Programmes Latest News
The MST celebrate after 2 years of occupation
Two years after launching an occupation of disused land in Sao Paulo, Brazil, War on Want partner, the Landless People’s Movement (MST), threw a large party to celebrate the fact that several hundred families from Ribeirão Preto are close to achieving their dream of having their own piece of land on the Barra Fazenda, an enormous landholding notorious for containing acre upon acre of disused land. War on Want’s Paul Moon reports.
Back in December of last year, the Brazilian authorities issued an official decree stating the land to be of interest for resettlement by landless people. Following on from this, the National Treasury authorised compensation for the owner – the last hurdle for landless families looking for a settlement. The first agreements with the landless families are now close to being reached, and already a plan has been laid out supporting the purchase of seeds, tools, basic foods and the building of houses for the new families.
How it all began
The campaign began back in August 2003, when the MST led the occupation of unused land on the Fazenda da Barra, in Ribeirão Preto, a landholding that had been criticised for damaging the local environment. The MST formed a settlement of landless families called Mário Lago, named after the deceased Brazilian author and social activist. Over the next two years the families travelled an anfractuous journey, finding themselves constantly moved on and facing extreme hardship; eventually only 150 of the initial 400 families remained. Almost 60 million people in Brazil live with hunger as part of their daily lives, while millions remain landless. Despite widespread poverty, the government focuses mainly on supporting export sectors such as large-scale soy and sugar farming – generally ignoring the concerns of landless people, even though huge swathes of land lies idle. The start of a new revolution
For the families in Fazenda da Barra, although it now looks very likely that they will win the fight for the settlement, there is still much work to be done. The settlement is at the forefront of a new revolution in farming; the struggle for sustainable and healthy food production. The MST has put much effort into a shift toward sustainable, eco-friendly agriculture and away from traditional farming methods. While chemical agricultural products are marketed heavily by big agribusiness with vested interests, they are so expensive that many small farmers are left with enormous debts. On top of that, the soil loses much of its fertility because of the chemicals and farmers and their families’ health is placed in danger because of the exposure to these products. For them, this change has not come about because of the health concerns of affluent consumers, but because of the well-documented dangers of mass farming methods. Current methods of treating soil and food deplete the earth while concentrating power in the hands of large agribusiness and destroying the livelihoods of millions of small farmers throughout the world. The MST hope that this victory will act as a catalyst for ever greater land distribution, putting food back on the table of the poor and helping to stem the tide of environmental degradation in Brazil. Paul Moon is a War on Want programmes assistant. Click here to read more about the MST
The campaign began back in August 2003, when the MST led the occupation of unused land on the Fazenda da Barra, in Ribeirão Preto, a landholding that had been criticised for damaging the local environment. The MST formed a settlement of landless families called Mário Lago, named after the deceased Brazilian author and social activist. Over the next two years the families travelled an anfractuous journey, finding themselves constantly moved on and facing extreme hardship; eventually only 150 of the initial 400 families remained. Almost 60 million people in Brazil live with hunger as part of their daily lives, while millions remain landless. Despite widespread poverty, the government focuses mainly on supporting export sectors such as large-scale soy and sugar farming – generally ignoring the concerns of landless people, even though huge swathes of land lies idle. The start of a new revolution
For the families in Fazenda da Barra, although it now looks very likely that they will win the fight for the settlement, there is still much work to be done. The settlement is at the forefront of a new revolution in farming; the struggle for sustainable and healthy food production. The MST has put much effort into a shift toward sustainable, eco-friendly agriculture and away from traditional farming methods. While chemical agricultural products are marketed heavily by big agribusiness with vested interests, they are so expensive that many small farmers are left with enormous debts. On top of that, the soil loses much of its fertility because of the chemicals and farmers and their families’ health is placed in danger because of the exposure to these products. For them, this change has not come about because of the health concerns of affluent consumers, but because of the well-documented dangers of mass farming methods. Current methods of treating soil and food deplete the earth while concentrating power in the hands of large agribusiness and destroying the livelihoods of millions of small farmers throughout the world. The MST hope that this victory will act as a catalyst for ever greater land distribution, putting food back on the table of the poor and helping to stem the tide of environmental degradation in Brazil. Paul Moon is a War on Want programmes assistant. Click here to read more about the MST
