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community centres since the lack of funding terms of numbers of militants, followers and
and the need to solve new problems, such as adherents. To act as an organized movement,
safety, violence among young people and the the MST assumes an on-going role in training
world of drugs, drove them to look for part- these coordinators. The principal campaigns
nerships with other entities and organized organized by the MST took place in the cities:
associations in the neighbourhood or region. rallies, boycotts, demonstrations, occupations
Finally, there is a new neighbourhood of public buildings and so on. Little by little,
movement, which differs from the residents’ the MST has become a reference group for
associations and Friends of the Neighbourhood the struggles of other social categories of the
that have played a traditional role in various lower and the middle classes, and even for the
parts of Brazil. These are Community actions of some entrepreneurs – who went to
Centres of Production which have the goal of the streets in demonstrations with banners
organizing the segments of the population and white caps (one of the emblematic signs
dedicated to the production and commercial- of the MST is the red cap).
ization of innumerable products for domestic The MST helps groups to set up settle-
use or as food. They set up warehouses for ments when they occupy the land. After the
recycling products, encourage the production implementation phase of a settlement, the
of food without agrochemicals, build small MST continues its support by means of tech-
brick factories, apiaries and chicken farms, nical assistance in productive cooperatives,
and market home-produced cheeses and the political organization of members and
sweets. In short, they are involved in a vast training in the area of education (literacy for
number of activities centred in cooperatives children, training of teachers and technical
or associations in the less affluent neighbour- training for youths and adults). The process
hoods themselves. Behind these associations is one of differentiated education, geared to
6
there are more comprehensive NGOs, which men and women in the field, which was ini-
assess the groups wanting to set up projects, tiated in 1987 with the creation of an
enable them to obtain funds and help them Education Sector. It experienced qualitative
write reports and so on. leaps after 1990 with the creation of a National
Education Collective and the publication of
materials such as educational exercise books,
The rural popular social bulletins, and material on farming, history
and other collections. In 2004, the MST inau-
movements: the landless
gurated a national school for training leaders –
and the MST
the Florestan Fernandes School. 7
The MST is the most famous of the approxi- By 2006, the MST was organized in
mately 80 rural social movements in present- almost all the states of Brazil. The number of
day Brazil (Fernandes, 2004). It was created land occupations increased again in that year:
in 1984. In the 1990s, social conflicts involv- there were 57 between January and March.
ing direct fights were displaced from the city This was an increase over 2005, when there
to the countryside with the landless move- were 41 cases between January and March
ments. Of the organized groups that appeared, (compared with 56 cases during the same
the MST was the most noticeable and period in 2004). Public policies dealing with
received international attention. The MST is the movement have changed and are now
a mass movement, but its coordination is contradictory. The MST dialogues directly
structured as a movement/organization of with the federal government; it exerts pres-
staff. The MST is led by coordinators, less sure and is heard. However, there are
than 100 in all. They sustain such a mass few responses by the government to the
movement the membership of which they demands. The conflict has been growing
themselves have difficulty in counting, in steadily as many leaders of the MST have