Community Building Meeting II
 

Representatives of the Secretariat met with representatives of the Landless Workers Movement in the Sao Paolo headquarters on August 24th. During this two hour meeting, the fundamental structure and history of the movement was described and arrangements were made to visit a settlement the following day. This opportunity for a meeting with representatives of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) had been arranged through Dawn Plummer at the "Friends of the MST" office in San Francisco. "Friends of the MST", were instrumental in endorsing the Commission's legitimacy. The Secretariat truly appreciates the support that facilitated this brief but substantial engagement with the MST.

Pictures of Progress

Background

The issue of land reform has dominated Brazilian politics for over two decades. A country initially colonized by beginning in the 16th century, its legacy of land ownership from early land grants is still evident today. Brazil is pressured by an overly skewed land distribution pattern; just 3% of the population owns nearly 66% of the nation's arable land. The country's largest farms (2,000 acres or more) comprise only 1.6% of the total of all farms but occupy 53% of the usable land. Of that farmland, an estimated 88% is permanently idle. In contrast, 30% of Brazilian farmers own just 20 acres or less. Overall, approximately 40% of Brazil's farmland lies fallow or is used only for cattle grazing, while 25 million peasants (15% of the population) struggle to survive in temporary agricultural jobs. And, though many leaders have promised land reform, little progress has been made to meet the needs of the peasant farmer. Furthermore, with increasing pressure by the World Bank for developing countries like Brazil to consolidate small farms into large agricultural holdings, the survival of the small farmer is in doubt.

It is within this context that the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra or MST) has emerged over the past 15 years to become the largest social movement in Latin America and one of the most successful grassroots movements in the world. The effort began in 1985 when, with the support of the Catholic Church, hundreds of landless rural Brazilians successfully established a cooperative on an unused plantation in the south of the country. They gained title to that land in 1987.

Since then, the MST has been organizing Brazil's rural poor to occupy and cultivate large tracts of idle agricultural land as "land reform from the bottom up". The strategy is straightforward: identify idle farmland and then, armed only with farm tools, occupy the land, develop a community there and cultivate the land until legal ownership to the property is granted. This strategy is consistent with the 1988 Brazilian Constitution that explicitly states that land must be used for the benefit of all society.

Since its founding, the MST has won land titles for 250,000 families in 1600 government recognized settlements across 23 Brazilian states. Currently over 70,000 families are in MST encampments throughout Brazil waiting for land titles. Beyond the acquisition of legal ownership, the organization provides it members with basic social services that the government is unwilling or unable to provide. Medical clinics and training centers for health care workers are established in every settlement. Twelve hundred public schools employ an estimated 3800 teachers serving about 150,000 children. Through a UNESCO grant, adult literacy classes are offered to 25,000 people. The MST has even established its own college and, where possible, provides some students with scholarships to attend other universities.

MST encampment near Sao Pasto

Of course, the MST is controversial and has been violently opposed by wealthy landowners and other elites over the years. The military police, private militias, and other Brazilian security forces have led raids on encampments and targeted individual leaders for reprisals, resulting in hundreds of casualties annually. In addition to these reprisals, government land reform policies, influenced by World Bank "structural adjustment" programs, have typically favored large plantation owners that produce food for export. At the same time, the government has distributed, to small farmers, millions of acres of land in recent years. Government officials concede, however, that such distribution would not have occured on such a scale without the grassroots pressure from the MST.

The success of the MST lies in its ability to organize. Its members have not only managed to secure land, thereby guaranteeing food security for their families, but they operate a wide range of mid-size agricultural cooperatives. This industry provides jobs for members and produce for MST consumption and sale to Brazilian and international markets. MST enterprises generate an estimated $50 million a year, most of which goes directly to member families with a share used to support the MST's social services and infrastructure. The movement emphasizes community values and environmental stewardship before profit making.

At last year's national congress, 1700 representatives from settlements throughout Brazil convened to determine the political platform to be followed over the coming five years. Each year regional meetings are held to assess the progress of the five-year plans. The success of this movement has inspired similar organizations to appear in other parts of the world. "MST support committees" are gaining strength in France, Spain, and Italy with less formal but similarly structured organizations developing in several other Latin American countries.

MST School Construction Site

A MST school under contruction.

With the labor of MST workers who come from settlements throughout the country, a school for MST children is being built on a several acre tract of land about 45 kilometers north west of Sao Paolo. The construction is supervised by a local architect and building contractor who volunteers his time for the project. The land was purchased by funds from the central MST organization.

After a communal lunch with the contruction workers, Jim and Andy were taken to an MST "educational settlement" approximately 75 kilometers out of Sao Paolo. This was a plastic tent city on a hilltop that could house up to 50,000 residents or 12,500 families. The approximately 5500 families currently in residence are participating in an initial training program that prepares the individuals for integration into an MST permanent settlement. The social structure of each community is well designed for efficient management.

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