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2. The Political Organisation of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST)
- Author:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Publication Date:
- 04-2024
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Abstract:
- This dossier focuses on the MST’s tactics and forms of organisation and why it is the only peasant social movement in Brazil’s history that has managed to survive for over a decade in the face of the political, economic, and military power of Brazil’s large landowners.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, Land Rights, Landless Workers' Movement (MST), and Political Organization
- Political Geography:
- Brazil and South America
3. The Telugu People’s Struggle for Land and Dreams
- Author:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Publication Date:
- 09-2024
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Abstract:
- This dossier catalogues the immense cultural production of the Telangana armed struggle in India and how it inspired the people to participate in cycles of protest against colonialism, monarchy, and landlordism, building on the idea that art and culture are both produced by the class struggle and, in turn, produce the class struggle. In a society that was prevented from being fully literate, storytelling and songs played a key role in building confidence and organisation.
- Topic:
- Social Movement, Protests, Land Rights, and Telugu
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
4. Activist Research: How the All India Democratic Women’s Association Builds Knowledge to Change the World: An Interview with R. Chandra
- Author:
- R. Chandra and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Abstract:
- Beginning in the 1960s, Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India with a population of 73 million, experienced an agrarian transformation. This process, brought on by the introduction of new technologies into farming, gave rise to new contradictions while at the same time sharpening the old ones in village society and had a marked impact on the politics of the entire state. During this period, these contradictions manifested in numerous incidents of organised atrocities against oppressed castes as well increased violence against women. In this context, a group of women activists in the communist movement in Tamil Nadu formed an organisation called Jananaayaga Madhar Sangam (‘Democratic Women’s Association’) in 1973 to address the specific nature of women’s exploitation and oppression. Eight years later, in 1981, Madhar Sangam joined a group of other left-wing women’s organisations from different Indian states to establish the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). Leading a range of struggles to mobilise a broad section of women against gender and caste oppression and against class exploitation, AIDWA built a strong organisation that now has over 11 million members. One of AIDWA’s organisational strategies is ‘intersectoral organising’, which focuses campaigns on the specific issues of different sections of women (such as oppressed caste women or Muslim women) and then mobilises its members as well as other mass organisations into these campaigns.1 These struggles are not distinct from each other; together, they are united in building power for women’s emancipation. Such a multi-layered approach demands a continuously evolving understanding of realities on the ground and of the situation of women in all the complex intersections of society (such as caste hierarchies and religious differences). Regular and rigorous grassroots research by AIDWA has become a necessity to grasp these complexities and to better prepare AIDWA for its campaigns. In the 1990s, India’s neoliberal turn wreaked havoc among the working class and peasantry. Hunger and precariousness heightened social tensions along the hierarchies of caste, gender, and social identity (including religion). Surveys by AIDWA in this period revealed new fault lines in both the countryside and in cities. One of the leaders of AIDWA in Tamil Nadu, R. Chandra, developed many of the organisation’s surveys that looked at changes in the agrarian economy, at caste oppression, and at the specific impact of the rightward drift of Indian politics on Muslim women. During the years these surveys were carried out, R. Chandra served as a state committee member and joint secretary of AIDWA in Tamil Nadu as well as the district president of AIDWA in Tiruchirappalli. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research spoke to R. Chandra about AIDWA’s surveys in particular and activist research in general.
- Topic:
- Communism, Social Movement, Women, Interview, and Activism
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
5. Feminist Studies # 1: Women of Struggle, Women in Struggle.
- Author:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Abstract:
- Lenin announced in 1918 that the experience of all liberation movements attests to the fact that the success of a revolution is dependent on the level of women’s participation. Over a century later, this statement continues to tell the story of the women who have built revolutionary movements and movements of resistance to neoliberalism and – most recently – to reactionary populism. The inspiration of the October 1917 Russian Revolution arrived early in the colonised agrarian continents of the Global South; it raised the hope that the working majority could defeat the exploiting minority. This belief motivated popular struggles and stimulated political organisations around the world. National liberation struggles emerged in Africa and Asia during the 20th century, while the capitalist economies in Latin America experienced the contradictions of dependent growth and saw the rise of their own resistance movements. Women played a crucial role in all of these struggles. In a time of resistance against an aggressive assault of conservative neoliberalism, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research offers its first publication of Women of Struggle, Women in Struggle. This is an introductory analysis of women’s struggles on the continents of Africa, Asia, and America. The policies of neoliberalism and neofascism put immense pressure on women, who become the primary and principal targets of precariousness, oppression, and exploitation. In this series, Women of Struggle, Women in Struggle, we will present the stories of women in struggle who contributed not only to the wider arena of politics, but in particular those who pioneered the establishment of women’s organisations, opening up paths of feminist resistance and struggle throughout the 20th century. It is the task of militants to study the diverse theories of the organisational methods of these women, not only to better understand their political contributions, but also to inspire us as we build our own necessary organisations to fight against oppression and exploitation today.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Social Movement, Feminism, and Resistance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6. One Hundred Years of the Communist Movement in India
- Author:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Publication Date:
- 09-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
- Abstract:
- Dossier no. 32 provides a brief introduction to the history of the communist movement in India, which turns one hundred years old on 17 October 2020. Founded by a handful of Indian freedom fighters who were inspired by the October Revolution, the Indian communist movement has a history of glorious struggles and significant achievements. The communists in India have tirelessly worked to advance the rights of the working people, and to demonstrate the possibility of a future without the exploitation of human beings by human beings.
- Topic:
- Communism, Social Movement, Radicalization, and Activim
- Political Geography:
- India and Asia