Rural land concentration compounds inequality and threatens democracy. Through grassroots land reform, this movement offers hope.

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the largest social movement in the Americas: Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement, or MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra in Portuguese).

What began as a group of displaced farmers has evolved over decades into a mass movement — with as many as two million members and a presence in 24 of Brazil’s 26 states. Today, the movement is the largest producer of organic food in Brazil and the largest producer of organic rice in all Latin America.

While Brazil remains one of the world’s most unequal nations, the MST has made incredible progress during their 40 years of existence — achievements that can inspire efforts to reduce rural inequality in the United States and elsewhere.

read more: https://fpif.org/brazils-landless-workers-movement-turns-forty/