Lula and MST: Understand the crisis in 10 points – 04/21/2023 – Politics

The MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement) started this week the National Day of Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform with the invasion of at least nine farms, including an area that belongs to Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), in addition to Incra headquarters in at least seven states of the federation.

The actions provoked reactions not only from agribusiness, but also from the Lula government (PT).

The president and the MST have a historic relationship, generally one of alliance, but also full of friction.

In the middle of his second term (2007-2010), for example, Lula was called a “traitor”. The relationship later gained weight with the support of the landless to Lula in Lava Jato and in the 2022 elections.

Understand in 10 points the current crisis between the government and the landless movement.

1) What is the purpose of MST with these actions? The movement puts pressure on the Lula government to present an action plan for agrarian reform for the next four years and meet the demands of camped and settled families. The MST is dissatisfied with the slow pace of federal management on the issue.

The organization estimates that around 100,000 families live in camps in Brazil. Of these, 30,000 are in areas in the process of regularization that were not completed by Incra.

In conversations with the government, the MST argues that it is the role of the movement to press for the reform to be a de facto priority for the Executive.

2) What actions angered the government the most? Especially actions on properties owned by the company Suzano, in Bahia and Espírito Santo, and on land where Embrapa carries out experiments, in Pernambuco. The movement says they are unproductive latifundia.

3) How did Lula react? The wave of intrusions angered the president. He fears that the actions will cause wear and tear for the government, especially with agribusiness. There is also fear that this movement will disrupt the progress of agendas of interest to the Lula administration in Congress.

In practice, however, the government has shown signs of yielding to pressure.

The appointments of new INCRA local superintendents have gained traction in recent days after a series of invasions and protests led by the MST.

In all, Incra’s commands were changed in 19 states, in addition to the Federal District. The leaders of Minas Gerais, Amazonas, Alagoas, Tocantins, Rondônia, Roraima and Amapá remain unchanged.

Last Monday, the movement had charged the Lula government to nominate “people committed to land reform in Incra’s regional superintendencies”, replacing people who had held leadership positions in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

4) What about PT? PT leaders claim that the MST has always been an important partner of the party, but behind the scenes complain about the posture adopted since the beginning of the third Lula administration.

The assessment is that the Executive has faced a series of challenges, as in the case of the invasion of the headquarters of the three Powers on January 8 and that it would not be right for an ally to open a new crisis front.

5) When is the MST from? The Landless Rural Workers Movement was created on January 20, 1984 and, a year later, at the first congress of the landless, it elected its first national leadership.

This first commando of the landless was formed with 18 men and 2 women. They represented the ten states in which the movement was organized (RS, SC, PR, MS, SP, RJ, MG, ES, BA and RO).

6) Why does the MST usually carry out mobilizations in April? The invasions in April mark the anniversary of the Eldorado do Carajás massacre, when, on April 16, 1996, 19 landless workers were killed by troops from the Military Police of Pará. The massacre is a national and international symbol of impunity, and the actions of the landless have since come to be called the “Red April”.

7) Does Lula have a debt with the MST? Yes. The president has a history of promises that he will carry out agrarian reform by force and with a pen. He never did. In his two previous terms, he carried out a simplistic program of haphazardly expropriating land, creating settlements without infrastructure and far from the MST camp bases.

Lula, for example, never fulfilled his promise to update the agricultural indices used to measure the productivity of farms subject to expropriation for agrarian reform.

Furthermore, Lula owes a political debt to the landless. They were the ones who helped to lead the mobilizations in favor of the president at the height of Lava Jato and during the period in which he was imprisoned in the Federal Police of Curitiba. The MST also mobilized its bases for last year’s electoral campaign.

8) What is the practical effect of recent MST actions? The Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, told the column Panel that one of the demands of the MST, a national plan for agrarian reform, was on Lula’s table, but invasions promoted in recent weeks generated tension and made the announcement impossible.

9) The What does the MST say about the invasions? In a note, the MST defended agrarian reform and highlighted the urgency of investment in family farming and access to credit for the production of more food.

In the evaluation of Ceres Hadich, from the MST’s national leadership, the actions are an instrument of pressure for agrarian reform and denunciation against violence in the countryside. “Brazil is the country of large estates, with the highest rate of land concentration. Agrarian reform is a historic debt with the people of the countryside.”

One of the objectives is to prevent agribusiness from winning the debate and having priority in the public policies of the Planalto Palace to the detriment of land redistribution actions.

10) And what is the reaction of agribusiness? Last week, for example, the CNA (Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil) filed with the STF (Federal Supreme Court) an injunction to prevent invasions of rural properties across the country.

“Unacceptable! I have always defended that the vocational worker has the right to the land. But to the land that he is entitled to!”, wrote the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, in his networks, on Monday (17).