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About Dr. Fabricio Telo

Before joining KPU's Sociology Department in the Fall of 2021, Fabricio served as a sociology instructor at the Federal Fluminense University in Brazil. He completed his Master of Arts and PhD in Social Sciences at the Federal Rural University in Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Brazil, where he joined the Centre for Research, Documentation and Reference on Social Movements and Public Policies in the Countryside (NMSPP/CPDA/UFRRJ).

As an awardee of the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program, Fabricio went to the University of Victoria, Canada, in 2018 for a PhD exchange program that focused on transitional justice. Following his passion for public scholarship, Fabricio has been contributing to Brazil's Peasant Truth Commission, raising public awareness on the history of the Brazilian military dictatorship of 1964-1985 and advocating for agrarian reform and reparation to victims of violence in rural Brazil.

Article: “Communication between the Militants of the ‘8 October Revolutionary Movement’ and the Peasants of Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil (1969–71)"

This article sheds light on the important and underexplored relationship between militants and peasants during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) by looking at the attempts of ‘8 October Revolutionary Movement’ to mobilize peasants to join the armed struggle. Relying on original research, including interviews with former militants and document analysis, it advances theoretical debates on the role of the peasantry in revolutionary projects. Drawing on Freire’s theory of liberatory education which places communication with the masses at the centre of political mobilization and revolutionary action, Teló offers a rich and fascinating account of the communication process between ‘8 October Revolutionary Movement’ and peasants in the hinterland of the state of Bahia. 

The author skillfully illuminates on the complex interplay of factors that shape the conditions under which some peasants become political subjects and others choose not to engage. The study also reveals the importance of anti-communist propaganda, the infiltration of the peasantry by the military intelligence services, and the use of some peasants as informants, in explaining non-engagement. At the same, the article offers a novel way of assessing the outcomes of political mobilization. Instead of categorizing the revolutionary movement as simply successful or unsuccessful, it invites us to consider some of the indirect or unintended positive consequences such as the establishment of social rights for rural workers as part of a broader rural social welfare approach adopted by the dictatorship with the aim of preventing social revolts promoted by revolutionary movements.