Brazil’s Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST) is Latin America's largest popular movement. The MST has been at the forefront of social action for just land distribution for more than 20 years. The MST works with peasants to identify and settle on underutilized land, gain legal title to the land and bring it into productive use. Through the MST's efforts, close to 350,000 families have been settled and another 70,000 families are living in encampments, awaiting title to their land.

In late June, Grassroots partner, the Landless Workers Movement (MST) made public a document they got a hold of that showed the intention of the Rio Grande do Sul state Public Ministry to "dissolve" the MST. The document is based on a meeting, on December 3, 2007, during which the state Public Ministry decided: to outlaw any mobilization of landless workers, including marches and walks, to intervene in settlement schools, to criminalize leaders and members, and to "deactivate" all the encampments in Rio Grande do Sul. 

A rich, influential citizen of the United States or Europe—say, Bill Clinton or Bill Gates—buys land in Brazil, either as an individual or a partner in a company. They want to invest in agrofuels, and figure that crops can be grown on their new land for fuel (and profit). But as a result, the price of land rises in Brazil; peasants and other low-income workers can no longer afford to buy land. And they have no say in how the land purchased by foreigners is used.

We have documented several cases of land conflicts in Brazil, a country of considerable territorial dimensions. Land conflicts are not the only contradiction in the largest South American economy. Brazil is also facing a growing problem of water conflicts, despite the fact that Brazil holds 8% of the world’s freshwater reserves.

Free translation from the Landless Workers Movement (MST’s) website

In celebration of International Women’s Day on Saturday, we at Grassroots would like to honor 900 peasant women who bravely seized and occupied a vast corporate tree farm in southern Brazil that they believe symbolizes the type of development that is destroying their communities and Mother Earth itself.

It could not have been easy.

The women, members of the Via Campesina, staged the takeover just before dawn on Tuesday, then proceeded to cut down the corporation’s trees and plant native trees in their place. At least 50 women were injured by rubber bullets and other material when police forcefully removed them from the 5,200-acre farm. Hundreds of them were reportedly arrested.

Panel: Resources Rights and Food Sovereignty: Linking Our Neighborhood of Main South to the Global South

With Matt Feinstein from The Food Justice Campaign, and Prof. Dianne Rocheleau from the Geography Department of Clark University.

Location

Clark University
Jefferson Building Room 218
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610

Event sponsored by Praxis, The Food Justice Campaign, School of Geography of Clark University, Worcester Immigrant Coalition, Urban Garden Resources of Worcester/Regional Environmental Council, Worcester Roots Project, Worcester Global Action Network (WoGAN).

Grassroots International reception for Luis Antonio at the Jamaica Plain home of Marie Kennedy & Chris Tilly.

To RSVP and request directions, please send an email to info@grassrootsonline.org. Bring your checkbook as we hope to inspire your generosity.

Lecture: Land Rights, given by Luis Antonio of MST

Location

Northeastern University School of Law
Knowles 201
400 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Lecture: Agro-Energy and Its Impacts on the Food Sovereignty of Rural Communities in the Global South

Location

Brandeis University
Center of International Development
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02454

This event is sponsored by The Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Grassroots International and U.S. Friends of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (FMST) are delighted to host Luis Antonio Pasquetti, from the National Committee of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), a member of Via Campesina, during his tour in the United States.