Ativismo político para a construção de novos mercados alimentares

Abstract

This article presents a comparative institutional analysis of the peasant movements’ activism for the construction of new food markets in Brazil and Chile. Data were collected between March 2016 and December 2018 through interviews with leaders of these movements, policymakers and direct observation of different marketing initiatives. The results reveal that the Brazilian institutional trajectory opened up more space for the activism of agrarian social movements, such as the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), in the construction of markets that incorporate values ​​associated with the principles of agroecology and food sovereignty. On the other hand, in Chile, this type of activism proved to be less present in the peasant movements’ repertoire of action. In this country, due to the fragmentation of these movements as an effect of the strong repression of the military regime, the main initiatives are associated with specific public policies and, therefore, face problems for scaling up.