Introductory Note While there are many notable events in the 1950s and early 1960s leading to the development and radicalization of the Ethiopian student movement (ESM),1 the first public expression of the ESM as a leftist and Marxist-Leninist movement was in 1965, “when students came out on to the street…

Introductory Note The Landless Workers Movement (MST) demands land (the means of production), agrarian reform (infrastructure), and social transformation (a solidarity economy). Workers in Brazil began occupations of agricultural land in the early 1980s, inspired by liberation theology and Marxist struggles. These communities coalesced under the MST starting in 1984,…

Introductory Note PAULO FREIRE was a Brazilian philosopher whose fundamental concern was to conceptualize education as the development of human freedom. In 1964, after a right-wing coup deposed President João Goulart, Freire was exiled for his literacy efforts with Brazilian fieldworkers. While in exile, Freire published Pedagogy of the Oppressed,…

Introductory Note As with those of Karl Marx, the writings of Antonio Gramsci are more analytic than prescriptive. Since conditions are unique to specific times, terrains and populations, rather than provide specific strategies, Gramsci provides an analytical framework to inform effective strategizing and recommends skills for developing sharpest, most capable…