Confirmed Speakers: João Pedro Stédile • Taimur Rahman • Islanda Micherline Aduel • Jamal Berajaa

João Pedro Stédile - Landless Workers' Movement - MST (Brazil)

João Pedro Stedile is one of the founders and a member of the National Leadership of the MST (Landless Workers' Movement), which is a social movement in Brazil inspired by Marxism and one of the largest social movements in Latin America, with around 1.5 million members. He has also contributed to the founding of continental Latin American organizations, such as CLOC (Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations), and international ones, such as La Vía Campesina. 

Stedile is from a family of small farmers, graduated in Economics in Brazil, and completed a Master’s degree in México, where he came into contact with Ruy Mauro Marini, one of the exponents of the Theory of Dependency. Linked to progressive sectors of the Catholic Church, he was a seminarian and worked for the Pastoral Land Commission.

He wrote books such as “Brava gente: a trajetória do MST e a luta pela terra no Brasil” (Brave People: the trajectory of the MST and the struggle for land in Brazil), 1999; “Assentamentos: uma resposta econômica da reforma agrária” (Settlements: an economic response to agrarian reform), 1986, and “Luta pela terra no Brasil” (Struggle for the land in Brazil), 1993, with co-authors.

Taimur Rahman - Workers and Peasants Party of Pakistan - MKP (Pakistan) 

Taimur Rahman is a Pakistani college professor, political activist and musician who is the Secretary-General of the Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP), formerly Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party. He is the lead guitarist and spokesperson for the progressive music band, Laal. He has taught political science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) since 2002. He also taught economics at the Lahore School of Economics from 1998 to 2003.

He got his Ph.D. from SOAS (UK) and is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. His debut book is entitled "The Class Structure of Pakistan" (OUP). During his college life in the USA, he got involved in Trade Union politics. He worked with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and various leftist parties.

Islanda Micherline Aduel - Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan - Peasant Movement (Haiti)

Islanda Micherline Aduel is a young Haitian leader, member of the political organization Tèt Kole ti Peyizan Ayisyen, youth representative for the Caribbean of La Via Campesina and member of the Haitian chapter of ALBA Movements. Her Master’s thesis in Political Science is on Political economies and conditions of the peasant women of Plaisance du Nord.

Created in 1986, Têt Kolé sprung into action at that time to mobilize peasants against the dictatorial regime of the Duvalier family. Since then, the organization’s objectives have been defending the rights of local farmers and fighting to improve their living conditions. 

Jamal Berajaa - Workers’ Democratic Way (Morocco)

A Moroccan Marxist-Leninist activist and intellectual, born in the city of Berkane in Eastern Morocco. He was influenced by Marxist-Leninist thought since high school in the context of the leftist tide in the world. During the seventies, in the Arab region, and specifically Morocco, there was the emergence of the Moroccan Marxist-Leninist movement, especially the “Ila Al Amame” (forward) organization, which had a broad and strong influence among pupils and students.

He became involved in the trade union struggle in the education sector, and in the human rights struggle within the framework of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. In the mid-nineties, he contributed to establishing the “Democratic Way” and assumed responsibility in its local and national bodies since its founding, as well as in its National Secretariat since the Third National Conference in 2012. He was elected General Secretary of the party, which became called the “Workers Democratic Way Party” at the Fifth National Conference, held on July 22, 23, 24, 2022.