For the last stage of my project I traveled by plane to Sergipe, a small state on the Northeast coast of Brazil. I am documenting the trip in two segments because I didnt have internet access while I was there.
Sergipe is the smallest state in Brazil and can be crossed from one side to other in less than 4 hours. Although the state is small it has a number of micro climates, including the wet green litoral, the zona de mata (the forest zone--where the majority of the sugarcane plantations are located), the agreste (verdant rolling hills in the interior), and the Sertao, which is the famous Brazilian desert.
When the Portuguese arrived the Northeast was the first area of Brazil to be colonized and developed, due to the perfect climate for sugarcane production. Today the Northeast of Brazil is seen as almost another country from the South and Southeast regions, which experienced much more European immigration and developed at a much faster rate. The Northeast is dominated and inhibited by 5 centuries of sugarcane production, and today has become one of the most poorest regions of all Latin America. It also has the highest concentration of Afro-Brazilians, due to the sugarcane slave trade that brought nearly 40 million Africans to the Northeast.
The MST movement in the Northeast is also a very distinct reality from that of the South. In Rio Grande dol Sul there were only 600 MST families acampados (camping, waiting for land to open up), however in Sergipe alone there are 11,000 families acampados. The MST movement originated in the South and developed much faster there, however due to the pressing poverty and inequality in the Northeast, the movement is has become a prominent force. One of the national MST directors of Sergipe told me that the luta (fight) in the Northeast was access to land, and the luta in the South had become a luta for access to credit and loans.
The first day I arrive in Aracaju, the capital city of Sergipe located halfway up the state on the coast, and was driven around the city by two MST members who showed me places and buildings the MST had occupied. I also visited the MOTU Movimento dos Trabalhadores Urbanos, which is a new urban movement that the MST has grandfathered along to help organize and empower property-less and job-less urban citizens to gain access to proper housing and job opportunities in the city. The MST National Director also told me of a project the MST and MOTU have been working on to create a farmers market where MST families can send their produce to Aracaju and other cities to be sold by MOTU members, creating more employment and market connections for families in both movements.
In the past 4 years MOTU occupied a number of abandoned apartment buildings in the city, pressing the government to address the imminent homeless situation, however many times they were violently evicted by police, who used dogs and weapons to intimidate and hurt men and children.
The second day in Sergipe I drove deep into the interior to an assentamento in the Agreste. The director of the assentamento held a big afternoon bbq party and invited MST members and directors from accross the region to celebrate the successes and advancements of the movement. At the bbq I spoke with a number of different members of the MST including farmers, to Agro-technicians, policemen, and I also met a national senator who had been an MST member and farmer before being elected to the national congress.
The following day I visited one of the oldest Assentamentos in Sergipe, located just 20 minutes outside of Aracaju. The Assentamento also has a state-wide school and cultural center, where courses and MST reunions take place year round. When I visited there was a group of 30 Haitians, who where studying Agronomia with the MST in a year-long Technical Program facilitated through La Via Campesina, which is the international peasant movement that is very interconnected with the MST in Brazil. At the assentamento I sat in on a long meeting composed of the state directors, directors of various assentamentos, and also Agro-Tecnicos. The MST has a number of Agro-Tecnicos, which are professionals in Agronomy, Environmental Engineering, Zoology, and other areas related to agriculture production, that are hired through the government and help MST families learn agriculture skills and also plan new projects. One of the Major problems however, is that the government institution responsible fore Agrarian Reform is incredibly underfunded and plagued by a lethargic beaurocracy. Many families dont recieve the credit and loans they are entitled to by law up to 2 or 3 years late. Currently many of the Agro-tecnicos, who are professional government hired workers, haven't relieved their payment in 5 months.
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