Recallable, gender-balanced delegates link ten-family base units to national coordination.

Evidence

MST’s strategy merges economic and political organization and strives to achieve horizontal representation, much like the Turin council model of Gramsci discussed in chapter 2. The basic organizational unit, the “nucleo de base,” consists of ten to fifteen families living in MST encampments or settlements. Each unit identifies and addresses issues faced by its member families, such as access to education or health care, and elects two representatives, one woman and one man, to attend settlement and encampment assemblies. These representatives participate in regional meetings, where they elect regional representatives who, in turn, choose members of the MST’s state coordinating body and national coordinating bodies. The representatives of MST function as spokespeople who are recallable by and accountable to their base. This means that if a representative is perceived as failing to fulfill their responsibilities, acting contrary to the collective interest, or not adhering to the principles of the movement, they can be replaced through a democratic process. MST’s grassroots, decentralized political organization models how to actively involve people in the material decisions that shape their lives. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 396

Categorization

• XREF: Explicitly echoes the Gramsci/Turin council model from chapter 2 of this same book, so a cross-chapter build is direct. — connects to: Recallable delegated representation from ten-to-fifteen-family base units models non-elite democracy — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 396

Broader Connections

• Recallable delegated representation from ten-to-fifteen-family base units models non-elite democracy #qualifies (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 396