HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MST ON ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2024

Hello Jeffrey,

2023 was a momentous year for both Brazil and the MST. Lula was inaugurated as president and, on January 8, 2023, the Bolsonaro forces attempted a coup. This attempt to subvert democracy failed. However, the fascist forces continue their efforts to subvert the will of the people

Also in 2023, the rural elite and their corporate agribusiness allies launched a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) against the MST. Using false narratives on social media, distorting academic studies, obfuscating the Brazilian constitution to portray land occupations as illegal, these forces are seeking to criminalize the MST. The MST rallied national and international support and the CPI ended in an embarrassing defeat for the rural elite and its supporters. This newsletter brings the story of the CPI against the MST.

Even amidst the struggle for democracy and to defeat the CPI, the MST continued the struggle for agrarian reform. We bring some articles on this as a reminder that agrarian reform and the democratization of land is central to the struggle for equality.

While the struggle for agrarian reform in Brazil is central to the mission of the MST, internationalism is also a core component of the movement. The MST supported the Palestinian struggle by donating 13 metric tons of food for the people of Gaza.

To lead off this newsletter, we bring you a message of year end solidarity from João Pedro Stédile and an analysis of 2023 and the outlook for 2024. [Please note the instructions with the video to initiate auto-translate for languages other than Portuguese.]

Our website continues to provide new information on the MST and the situation in Brazil. Please check out the FMST website.

In solidarity,

Jeffrey Frank

Friends of the MST

End of the Year Message to Friends of the MST

Stédile highlights the role of popular struggle in this period and the importance of solidarity among the working class to resume the path towards building a new project for Brazil.

In order to use the “Auto-Translate” function: Click the closed caption button; Click the setting button; Click on “Subtitles/CC(1)”; Change from “Portuguese (auto-generated)” to “Auto-Translate”; and Select your language from the drop-down menu

For the MST, 2023 saw the resumption of democratic government, but a mismatch in agrarian reform

“We started 2023 with great expectations of strengthening the fight for land and democracy,” points out Ceres Hadich, from the national coordination of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). She assesses, however, that there is a “mismatch between policy, budget and implementation” of the agrarian reform agenda in the country.

Thus, in 2024, the MST's priority demands will be the settlement of 65 thousand encamped families awaiting the regularization of the land and the development, through public policies, of food production in the territories already conquered. To achieve this, the movement claims that it is necessary to invest R$2.8 billion (approximately $580 million) annually in agrarian reform. Next year, however, the budget foreseen by the Lula government for the area is R$567 million (approximately $117 million).

READ THE ARTICLE

Commission of Inquiry on MST aims to divert focus from crimes of agribusiness, says João Pedro Stedile

A Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI), which has been set up to investigate the activities of Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST), actually seeks to divert focus from illegal actions committed by agribusiness, according to João Pedro Stedile, member of the MST’s national leadership. The commission was set up in the Chamber of Deputies this week.

READ THE ARTICLE

CPI leverages disinformation and discourse of criminalization against MST on social networks

The opening of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in the Chamber of Deputies ignited discussions on social media for and against the movement. A survey carried out by Lupa using the CrowdTangle tool shows that there was an increase in the number of publications on Facebook about the MST with the start of the CPI work — many of them with dis-informational content.

READ THE ARTICLE

The petition in support of the MST exceeds 50 thousand signatures; text continues to collect support

A petition in support of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) surpassed, this Monday (August 14), the 50 thousand signatures. The text, addressed to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (Progressistas-AL), and to the party leaders, expresses concern with the directions taken by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) that “investigates” the movement.

READ THE ARTCLE

The failure of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry against the MST

The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) against the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) came to an end this Wednesday (27) resulting in a political defeat for the “agromilitary” caucus of the parliament. In the end, the far right was unable to submit the report prepared by Ricardo Salles to a vote.

The CPI did not bring forward or examine the real problems in the countryside, on the contrary, it was another political platform for the right -wing supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to advance in the historic process of criminalizing the struggle in defense of Agrarian Reform, seeking to investigate and criminalize the legitimate occupations carried out by the MST throughout this year. It is in this context that the CPI ignores the main agrarian problems in Brazil caused by agribusiness, such as the growing deforestation and fires, land grabbing, violence in the countryside, the super-exploitation of labor based on the use of labor in condition likened to slavery, and the destruction and contamination of natural resources through the use of pesticides.

READ THE ARTICLE

MST sought to make lemonade out of the CPI’s lemons

The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) against the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) ended in a major defeat for the movement’s detractors. The commission, headed by deputies Lieutenant Colonel Zucco (Republicanos-RS) and Ricardo Salles (PL-PSP) was closed on September 27th, without the final report being voted on.

Both sought greater political prominence with the CPI but were unable to burst through the bubble of their ideological niches. In addition, Salles’ attempt to run for mayor of São Paulo failed, and in turn, Zucco became better known for his attacks on congresswoman Sâmia Bonfim (PSOL-SP), who denounced him for sexism and homophobia, than for the agenda of the CPI itself.

The MST, on the other hand, made lemonade out of lemons and took advantage of the circumstances to spread its causes to a wider audience. With the hashtag #TôComMST, the movement placed second among the most commented topics on X (formerly known as Twitter) in Brazil on April 27th, and was the top most commented topic on May 23rd.

READ THE ARTICLE