Brazil: The Left in Power in a Capitalist State

How has a country comparable in size to the United States performed under the leadership of the Workers' Party? Join Charlotte Casey, Sestilio Testa, and Sharat G. Lin, all of whom have recently returned from Brazil.

* Capitalist development in the periphery
* An immigrant nation: the true melting pot
* The legacy of military rule
* A BRIC country: size matters
* Energy self-sufficiency
* Reducing inequality in the face of neoliberalism: the unfinished task
* The politics of compromise and vote banks
* The Workers Party in a capitalist state

Charlotte Casey is with the San Jose Peace and Justice Center and has worked with the Movimento dos Sem Terra (MST, landless movement) in Brazil. She will moderate the event.

Sestilio Testa, having lived in Brazil for many years, has become a keen historian, political observer, and activist on the Americas through a long process of self-education. Disillusioned with much of the Left, in recent years he has focused his energies on understanding and supporting alternative people's movements in Brazil, the Philippines, and the U.S., looking for avenues for more radical action.

Sharat G. Lin is a research fellow at the San José Peace and Justice Center. He writes on global political economy, labor migration, the Middle East and South Asia, and public health. He has also travelled widely in Latin America to connect with popular movements and understand how the region has fared in resisting U.S. domination and the neoliberal agenda.

Suggested donation: $5-10 (no one turned away)

Sponsored by San Jose Peace & Justice Center