Clodomir Santos de Morais facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Clodomir Santos de Morais
de Morais in Costa Rica in November 2008
Born	(1928-09-30)30 September 1928 Santa Maria da Vitória, Bahía State, Brazil
Died	25 March 2016(2016-03-25) (aged 87) Santa Maria da Vitória, Bahía State, Brazil
Known for	The Organization Workshop (OW)/Large Group Capacitation Method (LGCM)
Awards	Professor Doctor Honoris Causa UNIR Human Rights Prize (2008 – Brazil)

Clodomir Santos de Morais (born September 30, 1928 – died March 25, 2016) was a Brazilian sociologist. He developed a unique way of teaching people how to organize and work together. This method is called the Organization Workshop (OW) or the Large Group Capacitation Method (LGCM).

In the 1940s and 1950s, de Morais worked as a trade union leader and a journalist. He became a member of the Pernambuco State Assembly. He also helped start the Ligas Camponêsas, which were groups of farmers called Peasant Leagues. After a big political change in Brazil in 1964, he had to leave the country. He first went to Chile. Later, he worked as an expert on land reform in Latin America, Portugal, and Africa.

After the military government ended, de Morais came back to Brazil in 1988. He was asked by the University of Brasilia to help with the problem of unemployment. He recently returned to his hometown in Bahía State before he passed away.

Early Life and Activism
- Founding the Peasant Leagues
- Political Challenges
Years of Exile and Global Impact
- The Organization Workshop Spreads
- Workshops in Europe and Africa
Return to Brazil
See also

Early Life and Activism

De Morais was born in Santa Maria da Vitória, Bahía State, Brazil. After finishing elementary school, he learned to be a tailor. When he was almost 15, he moved to São Paulo. To pay for his studies, he played the saxophone in a jazz band. He also played the clarinet in a symphonic orchestra.

Later, he worked at the São Paulo Ford car factory. He started as a conveyor belt operator and became a supervisor. While working at Ford, he got involved in trade union activities. He also became active in politics. He worked with important people like the future president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Founding the Peasant Leagues

In 1950, at age 22, de Morais moved to Salvador, the capital of Bahía State. There, he started a weekly newspaper called "Critica." It was the only newspaper that spoke out against the governor at the time. In 1951, he moved to Recife. While studying law, he worked as a reporter for several local newspapers and radio stations.

He helped create the Nordeste Peasant League movement in Pernambuco. The idea for the Organization Workshop came from a secret meeting in 1954. A large group of Peasant League managers met in a house in Recife. They wanted to learn about Brazilian land laws.

Six months later, people noticed something amazing. The participants had greatly helped their communities. They hadn't just learned laws; they had become much better at organizing. De Morais realized this happened because they had to work together very closely. They had to be organized and secret to avoid police suspicion. This experience made him think about practical ways to teach people how to organize. From the early 1960s, he started running experimental workshops for the Peasant Leagues.

Political Challenges

In 1955, de Morais was elected to the Pernambuco Federal Assembly. He helped create the Pernambucan Development Bank. He joked that he was bad with money but helped create a big bank.

On April 1, 1964, a military coup overthrew the government. Many politicians and activists were arrested. De Morais had already been imprisoned before the coup for his political work. He spent a total of two years in prison. During his time in prison, he wrote many stories. He was forced to leave Brazil for 15 years. He found safety at the Chilean Embassy in Rio de Janeiro.

Years of Exile and Global Impact

While in Chile, Clodomir studied cultural anthropology and land reform. He then became an expert for the ILO. He advised on land reform in Central America.

The Organization Workshop Spreads

In 1968, he worked in Honduras. He set up a special "Centre" Organization Workshop. The participants built the center themselves as part of the workshop. This "Centre" OW was different from the usual "Field" OW. A "Field" OW is open to everyone and lasts one month. A "Centre" OW can last three months or more. Participants learn to organize and manage projects. They also train to become future OW leaders.

In 1969, he led a large "Centre" OW in Panama. This was part of a program called Mil Jovenes (Thousand Youths). About 1,000 young Panamanians learned to run OWs to support land reform. This led to 280 new businesses.

From 1970 to 1973, de Morais worked in Costa Rica. He gave talks at universities, which sparked much interest. An ILO-funded Centre OW was set up. The new leaders trained there helped create 80 new groups and 15 new businesses in 1973 alone. One of these, Coopesilencio, is still successful today.

After visiting the University of Wisconsin in the US, de Morais returned to Honduras. From 1973 to 1976, he worked for the FAO. He led a program that became a model for applying the OW across the country. Over 27,000 people participated in more than 200 OWs. This led to 1,053 new businesses. Some, like the palm oil plants Hondupalma and Salama, are still working today.

Workshops in Europe and Africa

In 1977–78, de Morais worked in Mexico. He ran various OWs in different states. This started a long history of OWs in Mexico. Later, in the 2000s, OWs helped create sewing cooperatives in Mexico City.

In Portugal, after a political revolution, a new government wanted to help new cooperative businesses. De Morais was asked to lead a project there. In 1979, he ran a five-month "Course" OW for 50 Portuguese experts. Ten more participants came from Africa, Guatemala, and Brazil. These experts helped create a system for finding job and income projects. This program helped Portugal prepare to join the European Community.

After Portugal, Clodomir went to Nicaragua. The new government asked him to set up a job creation system. He ran some pilot OWs there.

In the 1980s, the OW continued to spread. De Morais visited other Latin American countries, giving talks and attending seminars. Also, the center in Honduras became a popular place for people from other countries to learn about OWs. Participants from Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Mexico, and other countries learned the OW method. For example, in Colombia, 100 OWs created 400 job-creating businesses.

In 1984 and 1985, de Morais worked in Geneva, Switzerland, and in Africa. He ran "in situ" (on-site) course OWs in Guinea Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

In 1986, the first OW in southern Africa was held in Zimbabwe. Later, the magazine "Workteam" helped spread knowledge about the OW to English-speaking people in Africa. Workteam reported on workshops in Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, and the Caribbean.

De Morais became a visiting professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1986. He also taught at the University of Rostock in Germany, where he earned a doctorate in Sociology in 1987.

Return to Brazil

In 1988, Brazil returned to civilian rule. Cristovam Buarque, a university leader, invited Clodomir back to Brazil. He wanted Clodomir to help fight unemployment.

The first requests for OWs in Brazil came from 30 cooperatives of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST). They changed their motto to "Invade! Occupy! Produce!" The POLONOROESTE project, funded by the Brazilian government and the FAO, also followed the MST's lead.

From 1992 to 1993, the POLONOROESTE program ran OWs in several Brazilian states. In 1996, a pilot project started in Tocantins. A full program followed in other states, with 20,059 people participating in 59 Field OWs. This created 696 new businesses and 5,596 new jobs. It is estimated that from 1988 to 1998, about 100,000 people took part in various OW events in Brazil.

From 1996 to 1998, 22,000 people participated in a program in São Paulo. This led to 711 new businesses, including "People's Banks." The OW reached its peak in 2000-2002. During this time, over 110,000 people participated in 282 OWs. De Morais was personally involved in many of these events. He also directed a three-month course for 1,000 Guatemalan OW technicians in Guatemala City.

After 2003, large national OW programs became less common in Brazil. However, OWs continued on a more local level. For example, OWs were held in Rondonia in 2002. From 2012 to 2013, de Morais directed the Guajará Mirim Course OW.

Region-wide OW programs have also grown in Costa Rica and South Africa. De Morais was a visiting professor at several universities in Brazil, Mexico, and Honduras. He returned to his hometown in Bahía State in 2013, where he passed away on March 25, 2016.