STORIES OF TRENTINO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
JOÃO PEDRO STEDILE'S EXPERIENCE AMONG THE "LANDLESS"

We asked various descendants of Trentino emigrants to tell their stories in first person, emphasizing how their origins have guided and influenced them in life. This would not have been possible without the active and cordial collaboration of the ‘Trentini nel Mondo’ Association, founded in 1957 working for social solidarity and as support for aggregation and assistance for Trentino migrants and their descendants. This month’s figure is the Brazilian social activist João Pedro Stedile.

The history of a people cannot be separated from the history of its society, of social and productive relationships, even if people are able to change history.

Brazil was the country that experienced the longest period of slavery in the whole of the West (1500-1888). When that system was no longer sustainable, since the purchase, transfer from Africa and the upkeep of slaves had become expensive and also because slaves either died very young (around the age of 35) or ran away, the capitalists wanted to move to wage labour. The government of the time enacted two measures: a land law that mandated private ownership of land and another that encouraged the migration of peasants from Europe in exchange for access to land. Thus, between 1875 and 1914 more than three million migrants arrived in Brazil from all over Europe.

In the 1890s, two young men from Terragnolo arrived in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil: Vittorio and Giuseppe Stedile. They married early. They received 25 hectares of land from the government, which they had to pay for. Vittorio was my great-grandfather. He married Santina Bortolotto. They had eighteen children. My grandfather Antonio Stedile was born in 1901 and my father Arcides in 1930.

The first generation of migrant farmers were committed solely to survival, working hard on land they did not know, in the middle of the forest. My father's generation experienced a transformation of Brazilian capitalism, which stopped being agrarian and began to develop industry, based on foreign capital. Between 1930 and 1980, farmers began producing raw materials and providing cheap labour to make agro-industries profitable. Almost all my uncles became labourers.

This was the social and economic situation when my mother Lourdes Agustini gave birth to me in 1953.

The 80s arrived as did the first crisis of this economic model. There were no jobs in the cities and there was no land available for cultivation. The country was governed by a "military-corporate" dictatorship (1964-84), functional to the geo-political situation of that time, referred to as the «Cold War».

It was in this context that I grew up and lived my youth. I was greatly influenced by members of the Catholic Church who had embraced Liberation Theology and transformed religious faith into practices of awareness of the real world. All this made me a rebel against all the injustices that existed.

From the Trentino blood of my ancestors, I inherited the desire to work and study. From their culture I learned to appreciate wine and grappa. From my grandfather Antonio I learned to always respect others. From my grandmother, Rosa Dotti, who was a midwife, I learned to always help others.

Life has taught me that we can only be happy if we practice solidarity.

With this class consciousness, overcoming the fear of dictatorship, I began to take care of the poor peasants of our State, who began to fight to obtain land to cultivate, organizing the first occupations of unproductive large estates, to implement the right to work the land, following the teaching that the land should belong to those who work on it. The first mass occupations, with the mobilization of hundreds of peasant families, began in September 1979 and have never stopped. As a result of this struggle that took place throughout the country, in 1984 it was decided to found the ‘Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra’ (MST), a national movement of peasants fighting for agrarian reform.

I have spent my whole life in this militancy. Thanks to the determination and will to fight of the farmers, more than five thousand unproductive large estates have been occupied, giving rise to settlements with almost five hundred thousand families who have benefited and today work, study and organize a good life in the field.

Many things have happened in these 40 years of activity of the MST. We have lost many lives, many leaders. I saw many arrested. We have had defeats especially when the government was right-wing. But our movement has grown both in size and wisdom, and we have won many victories and learned many things.

We have learned that the fight for land does not just mean dividing it to allow everyone to work but that it is necessary for the land to carry out its main social function, that is, producing healthy food for all people.

We have learned that to be a good farmer you must also be a guardian of nature, preserve biodiversity, not use pesticides, take care of water and plant trees, always. Only trees can save us from climate change and the destruction of the planet.

This is why we organize dozens of agroecology schools in Brazil and Latin America.

We have learned to be tolerant towards those who think differently but combative against all forms of exploitation and oppression.

We have learned that only knowledge truly liberates people. And this is why it is necessary to encourage study throughout one’s entire life.

We have learned that it is necessary to participate in the political life of our country, so that society is more democratic, and governments are more committed to protecting people's interests.

And in this journey, I feel privileged. Because thanks to the organization of farmers within the MST we contributed to the birth of "Via Campesina", a movement that brings together farmers from more than one hundred countries, as well as the organization of the first World Social Forums (the annual meetings of social movements, NGOs, networks and exponents of civil society, to reflect on the nature and consequences of globalization).

In 2014 we were called by Pope Francis to organize a global meeting of popular movements with his participation, in a dialogue on humanity's dilemmas and the problems of workers in the world.

We have received many awards, including the 1991 «Right Livelihood Award», referred to as the “alternative Nobel Prize”, with the following motivation: «...for their courageous commitment to obtaining land for the landless and helping these people to cultivate it sustainably».

After a long time, I now feel like a Brazilian-Trentino, citizen of the world. Because there are no foreigners on our planet. We are all equal and brothers of the same common home: the earth.