Brazil's Landless Hold Their Ground
Vanden, Harry E.
OVER THE PAST FEW DECADES, THERE have been various forms of popular protest in Latin America against the austerity measures and conservative economic policies that have come to be called...
...But they go on to say that agrarian reform is only viable if it is part of a popular project that would transform Brazil's economic and social structures...
...there were so many people we couldn't find transportation for them all...
...First of all, we face the economic and political power of the large landowners...
...1 9 As has been the case in other Latin American countries, traditional politics and political parties have proven unable and/or unwilling to address the deteriorating economic conditions of marginalized groups who suffer the negative effects of economic globalization...
...5, March/April, 2002, pp...
...Wealth has remained equally concentrated...
...See: "0 que queremos corn as escolas dos asentamientos," Caderno de Forrnacao No...
...By functioning in civil society and not becoming part of the government, however, the MST was free to pursue its original demands for land reform and socio-economic transformation...
...Reforma Agraria, por um Brasil sern latifundio (Sao Paulo: Movimiento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra-MST, [20001 15...
...Their views are well articulat- social and political ed...
...Second, the Brazilian state always acts to maintain the privileges of the dominant classes...
...The assertion of popular power her students reminiscent of mobilizations by the prein a school coup Peasant Leagues in northeastern that serves Brazil began to bubble up in new and an MST settlement varied forms...
...The PT 26 would pursue its "Zero Hunger" program and other social and economic initiatives and the MST would press the PT government for the structural reforms like comprehensive agrarian reform that it considered necessary...
...NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS groups of about ten families, which constitute a "Base Nucleus" in each neighborhood...
...7(VeranOpolis: ITERRA, 2001...
...They have also produced an upsurge of new sociopolitical movements and mass organizations along with a plethora of national strikes, demonstrations and protests such as those that washed across Argentina at the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002...
...The MST had the good luck to be born in a historical period that permitted us to build on the experience of many movements that had preceded us...
...Brazil's Landless 1. Susan Kaufman Purcell, "Electoral Lessons," America Economica, December 6, 2001, p.40...
...Third, we have to deal with the nature of the governments that utilize the state and its laws in order to maintain the privileges of those same dominant classes...
...and Como fazemos a escola de educacao fundamental," Cuaderno de Educacao No...
...And years of work in the Church culminated in a pastoral letter on the land, based on liberation theology...
...Third, we have to deal with the nature of the governments that utilize the state and its laws in order to maintain the privileges of those same dominant classes...
...protests throughout the world...
...1 Leadership is collective at all levels, including nationally, where some 102 militants make up the National Coordinating Council...
...An MST protest in Brazirs Amazon region...
...4. CONAIE's very brief participation in a would-be junta that held the Ecuadoran Congress building overnight in January of 2000 is the exception...
...That pastoral letter helped raise the consciousness of the campesinos so that they could organize and struggle...
...It was decided from the onset that this was to be an organization for the Landless Workers, to be run by the Landless Workers and for their benefit as they defined it...
...Another problem lies in the difficulty of organizing millions of poor people who are still at a low level of political and ideological consciousness...
...But we always set our own goals and methods...
...and have marched and staged confrontations when necessary They even occupied the family farm of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso shortly before the 2002 election to draw attention to his land-owning interests and the consequent bias they attributed to him...
...The immediate origins of the MST go back to the bitter struggle to survive under the agricultural policies implemented by the military government that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985...
...8 When the MST was founded in southern Brazil in 1984 as a response to rural poverty and the lack of access to land, similar conditions existed in many Brazilian states...
...The assertion of popular power her students reminiscent of mobilizations by the prein a school coup Peasant Leagues in northeastern that serves Brazil began to bubble up in new and anMST settlement varied forms...
...Much like other periods of uncertainty and confusion, it is often from the bases that feasible and sustainable responses emerge to rebuild and create more solid foundations...
...called Che By the time neoliberal economic policy Guevara in became more widespread in the 1990s, it Sgo Paulo was becoming evident that the extant polit- state...
...They even establish schools in their encampments, settlements and cooperatives to make sure the next generation has a clear idea of the politics in play.10 The next generation of leaders attends their national school ITERRA, where they get a strong political and popular orientation, well-grounded instruction in political and organizational theory and practical skills such as accounting and administration...
...The projection of an elitist armed vanguard as the spearhead of necessary change began to fade in the face of unarmed political and social mobiliza- Elizabeth Sierra with tions...
...Although these organizations assisted the MST along with some segments of the Workers' Party (PT), the organization never lost its autonomy...
...Also, society had risen up against Brazil's dictatorship and had lost its fear of struggle...
...Rather, their primary focus is to work through the exist22 ing political system by pushing it to its limits to achieve necessary change and restructuring...
...But the true history of humanity is based on solidarity, equality and social justice...
...18, March 1999...
...called Che By the time neoliberal economic policy Guevara in became more widespread in the 1990s, it So Paulo was becoming evident that the extant polit- state...
...Each group then sends two representatives to a ruling council in each NOTES settlement, cooperative or encampment...
...By functioning in civil society and not becoming part of the government, however, the MST was free to pursue its original demands for land reform and socio-economic transformation...
...Indeed, in the eyes of most Latin American popular sectors, the structural adjustments and neoliberal reforms advocated by international financial institutions like the IMF threatened their security and well-being...
...There is growing belief that economic equality should exist and that systems working against such equality need to be changed...
...These protests have taken diverse forms: the Zapatista rebellion in Mexico, the neopopulist Fifth Republic Movement led by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the national indigenous movement led by the National Indigenous Confederation of Ecuador (CONAIE), the regime-changing popular mobilizations in Argentina and Bolivia, and the Landless Rural Workers' Movement in Brazil (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST), which is the subject of this article...
...General meetings in which all can participate are also held...
...0 25 +REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS NACL& REPORT ON THE AMERICAS single land takeover or 100,000 for a national march suggests the strength of their organizational abilities and how well they communicate and coordinate at the national level...
...Relations between the two organizations are generally excellent at the local level with overlapping membership, but the national leaderships have remained separate and not always as cordial...
...Further, these responses represent a substantial change from previous forms of political action, and they are transforming the conduct of politics in Brazil and Latin America...
...The campesino class in Brazil is only 100 years old, very young in terms of human history, and we have learned from the historical experience of the working class...
...I also have some painful ones...
...Our movement was born in a historical confluence of several factors...
...Another good moment was our arrival in Brasilia on April 17, 1997, after a three-month march of 1,500 kilometers (950 miles...
...2. Banco de Datos Politicos das Americas, "Brazil: Elecbes Presidencias de 1998," <www.georgetown.edu/pdba/Elecdata/Brazil/press98.html>, accessed April 19, 2002...
...No certain solutions exist, but the safeguarding of autonomy seems necessary if the social movements are to fend off situations that can potentially, and perhaps irreparably, damage them...
...The effects of neoliberalism and continued classism and racism amid everstronger calls for equality were inescapable...
...Therefore, we always insist that the MST and other social movements have to be autonomous in their relations with political parties, the government, the state, the Church and all other institutions...
...The Brazilian Institute of Government Statistics reported in 2001 that the upper 10% of the population received an average income that was 19 times greater than that of the lowest 40%.6 The plantation agriculture that dominated the colonial period and the early republican era became the standard for Brazilian society The wealthy few owned the land, reaped the profits and decided the political destiny of the many The institution of slavery provided most of the labor for the early plantation system and thus further entrenched polarized social relations between the wealthy landowning elite and the disenfranchised toiling masses laboring in the fields...
...Rather, they continued to press the government for a comprehensive land reform program and a redistribution of both land and wealth...
...What follows is a portion of his response: I have some very good memories of the activities of the movement...
...15 Like many of Latin America's recent social and political movements, the Sem Terra are well aware of how their struggle is linked to international conditions...
...Our movement was born in a historical confluence of several factors...
...We have learned from Latin American campesino movements, which have an historical tradition of struggle...
...Few found decent jobs in the city, and the easily eroded rainforest subsoil allowed for little sustained agriculture, worsening their collective plight...
...I had been active in the wine-producers unions in my family's home region...
...They state one of helped organize and participated in the the areas where the World Social Fora of Porto Alegre and have MST is most sent representatives to demonstrations and active...
...40-46...
...Indeed, the economic realities that the masses of people all over Latin America are living, provide a potent empirical antidote to the universal prescription to globalize...
...8. See: Elide Rugai Bastos, As Ligas Camponesas(PetOpolis: Vozes,1984...
...Rather, they continued to press the government for a comprehensive land reform program and a redistribution of both land and wealth...
...As the 1990s progressed, dissatisfaction with traditional political leaders and parties became more widespread along with doubts about the legitimacy of the political system itself...
...Land, wealth and power have been allocated in extremely unequal ways since the conquest in the early 1500s...
...Although these organizations assisted the MST along with some segments of the Workers' Party (PT), the organization never lost its autonomy...
...Others opted for the government-sponsored Amazon colonization program, whereby the government transplanted entire families to the Amazon region where they cut down the rainforest for planting...
...They sought something different...
...NACLA invited him to speak of his memories of the movement and to reflect on the MSTs role in Brazilian politics and history...
...Though they may lack the political will to implement many of their promised policies like land reform, they are not totally opposed to the policies being advocated by the MST...
...The MST produces educational material and guides as well as training and orientation on how to develop schools and popular education...
...I also have some painful ones...
...So sooner or later, I know we will win...
...Thus, the Sem Terra generally support the PT in most local campaigns and backed Luiz macb Lula da Silva in his successful campaign for the presidency They helped achieve significant regime change in Brazil: Lula was elected with an unprecedented 61% of the vote in the 2002 runoff...
...17 Mass political mobilization is another fundamental organizational principle as seen in their massive mobilizations for land takeovers and street demonstrations [See "Memories of Struggle...
...By 2004, the MST displayed considerable dissatisfaction with what it considered the relative inaction of the government in regard to land reform, and it was threatening to once again engage in massive land takeovers...
...They sought something different...
...He has published some thirty scholarly articles and six books, including Politics of Latin America: the Power Game (Oxford University Press, 2002...
...By 2004, the MST displayed considerable dissatisfaction with what it considered the relative inaction of the government in regard to land reform, and it was threatening to once again engage in massive land takeovers...
...Low levels of political understanding and cultural development make it hard to broaden mass organization...
...By 2001 there were active MST organizations in 23 of the 26 states...
...It should, however, be noted that much of the press was not always sympathetic and condemned their land takeovers as illegal actions...
...Relations between the two organizations are generally excellent at the local level with overlapping membership, but the national leaderships have remained separate and not always as cordial...
...Currently, the leftist Workers' Party is in control of the national and many state and municipal governments and has promised reform and structural change...
...And years of work in the Church culminated in a pastoral letter on the land, based on liberation theology...
...Developing organization and group actions, sometimes with the outside assistance of progressive That's how I got my start and here I am today, still in the struggle...
...We have alliances with other sectors that are fighting for the same causes, and also with political parties...
...We are in permanent negotiations with the governments in search of our objectives...
...Other landless people soon picked up their cry in the neighboring states of Parana and Santa Catarina.7 They built on a long tradition of rural resistance and rebellion that extends back to the establishments of quilombos (large inland settleREPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ments of runaway slaves) and to the famous rebellion of the poor peasants of Canudos in the 1890s...
...Thus, they begin by challenging the positive vision of neoliberalism presented by global media.16 In a draft document on the "Fundamental Principles for the Social and Economic Transformation of Rural Brazil," they note that "the political unity of the Brazilian dominant classes under Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration (1994-2000) has consolidated the implementation of neoliberalism [in Brazil] ," and that these neoliberal policies have led to the increased concentration of land and wealth in the hands of the few and the further impoverishment of Brazilian society "Popular movements," the document goes on to say, "must challenge MEMORIES OF STRUGGLE IN THE MST oo Pedro Stedile is one of the founding members of the Movimento dos Trabathadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Brazil's Landless Rural Workers' Movement, and one of its most vocal leaders...
...Another good moment was our arrival in Brasilia on April 17, 1997, after a three-month march of 1,500 kilometers (950 miles...
...2 Changing attitudes have often led to the abandonment of traditional political parties for new, more amorphous, ad hoc parties like Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement in Venezuela...
...Once the election was over, the MST did not demand to be part of the government...
...At present, a great many people especially the poor seem to feel that the much-touted return to democracy, the celebration of civil society and the incorporation of Latin America into the globalization process has left them marginalized both economically and politically...
...The rural landowners also did all in their power to stop their actions and discredit them in the public eye...
...At times they are brutally repressed, assassinated and imprisoned, yet still, they persevere, forcing the dis- tribution of land to their people and others without land...
...2003...
...Indeed, realizing the PT'S historic challenge to neoliberal policies and elitist rule, the landless turned out heavily in the election to join some 80% of registered voters who participated in both rounds of voting...
...4 The end of authoritarian rule and the expansive democratization of the late 1980s created new political dynamics in many Latin American nations...
...Frequently held regional, state and even national assemblies in turn incorporate representatives of these local-level units.11 Leadership is collective at all levels, including nationally, where some 102 militants make up the National Coordinating Council...
...We have always understood that only they who travel on their own feet and think with their own heads can go far...
...The MST had the good luck to be born in a historical period that permitted us to build on the experience of many movements that had preceded us...
...18 This strategy is widely communicated to those affiliated with the organization...
...The interaction between the MST and the PT is also instructive...
...Mass communication systems and easy, relatively affordable access to the Internet have combined with higher levels of literacy and much greater political freedom under the democratization process...
...A pamphlet disseminated by the organization, "Brazil Needs a Popular Project," calls for popular mobilizations, noting that "all the changes in the history of humanity only happened when the people were mobi- lized," and that in Brazil, "all the social and political changes that happened were won when the people mobilized and struled...
...They have come to represent a clear response to the neoliberal economic policies that have been forced on Latin American nations by international financial institutions, the U.S...
...The Sem Terra envision a thoroughgoing land reform and complete restructuring of agrarian production in all of Brazil, as suggested by their pamphlet prepared for their fourth national congress in 2000, "Agrarian Reform for a Brazil Without Latifundios...
...We were lucky to be accompanied by the photographer Sebastio Salgado, who documented the operation...
...Thus, the Sem Terra generally support the PT in most local campaigns and backed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in his successful campaign for the presidency They helped achieve significant regime change in Brazil: Lula was elected with an unprecedented 61% of the vote in the 2002 runoff...
...11 (Sao Paulo: Secrtaria Operative de Consulta Popular, 2000( pp.1-29...
...6. Brazilian Institute of Statistics, Statistical Report 2001, as cited in "Pais Termina Anos 90 Tao Desigual come Comencou," Folha de Sao Paulo (April 5, 2001...
...They state-one of helped organize and participated in the theareas where the World Social Fora of Porto Alegre, and have MST is most sent representatives to demonstrations and active...
...5 (Sao Paulo: Consulta Popular, 1993...
...But the true history of humanity is based on solidarity, equality and social justice...
...their magazine, Revista Sem Terra...
...The neighborhood organization often families could be the base unit (nucleo de base} in a larger cooperative or settlement, or even a temporary encampment...
...See, for instance, the political education pamphlet that the MST uses to explain neoliberalism to its affiliates: 0 Neoliberahism, ou o mecanismo para fabricar mais pobres entre os pobres, Notebook No...
...and numerous pamphlets, they inform their base through a well-planned program of political education...
...They have taken over large estates and public lands...
...Certainly, the more progressive a government is, the more possibilities will be open to movements...
...More than 100,000 people came into the streets to receive us...
...As this process continued and became more tightly linked to the increasing globalization of production, large commercial or family estates fired rural laborers, expelled sharecroppers from the land they farmed and acquired the land of farmers who owned small plots...
...The landless rural workers in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul began to organize to demand land in the early 1980s...
...government and national economic elites...
...In the 20 years since Brazil's military left government, the MST has embedded itself in civil society, taking advantage of the considerable political space that has opened up with the institutionalization of nominal democracy...
...Indeed, the strongly participatory nature of the organization and the collective nature of leadership and decision-making have made for a political culture that challenges traditional authoritarian notions and vertical decision-making structures.'3 ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT SOCIAL movements like the MST is a broad national vision...
...protests throughout the world...
...MST, 0 Brasil precisa de urn projeto popular, Cuartilla No...
...Traditional personalism, clientelism, corruption and avarice became subjects of ridicule and anger, if not rage...
...My participation dates from those beginnings...
...In the case of Brazil and the Sem Terra, this outside role was played by the Lutheran Church and even more so by the Pastoral Land Commission of the Catholic Church...
...In more recent times it included the well-known Peasant Leagues of Brazil's impoverished northeast in the 1950s and early 1960s and the Grass Wars in Rio Grande do Sul and other southern states in the 1970s...
...21REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS There is a growing consensus that the traditional politicians' new political enterprise is leaving behind the great majorities and, effectively, further marginalizing specific groups within those majorities...
...We have learned from the peasant movements coming before us that were defeated by the military dictatorship...
...That pastoral letter helped raise the consciousness of the campesinos so that they could organize and struggle...
...There was a search for new structures that would respond to the perceived-though not always clearly articulated-demands emerging from the popular sectors...
...The MST has maintained a militant line in regard to the need to take over unused land and assert their agenda, whereas much of the PT leadership has wanted to be more conciliatory...
...The immediate origins of the MST go back to the bitter struggle to survive under the agricultural policies implemented by the military government that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985...
...Then we walked together to an 85,000 hectare (230,000 acre) farm, the largest landed estate in the state of ParanS, and we took it...
...9(MST, Education Sector, 1999...
...Other landless people soon picked up their cry in the neighboring states of Parana and Santa Catarina...
...See Stedile interview this issue, p. 24 19...
...We had 6,000 a families camped all night by the side of the road...
...From all we have learned from history, we realize that the health of the social movement depends on a large degree of political and ideological independence...
...Political spaces began to open up in what came to be labeled "civil society," and new forms of political action followed...
...A pamphlet disseminated by the organization, "Brazil Needs a Popular Project," calls for popular mobilizations, noting that "all the changes in the history of humanity only happened when the people were mobilized," and that in Brazil, "all the social and political changes that happened were won when the people mobilized and struggled...
...Rather, their primary focus is to work through the exist22 ing political system by pushing it to its limits to achieve necessary change and restructuring.4 The end of authoritarian rule and the expansive democratization of the late 1980s created new political dynamics in many Latin American nations...
...Groups were looking for new political structures that allowed for their participation...
...We knew we had popular support, but we didn't know how strong it was...
...There is growing belief that economic equality should exist and that systems working against such equality need to be changed...
...These protests have taken diverse forms: the Zapatista rebellion in Mexico, the neopopulist Fifth Republic Movement led by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, the national indigenous movement led by the National Indigenous Confederation of Ecuador (CONAIE), the regime-changing popular mobilizations in Argentina and Bolivia, and the Landless Rural Workers' Movement in Brazil (Movimento dos Trabaihadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST), which is the subject of this article...
...Then we walked together to an 85,000 hectare (230,000 acre) farm, the largest landed estate in the state of Parana, and we took it...
...By 2001 there were active MST organizations in 23 of the 26 states.9 Today the MST is arguably the largest and most powerful social movement in Latin America...
...Land has remained highly concentrated, and as late as 1996, one percent of landowners owned 45% of the land.5 Conversely, as of 2001, there were some 4.5 million landless rural workers in Brazil...
...It is also quite possible that it is the democratization and celebration of civil society that allow-some would say encourage-the political mobilization that is manifest in the widespread emergence of forceful mass-based social and political movements...
...They also garner a great deal of national support, having created a consensus An MST throughout the country that land distribu- encampment tion is a problem and that some substantial in an area reforms are necessary...
...In the 20 years since Brazil's military left government, the MST has embedded itself in civil society, taking advantage of the considerable political space that has opened up with the institutionalization of nominal democracy...
...The ranks of those associated with it exceed 200,000 and perhaps even double that number...
...In small classes, meetings and assemblies, and through their newspaper, Jornal Dos Trabaihadores Sem Terra...
...Indicators of the growing malaise are many: general alienation from the traditional political process, increased crime, surging abstention rates in select electoral contests as suggested by the low turnout in Argentina in 2001.1 The 1998 national elections in Brazil saw a similar phenomenon, with 40% of the electorate either abstaining or casting blank or annulled ballots...
...They have left the traditional parties far behind as they forge new political horizons and create a non-authoritarian, participatory political culture...
...In more recent times it included the well-known Peasant Leagues of Brazil's impoverished northeast in the 1950s and early 1960s and the Grass Wars in Rio Grande do Sul and other southern states in the 1970s.8 When the MST was founded in southern Brazil in 1984 as a response to rural poverty and the lack of access to land, similar conditions existed in many Brazilian states...
...Therefore, we always insist that the MST and other social movements have to be autonomous in their relations with political parties, the government, the state, the Church and all other institutions...
...We have always understood that only they who travel on their own feet and think with their own heads can go far...
...At the same time, the Lula government was facing increasing pressure from international financial institutions and national economic interests for moderate policies...
...We knew we had popular support, but we didn't know how strong it was...
...Land remained in relatively few hands, and agricultural laborers continued to be poorly paid and poorly treated...
...If nothing else, the changed political situation makes repression unlikely and allows for conNACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS single land takeover or 100,000 for a national march suggests the strength of their organizational abilities and how well they communicate and coordinate at the national level...
...They have a clear undermovements, the Sem standing of the increased commercialization of agriculture and Terra are well aware of its consequences for the way how their struggle is production is organized, if not linked to international rural life more generally Similarly, they are fully con- conditions...
...Harry E. Vanden is a professor of political science and international studies at the University of South Florida, Tampa...
...7 They built on a long tradition of rural resistance and rebellion that extends back to the establishments of quilombos (large inland settlements of runaway slaves) and to the famous rebellion of the poor peasants of Canudos in the 1890s...
...In Brazil we haven't gone through a true bourgeois revolution...
...It was at the end of the 1970s when the model of dependent industrialization and modern agriculture was entering into crisis...
...At present, a great many people-especially the poor-seem to feel that the much-touted return to democracy, the celebration of civil society and the incorporation of Latin America into the globalization process has left them marginalized both economically and politically The reactions in Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia have been strong and significant and, in varying ways, make one wonder if the dominant political project is working for common people...
...Also, society had risen up against Brazil's dictatorship and had lost its fear of struggle...
...2: p.1 53-154...
...The reactions in Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia have been strong and significant and, in varying ways, make one wonder if the dominant political project is working for common people...
...ical systems in much of Latin America were unable to meet the needs of the vast majorities...
...At times they are brutally repressed, assassinated and imprisoned, yet still, they persevere, forcing the distribution of land to their people and others without land...
...The interaction between the MST and the PT is also instructive...
...The PT 26 would pursue its "Zero Hunger" program and other social and economic initiatives and the MST would press the PT government for the structural reforms-like comprehensive agrarian reform-that it considered necessary...
...The institution of slavery provided most of the labor for the early plantation system and thus further entrenched polarized social relations between the wealthy landowning elite and the disenfranchised toiling masses laboring in the fields...
...Groups were looking for new political structures that allowed for their participation...
...Few found decent jobs in the city, and the easily eroded rainforest subsoil allowed for little sustained agriculture, worsening their collective plight...
...But they go on to say that agrarian reform is only viable if it is part of a popular project that would transform Brazil's economic and social structures...
...This resulted in growing rural unemployment and the growth of rural landless families, many of whom had to migrate to cities, swelling the numbers of the urban poor...
...The structures of domination are very strong in our society...
...Among the best is April 15, 1996, when we organized the greatest , land occupation in the history of the MST...
...This resulted in growing rural unemployment and the growth of rural landless families, many of whom had to migrate to cities, swelling the numbers of the urban poor...
...In the case of Brazil and the Sem Terra, this outside role was played by the Lutheran Church and even more so by the Pastoral Land Commission of the Catholic Church...
...In 1997, for instance, the organization was able to Like many of Latin mobilize 100,000 people for a America's recent march on Brasilia...
...Unlike the radical revolutionary movements of the last few decades, these new movements do not advocate the radical restructuring of the state through violent revolution...
...In turn, the social movements have responded with grassroots organization and the development of a new repertoire of action that breaks with old forms of political activity...
...It has a high mobilization capacity at the local, state and even national level...
...Because of my links with the pastoral letter I was invited to organize the landless campesinos who lived in another region of my state, Rio Grande do Sul...
...To be autonomous does not mean that we can't enter into alliances and relationships...
...a Brazil's Landless Hold Their Ground by Harry E. Vanden O VER THE PAST FEW DECADES, THERE have been various forms of popular protest in Latin America against the austerity measures and conservative economic policies that have come to be called "neoliberalism...
...Because of my links with the pastoral letter I was invited to organize the landless campesinos who lived in another region of my state, Rio Grande do Sul...
...When we arrived in the city, our reception had the feeling of a general strike...
...The movement has been heavily influenced by liberation theology and the participatory democratic culture generated by the use and study of Paulo Freire's approach to selftaught, critical education...
...But at the same time, these governments confront the grassroots movements with new challenges for which they are ill-prepared...
...We had 6,000 families camped all night by the side of the road...
...See: Jennifer N. Collins, "A Sense of Possibility, Ecuador's Indigenous Movement Takes Center Stage," in "!Adelante...
...Indeed, there were landless workers and peasants throughout the nation, and the MST soon spread from Rio Grande do Sul and ParanA in the South to states like Pernambuco in the Northeast and ParA in the Amazon region...
...Land, wealth and power have been allocated in extremely unequal ways since the conquest in the early 1500s...
...scious of how globalization is strengthening these trends and threatening their livelihoods...
...14 The MST believes that it is impossible to develop the nation, construct a democratic society, or alleviate poverty and social inequality in the countryside without eliminating the latifundio...
...Among the best is April 15, 1996, when we organized the greatest land occupation in the history of the MST...
...There would be no return to "politics as usual...
...The New Rural Activism in the Americas," NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol...
...In field research in Rio Grande do Sul State in 2001, the author observed a mixed grade class in one of the campamentos learning about "rrasgenicos" genetically engineered crops, their hazards and the corporations that control them...
...Mass communication systems and easy, relatively affordable access to the Internet have combined with higher levels of literacy and much greater political freedom under the democratization process.3 This has occurred just as ideas of grassroots democracy, popular participation and even elements of liberation theology and Christian-Base Community organizing have been widely disseminated...
...As proposed by Chuji and Macas, the recovery of the movement will most likely be carried out at the community level...
...THE MST ITSELF WAS FORMED AS A RESPONSE TO LONGstanding economic, social and political conditions in Brazil...
...Indeed, in the eyes of most Latin American popular sectors, the structural adjustments and neoliberal reforms advocated by international financial institutions like the IMF threatened their security and well-being...
...Frequently held regional, state and even national assemblies in turn incorporate representatives of these local-level units...
...Low levels of political understanding and cultural development make it hard to broaden mass organization...
...There was a search for new structures that would respond to the perceived though not always clearly articulated demands emerging from the popular sectors...
...Struggles that were once local and isolated are now international and linked.21 International communications networks, including cellular phones and, especially, e-mail, have greatly facilitated the globalization of awareness about local struggles and the support and solidarity they receive...
...In turn, the social movements have responded with grassroots organization and the development of a new repertoire of action that breaks with old forms of political activity Developing organization and group actions, sometimes with the outside assistance of progressive REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS organizations concerned with social justice, have tied individual members together in a strongly forged group identity...
...and have marched and staged confrontations when necessary...
...Geraldo Flores, interview, September17, 2003...
...constructed black plastic-covered encampments along the side of the road to call attention to their demands for land...
...They have vigorously resisted the corporate-led economic globalization process that has been heralded as the panacea to underdevelopment and poverty...
...Traditional personalism, chen- telism, corruption and avarice became subjects of ridicule and anger, if not rage...
...Local general assemblies convene frequently and all members of the family units are encouraged to participate...
...I had been active in the wine-producers unions in my family's home region...
...Second, the Brazilian state always acts to maintain the privileges of the dominant classes...
...But we always set our own goals and methods...
...9 Such movements are also a recent and vociferous manifestation of the specter of mass popular mobilization against the governing elite that has haunted Latin America since colonial times...
...Reforma Agraria, p. 4. 16...
...NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS There is a growing consensus that the traditional politicians' new political enterprise is leaving behind the great majorities and, effectively, further marginalizing specific groups within those majorities...
...From all we have learned from history, we realize that the health of the social movement depends on a large degree of political and ideological independence...
...The formulation of highly political social movements and the participatory democracy they practice provide a new and promising response to global neoliberalism...
...Such movements are also a recent and vociferous manifestation of the specter of mass popular mobilization against the governing elite that has haunted Latin America since colonial times...
...When we arrived U 24 in the city, our reception had the feeling of a general strike...
...He has published some thirty scholarly articles and six books, including Politics of Latin America: the Power Game (Oxford University Press, 2002...
...Nor did the populace in most nations look to armed struggles and revolutionary movements to remedy their problems (Colombia is the significant exception here...
...Similarly, they are fully conconditions...
...If nothing else, the changed political situation makes repression unlikely and allows for considerable political space in which social movements like the MST can maneuver...
...15 Like many of Latin America's recent social and political movements, the Sem Terra are well aware of how their struggle is linked to international conditions...
...9 Today the MST is arguably the largest and most powerful social movement in Latin America...
...The projection of an elitist armed vanguard as the spearhead of necessary change began to fade in the face of unarmed political and social mobiliza- Elizabeth Sierra with tions...
...LIKE TI-IF MST, MANY OF THE REGION'S SOCIAL MOVEMENTS have grown and have become increasingly politicized...
...With growing questions about the system's relevance and legitimacy, these demands were not exclusively addressed to the political system per Se but to society more generally Nor did the populace in most nations look to armed struggles and revolutionary movements to remedy their problems (Colombia is the significant exception here...
...Their ability to mobilize as many as 12,000 people for a To be autonomous does not mean that we can't enter into alliances and relationships...
...Among the bad moments, the most painful was the massacre of Caracajas, when the police killed 19 of our compafieros, one of them was a 19-year-old activist who was made to shout "Viva the MST" as they shot him...
...The Sem Terra envision a thoroughgoing land reform and complete restructuring of agrarian production in all of Brazil, as suggested by their pamphlet prepared for their fourth national congress in 2000, "Agrarian Reform for a Brazil Without Latifundios...
...The commercialization and mechanization of agriculture beginning in the 1970s made much of the existing rural labor force superfluous...
...We were lucky to be accompanied by the photographer Sebastito Salgado, who documented the operation...
...12 Their political culture and decision-making processes clearly break from the authoritarian tradition...
...and numerous pamphlets, they inform their base through a well-planned program of political education...
...Others opted for the government-sponsored Amazon colonization program, whereby the government transplanted entire families to the Amazon region where they cut down the rainforest for planting...
...What follows is a portion of his response: I have some very good memories of the activities of the movement...
...It was awesome...
...2 1 International communications networks, including cellular phones and, especially, e-mail, have greatly facilitated the globalization of awareness about local struggles and the support and solidarity they receive...
...My participation dates from those beginnings...
...9. See Bradford and Rocha, Cutting The Wire, and interview with Geraldo Fontes, member of the National Coordinating Council, Sao Paulo, September 17, 2003...
...p. 24].18 This strategy is widely communicated to those affiliated with the organization...
...5 Conversely, as of 2001, there were some 4.5 million landless rural workers in Brazil...
...They have a clear undermovements, the Sem standing of the increased commercialization of agriculture and its consequences for the way how their struggle is production is organized, if not linked to international rural life more generally...
...They have come to represent a clear response to the neoliberal economic policies that have been forced on Latin American nations by international financial institutions, the U.S...
...There would be no return to "politics as usual...
...Once the election was over, the MST did not demand to be part of the government...
...The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST(, "Fundamental Principles for the Social and Economic Transformation of Rural Brazil," Translated by Wilder Robles, Journal of Peasant Studies (January, 2001 (, Vot 28, No...
...The effects of neoliberalism and continued classism and racism amid everstronger calls for equality were inescapable...
...It was at the end of the 1970s when the model of dependent industrialization and modern agriculture was entering into crisis...
...With growing questions about the system's relevance and legitimacy, these demands were not exclusively addressed to the political system per se but to society more generally...
...5. James Petras, "The Rural Landless Workers' Movement," Z Magazine, (March 2000j, p.35...
...Political spaces began to open up in what came to be labeled "civil society," and new forms of political action followed...
...An MST protest in Brazil's Amazon region...
...Land remained in relatively few hands, and agricultural laborers continued to be poorly paid and poorly treated...
...As the 1990s progressed, dissatisfaction with traditional political leaders and parties became more widespread along with doubts about the legitimacy of the political system itself...
...3 This has occurred just as ideas of grassroots democracy, popular participation and even elements of liberation theology and Christian-Base Community organizing have been widely disseminated...
...34 (Sao Paulo: Ademar Bogo, 2000), and CarIes Rodrigues Brandao, HistOria do menino que ha o mundo, Fazendo HistOria No...
...The structures of domination are very strong in our society...
...Combined with dramatic actions like massive land takeovers, the MST has generated considerable support at both the national and international level and has helped transform local struggles into national events, redefining local problems as national problems that require national attention and resources...
...In Brazil we haven't gone through a true bourgeois revolution...
...See: "D MST e a culrura," Caderno de Formacao No...
...We have alliances with other sectors that are fighting for the same causes, and also with political parties...
...OVER THE PAST FEW DECADES, THERE have been various forms of popular protest in Latin America against the austerity measures and conservative economic policies that have come to be called "neoliberalism...
...1 4 The MST believes that it is impossible to develop the nation, construct a democratic society, or alleviate poverty and social inequality in the countryside without eliminating the latifundio...
...Wealth has remained equally concentrated...
...Indeed, the strongly participatory nature of the organization and the collective nature of leadership and decision-making have made for a political culture that challenges traditional authoritarian notions and vertical decision-making structures...
...This panorama of Latin American social movements confirms there are no sure-fire models or recipes...
...As this process continued and became more tightly linked to the increasing globalization of production, large commercial or family estates fired rural laborers, expelled sharecroppers from the land they farmed and acquired the land of farmers who owned small plots...
...It was awesome...
...7. See: Stedile interview in this issue, p.24, and Joao Pedro Stedile and Bernardo Mancano Fernandes...
...So sooner or later, I know we will win...
...Local general assemblies convene frequently and all members of the family units are encouraged to participate...
...Thus, they begin by challenging the positive vision of neoliberalism presented by global media...
...They have taken over large estates and public lands...
...constructed black plastic-covered encampments along the side of the road to call attention to their demands for land...
...Struggles that were once local and isolated are now international and linked...
...The MST also facilitates the organic development of highly participatory grassroots organizing rooted in 23REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS groups of about ten families, which constitute a "Base Nucleus" in each neighborhood...
...The Brazilian Institute of Government Statistics reported in 2001 that the upper 10% of the population received an average income that was 19 times greater than that of the lowest 40%.6 The plantation agriculture that dominated the colonial period and the early republican era became the standard for Brazilian society...
...At the same time, the Lula government was facing increasing pressure from international financial institutions and national economic interests for moderate policies...
...The wealthy few owned the land, reaped the profits and decided the political destiny of the many...
...In the process they are substantially strengthening participatory democratic practice...
...Special meetings are held to pick the representatives to the National Encounters (every two years( and National Congresses (every five years...
...It rapidly became a national organization with coordinated policies and strong local participatory structures characterized by frequent state and national meetings based on direct representation...
...Their views are well articulat- social and political ed...
...As they engage in grassroots organization and massive local and national mobilizations, the MST and social movements elsewhere have challenged the patterns of policymaking in Brazil and many other Latin American countries...
...scious of how globalization is strengthening these trends and threatening their livelihoods...
...12 Their political culture and decision-making processes clearly break from the authoritarian tradition...
...The landless rural workers in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul began to organize to demand land in the early 1980s...
...We have learned from the peasant movements coming before us that were defeated by the military dictatorship...
...Their ability to mobilize as many as 12,000 people for a That's how I got my start and here I am today, still in the struggle...
...We have learned from the historical struggles of Brazil...
...2 0 known as The Landless remain keenly attuned to, Pontal do Paranapanema and consider themselves part of, the interna- in Sio Paulo tional struggle over globalization...
...The movement has been heavily influenced by liberation theology and the participatory democratic culture generated by the use and study of Paulo Freire's approach to selftaught, critical education...
...We have learned from the historical struggles of Brazil...
...We have learned from Latin American campesino movements, which have an historical tradition of struggle...
...their magazine, Revista Scm Ten-a...
...Such movements are using existing political space to maximum effect...
...The ranks of those associated with it exceed 200,000 and perhaps even double that number...
...First of all, we face the economic and political power of the large landowners...
...We have always tried to learn from others...
...1 6 In a draft document on the "Fundamental Principles for the Social and Economic Transformation of Rural Brazil," they note that "the political unity of the Brazilian dominant classes under Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration (1994-2000) has consolidated the implementation of neoliberalism [in Brazil]," and that these neoliberal policies have led to the increased concentration of land and wealth in the hands of the few and the further impoverishment of Brazilian society "Popular movements," the document goes on to say, "must challenge MEMORIES OF STRUGGLE IN THE MST J oio Pedro Stedile is one of the founding members of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Brazil's Landless Rural Workers' Movement, and one of its most vocal leaders...
...The campesino class in Brazil is only 100 years old, very young in terms of human history, and we have learned from the historical experience of the working class...
...Land has remained highly concentrated, and as late as 1996, one percent of landowners owned 45% of the land...
...MD: Roman and Littlefield, 20051...
...They also garner a great deal of national support, having created a consensus An MST throughout the country that land distribu- encampment tion is a problem and that some substantial in an area reforms are necessary2 known as Pontal do The Landless remain keenly attuned to, Paranapanema and consider themselves part of, the interna- in Sao Paulo tional struggle over globalization...
...The MST has maintained a militant line in regard to the need to take over unused land and assert their agenda, whereas much of the PT leadership has wanted to be more conciliatoty...
...As per Geraldo Fontes, member of the National Coordinating Council, in interview in Sao Paulo, September 17...
...In 1997, for instance, the organization was able to Like many of Latin mobilize 100,000 people for a America's recent march on Brasilia...
...Among the bad moments, the most painful was the massacre of Caracajas, when the police killed 19 of our companeros, one of them was a 19-year-old activist who was made to shout "Viva the MST" as they shot him...
...19 As has been the case in other Latin American countries, traditional politics and political parties have proven unable and/or unwilling to address the deteriorating economic conditions of marginalized groups who suffer the negative effects of economic globalization...
...These organizations in turn send representatives to the regional and state congresses...
...In Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador new governments have caused new divisions in social movements and co-opted some popular sectors by integrat- ing them into government...
...It is also quite possible that it is the democratization and celebration of civil society that allow some would say encourage the political mobilization that is manifest in the widespread emergence of forceful mass-based social and political movements...
...We are in permanent negotiations with the governments in search of our objectives...
...They even establish schools in their encampments, settlements and cooperatives to make sure the next generation has a clear idea of the politics in play.' The next generation of leaders attends their national school ITERRA, where they get a strong political and popular orientation, well-grounded instruction in political and organizational theory and practical skills such as accounting and administration...
...It was decided from the onset that this was to be an organization for the Landless Workers, to be run by the Landless Workers and for their benefit as they defined it...
...See Donatella de Ia Porta and Sidney Tarrow, eds., Transnational Protest & Global Acri vism(Lanham...
...NACLA invited him to speak of his memories of the movement and to reflect on the MSTs role in Brazilian politics and history...
...It rapidly became a national organization with coordinated policies and strong local participatory structures characterized by frequent state and national meetings based on direct representation...
...Their insecurity and dissatisfaction drove them to seek new forms of protest and different political structures that might better address their needs since traditional parties and governments seemed increasingly unable to respond...
...3. See: United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report, 1999 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999(, pp...
...21 MARCH APRIL 2005 REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS called democracies..., which like a fishing hook, only bring up the mere few they dredge from the bottom...
...1 3 ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT SOCIAL movements like the MST is a broad national vision...
...Combined with dramatic actions like massive land takeovers, the MST has generated considerable support at both the national and international level and has helped transform local struggles into national events, redefining local problems as national problems that require national attention and resources...
...Indeed, realizing the PT's historic challenge to neoliberal policies and elitist rule, the landless turned out heavily in the election to join some 80% of registered voters who participated in both rounds of voting...
...organizations concerned with social justice, have tied individual members together in a strongly forged group identity...
...25 MARCH APRIL 2005 REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS this neoliberal conceptualization of our economy and society...
...ical systems in much of Latin America were unable to meet the needs of the vast majorities...
...government and national economic elites...
...More than 100,000 people came into the streets to receive us...
...24MARCH APRIL 2005 this neoliberal conceptualization of our economy and society"7 Mass political mobilization is another fundamental organizational principle as seen in their massive mobilizations for land takeovers and street demonstrations [See "Memories of Struggle p. 24...
...Their growth and militancy have generated a whole new repertoire of actions that include national mobilizations so massive that they can topple governments as in Bolivia or force them to change their policies...
...The commercialization and mechanization of agriculture beginning in the 1970s made much of the existing rural labor force superfluous...
...Another problem lies in the difficulty of organizing millions of poor people who are still at a low level of political and ideological consciousness...
...Brava Genre: a Ttrajectoraido MSTe a Luta Pela Terra no Brasil (Sao Paulo: Fundacao Perseo Abramo, 1999...
...They have also produced an upsurge of new sociopolitical movements and mass organizations along with a plethora of national strikes, demonstrations and protests such as those that washed across Argentina at the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002...
...We have always tried to learn from others...
...Unlike the radical revolutionary movements of the last few decades, these new movements do not advocate the radical restructuring of the state through violent revolution...
...In English, see: Angus Wright and Wendy Wolford, To Inherit the Earth, the Landless Movement and the Struggle for a New Brazil (Oakland, CA: Food First Books, 2003L and Sue Bradford and Jan Rocha, Cutting the Wire, the Story of Landless Movement in Brazil (London: Latin American Bureau, 2002...
...Indicators of the growing malaise are many: general alienation from the traditional political process, increased crime, surging abstention rates in select electoral contests as suggested by the low turnout in Argentina in 2001.' The 1998 national elections in Brazil saw a similar phenomenon, with 40% of the electorate either abstaining or casting blank or annulled ballots.2 Changing attitudes have often led to the abandonment of traditional political parties for new, more amorphous, ad hoc parties like Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement in Venezuela...
...35, No...
...Harry E. Vanden is a professor of political science and international studies at the University of South Florida, Tampa...
...LIKE THE MST, MANY OF THE REGION'S SOCIAL MOVEMENTS have grown and have become increasingly politicized...
...In small classes, meetings and assemblies, and through their newspaper, Jornal Dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra...
...Their insecurity and dissatisfaction drove them to seek new forms of protest and different political structures that might better address their needs since traditional parties and governments seemed increasingly unable to respond...
...Indeed, there were landless workers and peasants throughout the nation, and the MST soon spread from Rio Grande do Sul and Parana in the South to states like Pernambuco in the Northeast and Para in the Amazon region...
...The MST also facilitates the organic development of highly participatory grassroots organizing rooted in 23 MARCH APRIL 2005 REPORT ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THE MST ITSELF WAS FORMED AS A RESPONSE TO LONGstanding economic, social and political conditions in Brazil...
...It has a high mobilization capacity at the local, state and even national level...
...there were so many people we couldn't find transportation for ii them all...
...They even occupied the family farm of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso shortly before the 2002 election to draw attention to his land-owning interests and the consequent bias they attributed to him...
...Currently, the leftist Workers' Party is in control of the national and many state and municipal governments and has promised reform and structural change...
...Though they may lack the political will to imple- ment many of their promised policies like land reform, they are not totally opposed to the policies being advocated by the MST...
Vol. 38 • March 2005 • No. 5
