DISPUTING FOOD SYSTEMS: RESPONSES OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss how rural activism in Brazil reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic. We analyze actions of the four main family farming and peasants’ organizations in Brazil along the initial seven months of the pandemic, from March to September 2020: National Confederation of Men and Women Workers in Family Farming in Brazil (Contag), National Confederation of Men and Women Rural Farmer Workers and Family Farmers (Contraf-Brasil), Small Farmers Movement (MPA) and Landless Workers Movement (MST). Data sources are the news published on each organization’s websites. In order to understand how the pandemic impacted some of their preexisting practices, we propose a typology composed of five forms of action: donation, advocacy, alternative markets, direct action and informational action