..A must read for for every US voter and concerned citizen.. challenges the reader to explore new possibilities and new mindsets that will ultimately be required if the world is truly ready to make a change.. amazon.com US onlyBy Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo state
Police have tried to remove settlers from the Elizabeth Texeira camp
A small hut with a red flag flying above it marks the start of the
Elizabeth Texeira camp in the heart of the countryside in Sao Paulo
state.
Among fields of sugar cane, 120 landless rural families have taken
over an area of state-owned land as part of a campaign for agrarian
reform.
Accommodation is basic, consisting of shacks made of plastic, wood
and tin, and in the frequent tropical storms, the rain often comes
pouring through.
The families try to make what they can of the land, growing
vegetables and fruit, and raising small animals.
They say police tried to remove them using force in 2007, and 20
people were injured.
"We are scared, we are afraid, always afraid, because it is an
insecure situation for us," says resident Jovanildo Francisco de
Moura.
"We would very much like to have the right to the land, so we could
work and develop it."
Jovanildo says he wants permission to stay and develop the land
For 25 years, the landless movement in Brazil, spearheaded by a
social movement known as the MST, has carried out a wide range of
protests, including what it calls land occupations.
It plans to mark that anniversary this weekend with a demonstration
in the state of Rio Grande Do Sul.
The strategy has often been controversial, with protests leading to
hundreds of prosecutions - not against the organisation, which does
not exist as a legal entity, but against its activists.
MST activists have also been accused of violence and damaging
property, and there have been frequent clashes with the authorities.
The conflict has been costly in human terms: the MST says dozens of
its activists are among hundreds of people who have died in land
disputes in recent years.
In the most notorious incident, 19 people were shot dead by police
while taking part in a protest at Eldorado dos Carajas, in the state
of Para, in April 1996.
Success and failure
Agrarian reform is a divisive issue in Brazil, which is still said to
have one of the highest levels of inequality of land distribution in
the world.
While new official figures are hard to come by, one leading analyst
says that 10% of the largest farmers still hold about 85% of the
land.
"Fifty percent of what has been done in agrarian reform in the
history of Brazil has been done in the last six years."
Guilherme Cassel, Agrarian Reform Minister
Given that high level of inequality, has the MST reason to be
satisfied with what the movement has achieved over 25 years?
"Yes and no," says Prof Antonio Marcio Buainain, of Campinas state
university.
"They brought the issue [of agrarian reform] onto the political
agenda. Today, there are roughly one million families settled. That
is the largest agrarian reform settlement in peace time," said Prof
Buainain.
"But they should be very unhappy, because the results for people are
not very good," he says.
"People in settlements are still poor. They still rely on public
funds to survive, and they are not autonomous farmers. As farmers,
they are not very successful," he adds.
Government respect
There are also tensions between the landless movement and the
government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been a
long-term supporter of the MST.
His government turned down a proposal to settle one million people,
and adopted instead a counter-proposal of 450,000, says Jose Batista
de Oliveira, of the MST.
"In the first year [of his presidency] he didn't keep to his plan,
and in the middle of his first term he gave up. In the second term he
hasn't even raised the issue," he tells the BBC News website.
But the government insists it is on the right track.
Agrarian Reform Minister Guilherme Cassel says that in total more
than one million families have been settled in Brazil.
"Of these, 520,000 were settled during this government. Therefore 50%
of what has been done in agrarian reform in the history of Brazil has
been done in the past six years."
Analysts say the motivation for involvement in the MST is usually
economic, and the wide availability of the government's family income
support has weakened the movement's appeal.
Bolsa Familia, as it is known, now reaches 11 million families.
"The government cannot just take productive land off farmers who
lawfully own it and redistribute it to people who are poor or
landless."
Prof Antoni Marcio Buainain
Mr Cassel says he has enormous respect for the MST, but he also
believes changes in Brazilian society are having an impact on the
landless movement.
"The country has started to grow again, to create work and social
programmes again, inequality has diminished and the minimum wage has
been raised," he says.
"All this has clearly had a positive impact on society, with fewer
people on the margins and this has had wide implications, including
for the MST," he tells the BBC news website.
Critics also say the MST is fighting battles on too many fronts.
"It lost focus and it cannot be said it is a landless movement in the
sense that it's fighting for land," says Prof Buainain.
"They are fighting for a social transformation, they are fighting
against globalisation, they are fighting against the multi-nationals,
and they are fighting against the Doha agreement on trade.
"They lost focus and the movement lost strength, and that is
visible," he says.
Reform rethink
The MST says it only adapted to changing times.
"What changed was not the MST, what changed were the enemies of
agrarian reform," says Jose Batista de Oliveira.
"What has changed was the posture of the Brazilian government in
supporting the enemies of agrarian reform."
Prof Buainain argues that the time is right for the government to
rethink its approach to reform - in particular the idea of placing
poor settlers on "unproductive land" that farmers are said not to
need.
"If it is not good for production for a farmer, it will not be good
for production with a poor peasant. On the other hand, the government
cannot just take productive land off farmers who lawfully own it and
redistribute it to people who are poor or landless," he says.
"Alternatives to punitive expropriation need to be discussed in our
society as the public will have to pay for it."
But he says there is still an urgent need to address the issue of
unequal land distribution.
"I think agrarian reform is still needed in Brazil. Obviously, this
high land concentration is something that will be eased over the
generations, but we should try to intervene to speed it up," says
Prof Buainain.
It has been a long journey for the landless movement, which over the
years has taken its protests to the capital, Brasilia, many times.
The MST says the economic crisis will reinforce the need to promote
agrarian reform - and it is clear the road ahead will be difficult
and uncertain.
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