The Landless Workers Movement (MST) is one of the most important social movements in Brazil, having as a focus on the issues of rural workers, especially with regard to the struggle for agrarian reform Brazilian. As is well known, in Brazil historically, inequality in access to land has prevailed, as a direct consequence of a patrimonialist and patriarchal social organization over the centuries, with the large latifundium predominating as a synonym of power. In this way, given the land concentration, the less favored strata such as slaves, ex-slaves or free men from less wealthy classes would have greater difficulties in owning land.
Thus, from colonial Brazil of monoculture to the east of agribusiness in the 21st century, what prevails is the land concentration, which brings to light the need for discussion and political struggle as the main by the MST.
According to Bernardo M. Fernandes, in his book The formation of the MST in Brazil (2000), the MST was born from the occupation of land and has in this action its instrument of struggle against land concentration and the State itself. According to this author, due to the failure to carry out the agrarian reform, through occupations, the landless intensified the struggle, imposing on the government to carry out a policy of rural settlements.
The organization of the MST as a social movement began in the 80s of the last century and is now present in 24 states of the federation, a fact that illustrates its representativeness in national terms. The foundation of this movement took place in a political context in which the harsh military regime that began in the 60s of the the last century came to an end, allowing Brazilian civil society a political opening for demands and debates. In this context of the country's redemocratization, in 1985 the proposal for the elaboration of the first PNRA (National Plan for Agrarian Reform) emerged. Its second version (II PNRA) was only proposed in 2003, during the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The objectives of the MST, in addition to agrarian reform, are at the heart of discussions on important social transformations in Brazil, especially those related to social inclusion. If on the one hand there were advances and achievements in this struggle, there is still a lot to be done in relation to agrarian reform in Brazil, whether in terms of expropriation and settlement, or in relation to the quality of infrastructure available to families already seated. According to data from INCRA (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform), the number of families settled in recent years was 614,093, with 551 settlements being created in the same period. Still according to INCRA, in total, Brazil has 85.8 million hectares incorporated into the agrarian reform and a total of 8,763 serviced settlements, where 924,263 families live.
The numbers shown are positive. However, if we take into account the statements of the MST itself and of experts on the subject, until 2010 there were still around 90,000 families encamped across the country, which represents a considerable demand for land to be served, despite the advances suggested previously. Regarding the infrastructure available to these families, some data presented by the Survey of Quality assessment of the Agrarian Reform Settlements promoted by INCRA in 2010 are very significant. The survey shows that 31.04% of the settlements have energy availability, but with constant falls or with "little strength" and 22.39% do not have electricity, which means that more than half of the households do not fully rely on this benefit. With regard to basic sanitation, the data also show that progress is still needed, as only 1.14% of settlements have a sewer system, against 64.13% (together with a simple septic tank and a "black" cesspool) that they have cesspools. The negative dimension of these data is repeated in the general assessment of other factors such as the condition of access roads and the general satisfaction of the settlers, becoming more significant when almost half of the settlers did not obtain any financing or loan to leverage their production. This shows that much still needs to be done in relation to the settlements, as only access to land does not guarantee the quality of life and production conditions of the rural worker.
If on the one hand the struggle for land, besides being commendable, is legitimate, on the other hand, the means practiced by the movement to promote their invasions in some certain cases generate a lot of controversy in the opinion public. In certain episodes that had national repercussions, the movement was accused of having been guided by violence, in addition to having permeated its actions in the sphere of illegality, both to invade properties that, according to the State, were productive, such as having some of its militants involved in depredations, fires, robberies and violence against these settlers. farms.
However, it is noteworthy that in many cases the violence and the truculent action of the State when dealing with a social issue as important as this is also present. Just remember the episode of the Eldorado de Carajás massacre, in Pará, in 1996, when militants were killed in confrontation with the police. The date on which this historic event occurred, April 17, became the date of the National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform. If the controversy of violence (whether by the movement or by the State) were not enough, others come to the fore, such as the land regularization across the country, which can serve the interests of landowners and families linked to the agribusiness. Thus, despite the criticism he receives (not only for his controversial acts themselves, but sometimes for lack of public opinion influenced by a media that can be biased), the MST is an important instrument in the transformation of a rural reality in the country: the land concentration.
The agrarian reform is among many other reforms that Brazilian society so longs for an agenda to eradicate poverty and inequality, valuing the social function of land. Ensuring the rights of rural workers is, at the same time, defending their dignity as a Brazilian.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
