Rural unions and the struggle for land in Brazil

Abstract

Studies of Brazil's agricultural labor movement have generally neglected its relationship to the struggle for land, but this is neither fair nor accurate. Analyzing the rural labor movement's historical contributions to the land struggle in Brazil, this contribution has been organized into three main periods, emphasizing social relations, institutional activism and policy changes. It argues that despite the peculiarities of different historical contexts, rural labor consistently provoked protest against policies that privileged large landholders, whose concentration of power over land and labor resources continually worsened Brazil's ranking as one of the most unequal of nations. For more than half a century, the most constant opponent of this situation among the peasantry has been the National Confederation of Workers in Agriculture (CONTAG), a corporatist organization of rural labor unions founded in 1963.

Women's land rights, rural social movements, and the state in the 21st‐century Latin American agrarian reforms

“…Also, official figures suggest that much more land was brought into the reform sector during the Lula period (48.3 million hectares) than under Cardoso (21.1 million hectares) (ibid.). This is probably due to the land regularization and titling programme that began under Lula's tenure, which may also account for a good share of the beneficiaries during his administration (Welch & Sauer, ). Under the Lula government, nonetheless, the quality of the reform improved, given the broad array of productive and social programmes that were created in these years in support of the agrarian reform settlements as well as family farming more generally.…”

“…This is probably due to the land regularization and titling programme that began under Lula's tenure, which may also account for a good share of the beneficiaries during his administration 9 According to its 2006 Agricultural Census, Brazil has some 330 million hectares of arable land (Fernandes, 2013); however, not all the land affected by the reform is necessarily arable, since it may include forest and other non-agricultural land as well. (Welch & Sauer, 2015). Under the Lula government, nonetheless, the quality of the reform improved, given the broad array of productive and social programmes that were created in these years in support of the agrarian reform settlements as well as family farming more generally.…”

‘We go back to the land’: processes of re-peasantisation in Araponga, Brazil

“…CONTAG has always been committed to agrarian reform. However, subservient to state patronage, CONTAG has only addressed those peasants whose needs are acknowledged by the state (Welch and Sauer 2015;Fernandes, Welch, and Gonçalves 2012).…”

“…6, 2 November 2015). Specifically, the paper by Welch and Sauer (2015) on rural unions and the struggle for land in Brazil provides a detailed overview of the landless peoples' movements in the country. See also works by Mészáros (2013), Vergara-Camus (2009 and Wolford (2010aWolford ( , 2010b.…”

Land Deals, Labour and Everyday Politics

“…As the impacts are differentiated for social groups and classes, so does the political reactions from below [ 4 ]. There have been accounts of adaptation and co-existence in post-soviet Russia [ 5 ], resistance and struggles for incorporation in Africa [ [6][7][8], and the largely well-known overt resistances from both workers, dispossessed farmers and indigenous communities in many parts of Southern America [ 9,10 ]. Certainly, the historical, political, economic and social contexts within which land deals take place are vital to shaping the political reactions from below.…”