» Sobre o Reconexão Periferias

About the project

The Reconnecting the Peripheries Project emerged from a decision by the PT’s National Directorate in 2017, according to which the PT should strengthen relations with social movements and expand and strengthen its relationship with society through the debate of the political agendas of the peripheries.

The Perseu Abramo Foundation (FPA), which assumed responsibility for carrying out this agenda, created a Working Group composed of people working in various spaces, such as the Party, the social movement, and universities, to consider how this could be done. This round of discussions culminated in the First National Seminar. There were heated debates ranging from the concept of peripheries, their scope and meanings (political, territorial, cultural, demographic), to the need to discuss the form and content of the studies, debates, and activities that would be carried out, and finally, the implementation of a broad mobilization agenda involving various actors.

The essence is that the idea of peripheries is not limited to favelas or communities in large metropolises, but seeks to encompass the new class configuration in Brazil, territorially segregated in capitals, rural areas, interior regions, forests, and riverside territories, etc. More than a mere dispute over classifications of how to refer to the people, it is about recognizing the leading role of social movements in 21st-century Brazil.

Today, the Project has three thematic axes: Culture, Work, and Violence, and a series of activities that are divided and unified in articulation, research, and dissemination. We have created a network of people and organizations throughout Brazil, who are in the territories, in universities, the third sector, in governments and elected mandates; we have consolidated research, published books; many achievements and many battles to be fought.

Our task is to give visibility to these actors and movements, how they organize themselves, what their aspirations and dreams are, and what social problems mobilize them.

The name “Reconnecting the Peripheries” carries the double symbolism that we are not starting now, because the Workers’ Party has a historical trajectory of action and involvement with the agendas of the peripheries; but it also means that we cannot fail to take into account that it is necessary to reconnect the Party with the peripheries, giving voice to individuals and collectives, disseminating the production of knowledge and seeking to influence the debate on programs, strategies and public policies.