ENFF: 10 Years in Training and the Struggle for Agrarian Reform

You've beeAAENFF Logon following all these years our activities in the struggle for agrarian reform and a Brazilian society with more equality and social justice.

The political-ideological training and the educational process are as important to the MST as conquering the land in order to work and produce food.

Therefore, we are sending a proposal (click here) for you to engage in our movement, helping in the training processes and maintenance of Florestan Fernandes National School.

Complete the form and send to associacao@amigosenff.org.br

We are asking for your participation and solidarity. We count on you!

Sincerely, on behalf of all the MST militants and Brazilian popular movements:

Joao Pedro Stedile, MST National Coordination and Via Campesina, and Erivan Hilario administrative collective of ENFF.

For a video on ENFF, click here.

 

Below, is some of the history of ENFF.

ENFF: building an internationalist school in the 21st century

The Florestan Fernandes National School is a school for people’s militants, identified with the cause of the working class and the ideals of a socialist society. Under the coordination of the MST, the ENFF holds courses for militancy of Brazilian social movements, for all of Latin America and some countries in Africa and Asia. The name, Florestan Fernandes, is a tribute to one of the greatest Brazilian thinkers, who put the principle of scientific knowledge at the service of the liberation of the Brazilian working class. Florestan, consistent with his ideals, knew that few could combine, dialectically, the theory and political activism. And, this permanently expresses the synthesis of vocation and of the challenge of the Florestan Fernandes National School!

Located in Guararema (70 km from São Paulo) it was inaugurated on January 23, 2005 and was built between 2000 and 2004, thanks to the volunteer work of a thousand landless workers and supporters. The funds for its construction were obtained by selling photos of Sebastião Salgado and the book Terra (photos by Sebastião Salgado, text by José Saramago), the music of Chico Buarque and through the contributions of organizations of the working class of Brazil, Latin America and from around the world.

Its maintenance and operation are provided for by national and international support and solidarity. The School keeps a policy decision to not receive government funding, to maintain political and ideological autonomy and build its financial support through the solidarity and contributions of the working class.

Some higher and postgraduate courses are conducted in partnership with Brazilian public universities, as has occurred with UNESP and UNB.

The school maintains two Latin American courses for students from across the continent and Europe, within the perspective of strengthening the continental popular integration, within the framework of ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance of Latin America]. And many Brazilian social movements carry out their educational activities in school spaces, assuming their own costs.

The following is some basic information on the operation of ENFF.

1. An area of training of the working class

The school is built on a plot of 120,000 square meters, with facilities of masonry bricks made by the workers themselves, using the soil-cement technique. The architectural design principle was to cause the least damage to the environment and at the same time, provide the best outcome for the school subjects: workers, students, advisors and visitors.

In all, the school has three classrooms, which together contain up to 200 people, an auditorium, two lecture halls, a library with 40,000 books (obtained through donation), with space for reading and editing. In addition, the school has four blocks of dormitories, dining areas, laundry facilities, sewage treatment plant and houses for the visiting professors and the families of workers living there. It has also a garden that produces for local consumption, and fruit trees in the ground.  For leisure, the school features a football pitch and an indoor multipurpose court.
campus fields Dining HallDormitoryLibrary

Its maintenance requires 35 full-time worker/militants, residents on site, from all areas (administrative, pedagogical, electrical infrastructure, health and others). All who attend the courses participate in cleaning, the care of the garden and other maintenance work.

The children's nursery and school, educational space for the children of workers and students who attend there, is called "Ciranda Infantil Saci Pererê" and provides a healthy environment, education and caring for children while their caregivers, especially mothers, study and/or work. The name “Saci Pererê” was chosen in an internal competition between the MST activists and friends and is the folk symbol of our nation.

2. WORK EDUCATION

Since 2005, over twenty thousand activists of the rural and urban social movements, from all the states of Brazil and other Latin American countries and Africa have attended the school.

The school has received the support of more than 500 volunteer teachers – from Brazil, Latin America and other regions - in the areas of Political Philosophy, Theory of Knowledge, Rural Sociology, the Political Economy of Agriculture, Social History of Brazil, International Situation, Administration and Social Management, Rural Education and Latin American Studies.

ENFFF is associated CLACSO [Latin American Council of Social Studies], as an area of partnership with numerous experiences of higher education in Latin America. It has also made partnerships with numerous organizations in Brazil and abroad for the development of seminars, courses and training activities.

These activities take place in the school in many forms and different courses. There are meetings and thematic short seminars. There are training courses for militants developed in several stages. There are degree courses in partnership with universities, and there are also specialized courses and post-graduate studies in concurrence with universities and/or developed by movements with other partnerships.

As part of the teaching method, the school has a permanent pedagogical collective (CPP), responsible for conducting the planned courses. But in each course or activity that is a special CPP, the activities and curriculum are created with participation by the students and teachers.

The school has a farm produce production space in which students also participate as part of the work-study education.

We are proud we have been received as visiting professors distinguished thinkers of the critical world thinking, who have contributed to the school, such as Istvan Mezaros, Eduardo Galeano, Aleida Guevara, Ignacio Ramonet, Jean Ziegler, Walter Salles, Ana Esther Ceceña, Mona Isabel, Isabel Rauber, Francois Houtart, Fernando Martinez, Armando Bartra, Marta Harnecker, Michel Lowy, Claudio Kartz, Richard Gott, Carlos Barrientos, among others.

3. FIGHT PARTICIPATE IN DEFENSE OF ENFF

In December 2009 a group of intellectuals, teachers, activists and colleagues created the "Association of Friends of the Florestan Fernandes National School," (AAENFF) with the following objectives:

• promotion of school activities, by all possible means;

• Initiate a national campaign for fund raising by members;

• Promote activities and solidarity campaigns to raise funds, including donations of books, magazines, publications and audiovisual material to the library of ENFF;

• Support and encourage the development of education projects and education of children, youth and adults in rural, city, indigenous and quilombo communities and projects against discrimination by race, color, gender, sex and religion;

• Develop specific partnerships with institutions and entities acting in the area of training and education;

• Facilitate projects that stimulate studies on the tradition of critical thinking; and

• Encourage exchange of training activities in Brazil with Latin America and other continents.

4. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AND PARTICIPATION:

To become a member, it is essential to fill the registration form with a commitment to contribute regularly with a minimum monthly amount of $30.00, or solidarity contributions of any amount.

The funds raised by the Association are directly intended for school activities. Eventually, some of these funds is used in the organization of other activities (seminars, art and photography shows, music festivals and cinema etc.), whose funds are also allocated to ENFF.

If you do not know, can make a private visit or collective in order to ENFF monitored, organized periodically by AAENFF.

The association organizes collective visits one Saturday per month.

You will feel proud to belong to the group of collaborators that enables the ENFF project.

For more information on how to participate and contribute seek the Executive Secretariat of AAENFF: Rua da Abolição no. 167 - Bela Vista - São Paulo - SP - Brazil - CEP 01319-030

Phone: (55.11) 3105-0918 - 99454-9030

associacao@amigosenff.org.br

http://amigosenff.org.br/en/