Challenging Social Inequality ; The Landless Rural Workers Movement and Agrarian Reform in brazil

Description

In Challenging Social Inequality, an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars and development workers explores the causes, consequences, and contemporary reactions to Brazil's sharply unequal agrarian structure. They focus on the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST)—Latin America's largest and most prominent social movement—and its ongoing efforts to confront historic patterns of inequality in the Brazilian countryside. Several essays provide essential historical background for understanding the MST. They examine Brazil's agrarian structure, state policies, and the formation of rural civil-society organizations. Other essays build on a frequently made distinction between the struggle for land and the struggle on the land. The first refers to the mobilization undertaken by landless peasants to demand government land redistribution. The struggle on the land takes place after the establishment of an official agricultural settlement. The main efforts during this phase are geared toward developing productive and meaningful rural communities. The last essays in the collection are wide-ranging analyses of the MST, which delve into the movement's relations with recent governments and its impact on other Brazilian social movements. In the conclusion, Miguel Carter appraises the future of agrarian reform in Brazil. Contributors. José Batista Gonçalves Afonso, Sonia Maria P..P. Bergamasco, Sue Branford, Elena Calvo-González, Miguel Carter, Horacio Martins de Carvalho, Guilherme Costa Delgado, Bernardo Mançano Fernandes, Leonilde Sérvolo de Medeiros, George Mészáros, Luiz Antonio Norder, Gabriel Ondetti, Ivo Poletto, Marcelo Carvalho Rosa, Lygia Maria Sigaud, Emmanuel Wambergue, Wendy Wolford Contents Acknowledgments List of Figures, Maps, and Tables List of Abbreviations An Overview - Miguel Carter 1. Social Inequality, Agrarian Reform, and Democracy in Brazil - Miguel Carter Part I. The Agrarian Question and Rural Social Movements in Brazil 2. The Agrarian Question and Agribusiness in Brazil - Guilherme Costa Delgado 3. Rural Social Movements, Struggles for Rights, and Land Reform in Contemporary Brazilian History - Leonilde Sérvolo de Medeiros 4. Churches, the Pastoral Land Commission, and the Mobilization for Agrarian Reform - Ivo Poletto Part II. MST History and Struggle for Land 5. The Formation and Territorialization of the MST in Brazil - Bernardo Mançano Fernandes 6. Origins and Consolidation of the MST in Rio Grande do Sul - Miguel Carter 7. Under the Black Tarp: The Dynamics and Legitimacy of Land Occupations in Pernambuco - Lygia Maria Sigaud 8. From Posseiro to Sem Terra: The Impact of MST Land Struggles in the State of Pará - Gabriel Ondetti, Emmanuel Wambergue, and José Batista Gonçalves Afonso Part III. MST’s Agricultural Settlements 9. The Struggle on the Land: Source of Growth, Innovation, and Constant Challenge for the MST - Miguel Carter and Horacio Martins de Carvalho 10. Rural Settlements and the MST in São Paulo: From Social Conflict to the Diversity of Local Impacts - Sonia Maria P. P. Bergamasco and Luiz Antonio Norder 11. Community Building in an MST Settlement in Northeast Brazil - Elena Calvo-González 12. MST Settlements in Pernambuco: Identity and the Politics of Resistance - Wendy Wolford Part IV. The MST, Politics, and Society in Brazil 13. Working with Governments: The MST’s Experience with the Cardoso and Lula Administrations - Sue Branford 14. The MST and the Rule of Law in Brazil - George Mészáros 15. Beyond the MST: The Impact on Brazilian Social Movements - Marcelo Carvalho Rosa Conclusion. Challenging Social Inequality: Contention, Context, and Consequences - Miguel Carter Epilogue. Broken Promise: The Land Reform Debacle under the PT Governments - Miguel Carter References Contributors Index