Neoliberal rationality and the common as a political principle of agroecology: reflections from the performance of the Memorial das Ligas e Lutas Camponesas

Abstract

Based on studies carried out by researchers Pierre Dardot and Chistian Laval, this article reflects on neoliberalism configured as a rationality that structures and shapes all social spheres and our subjectivities, through mercantile logic and competitiveness. The initial discussion focuses on agribusiness, as an expression of neoliberal rationality, driven by governmentality techniques undertaken by the State, which end up reproducing social inequalities. In contrast, certain groups and social movements emerge or persist for another reason for the world, described by the authors as the idea of ​​the “common”. Based on the works developed by the Memorial das Ligas e Lutas Camponesas, in Sapé/PB, it is argued that agroecology, combined with education for rural people, are inventive and creative counter-hegemonic practices as an alternative model of organization that aims at the idea of ​​the “common”.