Friday, November 19, 2004
Bahia, Brazil –About 250 people from the MST (Movimento dos Sem Terra, in Portuguese) or Brazilian Landless Workers Movement has invaded a 223 hectares farm in the city of Ubaitaba, Bahia. According to Agência Folha, Fernando Rodrigues da Silva, 34 members of the movement says they want to press the Brazilian government institute called Incra (National Institute of Colonization and the Agrarian Reformation) to look after their cause.
Raul Pinto Farias, owner of the farm has said he will demand the expulsion of MST out of his property before the Court of Law.
The MST is a Marxist–Maoist inspired movement of landless peasants in Brazil. According to MST, in 2003 there were about 632 MST camps in Brazil. MST is a large organization with many settlements throughout Brazilian countryside, especially in the Brazilian Northeast. Their main visible tactic is invading lands around the country.
MST says they fight for agrarian reformation and justice in Brazil. Some Brazilians have already protested against MST tatics, saying they are against the law and are violent. Currently, MST funds itself by selling produce grown on its agricultural cooperatives and from donations from international organizations. Also the movement receives funds by selling videos of their invasions.