file-15169--6">
<h2><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/mstmaizalpng">mst_maizal.png</a></h2>
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<p><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/%5Bsite-date-yyyy%5D/%5Bsite-date-mm%5D/mst_maizal.png" title="El Maizal’s Ernesto Guevara Technical Farming School is run in collaboration with the MST. (El Maizal Commune)"><img src="https://venezuelanalysis.com/files/styles/full_content/public/images/%5Bsite-date-yyyy%5D/%5Bsite-date-mm%5D/mst_maizal.png?itok=uHn40u-1" alt="El Maizal’s Ernesto Guevara Technical Farming School is run in collaboration with the MST. (El Maizal Commune)" title="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="460" height="230"></a></p><div>
<p><font size="1">El Maizal’s Ernesto Guevara Technical Farming School is run in collaboration with the MST. (El Maizal Commune)</font></p>
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<p><strong>Brazil is due for presidential elections on October 2, 2022.
The race will put the ultra-conservative Jair Bolsonaro against the
progressive Lula da Silva. What is the importance of this event for
Brazil and for the continent?</strong></p>
<p>Brazil is going through a severe social and economic crisis: the living conditions of the <em>pueblo</em>
are catastrophic. Tens of thousands are living in the streets, in
conditions of absolute misery, while 60 million are directly affected by
the capitalist crisis: unemployment and food price inflation are
rampant and fascistic ideas continue to grow.</p>
<p>Of course, the Bolsonaro government has no interest in solving our
country’s many social problems. Instead, his policies favor the market
and the bourgeoisie, while he fosters fascist ideas and promotes a
discourse of violence.</p>
<p>That is why we think that the upcoming presidential elections are of
strategic importance for Brazil and for Latin America as a whole. If
Lula wins, the map of the continental dispute will change: it will allow
the left and progressive projects to go forward once again. The
confrontation with imperialism and its grinding economic project will
also take place on more favorable terms.</p>
<p>The <em>pueblo</em> of Brazil needs to choose Lula as its president.
It won’t be easy, but there is a good chance that we will succeed. In
any case, to reach our goal we have to work hard; we are fighting
against a very powerful enemy. It has a robust thirty percent of support
and many far-reaching tentacles.</p>
<p>The MST is participating in the electoral battle by promoting
grassroots committees for debate. The debates in these committees range
from the country’s future to the policies that a popular PT [Workers’
Party] government should promote.</p>
<p>The October 2 elections are very important, but a victory would be
just the beginning. People will have to be ready to defend the victory.</p>
<p>The situation of the country will not be resolved with welfare
policies, but with policies that restructure things in favor of the
people. Brazil’s crisis is part of the crisis of capitalism. To move
ahead with the great reforms that we need, mobilization will be key.</p>
<p>Finally, Brazil has an important role when it comes to Latin American
integration. It is urgent to reactivate the projects that bring the
continent together. Chávez promoted both economic and political
integration with mechanisms such as <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/tag/celac">CELAC</a> [multilateral Latin American dialogue mechanism] and <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/tag/unasur">UNASUR</a> [South American integration mechanism].</p>
<p>As US imperialism loses hegemony, the progressive governments in the
continent have to join forces. That is why a PT victory in October is
important not only for Brazil but for Latin America as a whole.</p>
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