MST incorporates abortion defense and neutral language

Agrarian reform and abortion have no apparent connection. But, more and more, the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) has been incorporating this and other so-called “progressive” causes into its repertoire.

If it never hides its ideological alignment with the radical left, the MST — which originally had ties to the Catholic Church — seems to be increasingly free to adopt guidelines that traditionally were not treated as relevant by Marxist-inspired movements, generally more concerned with the task of defeating the capitalist economic model.

This month, for example, the official page of the MST published an article in which the authors give recommendations on how to convince women from the “working class” to support the legalization of abortion. “This is an urgent task that must be on the agenda of social movements and also in institutional fields”, says the text signed by Delana Corazza and Angélica Tostes. The article lists the religiosity of the Brazilian people as an obstacle to the decriminalization of abortion, and makes recommendations on how to communicate with women from the lower classes.

And this is just the most recent example of how, as the cause of agrarian reform loses relevance in an increasingly urban country, the movement becomes increasingly attached to issues that have nothing to do with the distribution of land in the countryside.

That is: poor people with no formal education are attracted to the movement because of the hope of obtaining land, but they end up being used as a captive audience for the propagation of ideas that have nothing to do with the theme.

Rainbow and Socialism

Also in 2019, the MST launched a special publication on the “LGBT Landless”. In it, the group admits that its ultimate goal is socialism, but claims that the theme of sexuality is useful in the pursuit of that goal. “Today, we see sexual diversity as part of this struggle and resistance in the current political context, giving materiality to the popular project that carries with it the dream of land and free human beings”, says the material, which is also more direct later on: “Today, a rainbow adds to the red of our flag to build together a socialist society, free from oppression and exploitation”.

The publication explains that the approach to the LGBT population began in 2015, with the first seminar “The MST and Sexual Diversity”. For the MST, the blame for homophobia, of course, lies with capitalism. “LGBTphobia, like machismo, are concrete manifestations of a system of domination, oppression and exploitation, located in the relationship between capitalism and patriarchy”, says the text.

This year, the MST became part of the “Permanent Campaign Against LGBTI+phobia in the Countryside”. The movement also organized, in São Paulo, an LGBT Pride party called “Close & Luta”.

The progressive turn even includes the adoption of neutral language. “We want them to keep us alive, alive and alive,” said Kelvin Nícolas, from the MST’s National LGBTI+ Collective, in an article published in June this year by the organization.

Camp feminism classes

Recently, the MST has expanded its agenda. The entity now promotes workshops on feminism (always under the great Marxist). One of the groups gathered 75 women in a camp in Viamão (RS) for tips on how to face patriarchy. In the movement’s view, “Marxism joins the feminist debate from the moment it brings into its studies the origin of class differences and the oppression of the working class and makes us rethink how women are oppressed by the capitalist system of private property”.

The organization has also given more emphasis to the racial agenda. In 2020, under the management of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the MST helped to propagate the – incorrect – thesis that the Brazilian State promotes a “genocide of black youth.” The group also praised Malcolm X, the American activist who, in the 1960s, defended the use of violence in combating racial segregation.

Indoctrination in schools

The broadening of the MST’s ideological agenda is also worrying because it tends to be reflected in schools maintained in landless camps. If before the curriculum was already contaminated by the apology of Che Guevara’s thought and the defense of socialist ideals, the ideological load tends to become more explicit as the MST adopts new progressive guidelines.

The MST maintains around 2,000 schools in camps. They are public teaching units, but managed with a certain degree of autonomy by the settlers themselves. According to the movement, approximately 200,000 children attend these teaching units.

Professor Bráulio Porto de Mattos, from the Faculty of Education at the University of Brasília, says that the MST takes advantage of the indifference of local managers. “The MST is so audacious that they put pressure on city halls so that they can define the curriculum and teacher profile in municipal schools”, he says.

Jean-Marie Lambert, emeritus professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás (PUC Goiás), says that the MST’s agenda goes beyond land redistribution and involves a redefinition of what human nature would be. “What they are proposing is a new anthropological model. It’s a power project, to be sure, but not a power project in the classic Marxist sense. It’s a project of anthropological change,” he says.

Lambert also says that the MST sees education as a tool at the service of the revolution. “It is an indoctrination similar to what happens in other public schools, but enhanced. We’re talking about a kind of classic ideological re-education,” he says.

The movement also tries to advance in higher education. Recently, the Federal University of Pelotas confirmed that it was evaluating the creation of a medical course that, in practice, would serve mainly members of the MST.

In May, the Chamber of Deputies set up a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate irregularities committed by the Landless Rural Workers Movement. The MST’s CPI aims to “investigate the actions of the MST, its real purpose, as well as its funders”.