To learn more about the MST, the FMST recommends the following three documentary films and books.
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~FILMS~
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Strong Roots (Raiz Forte):
Pedro, Antonio, and Luis joined Brazil's Landless Workers Movement in search of land, dignity, and justice. Through stories and images of their day-to-day lives in Pernambuco and Bahia, we are given a personal portrait of one of the most vital social movements in Latin America today.
“Strong Roots", or “Raíz Forte" in Portuguese, is a documentary that highlights the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) by introducing members of the movement - their struggles and their dedication. The video explains how land occupations bring new life to people without hope. It also begins to explain how the MST pressures the Brazilian government to implement agrarian reform in order to improve the lives of the 4.8 million landless families.
Images of life under plastic tents, by the roads, waiting for a chance to work and produce are followed by scenes of flourishing crops and vibrant communities. The families of the MST are soldiers on the front line in the battle for Brazil's future. (41 min., 2001; produced by Global Exchange; $25)
Strong Roots can be ordered from Global Exchange online at http://store.gxonlinestore.org/strongroots.html or by phone at 1-800-505-4410.
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The Landless: On the Paths of America (Los Sin Tierras: Por Los Caminos de America):
This 2003 feature length (90 minute) documentary traces the rise of Brazil's Landless Movement (MST) from its founding in 1984 to the 2002 election of Brazils first working class president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula). Directed by Miguel Barros and co-produced by El Deseo, of award winning Spanish Director Pedro Almodovar, the film was awarded Best Documentary in Spain's 2004 Malaga Film Festival. The director spent an entire year visiting MST settlements and interviewing MST members in order to produce this firsthand account of the MST's long and difficult struggle.
Copies can be obtained from the FMST for educational purposes. Please write info@mstbrazil.org with FILM REQUEST as the email's subject. We ask that you cover the $35 cost of the tape, reproduction and shipping either by making a tax-deductible donation online at www.mstbrazil.org by clicking Donate Now! (and be sure to request the video in the "Contact Us" section) or by sending checks, cash or money order made payable to FMST-Global Exchange to FRIENDS OF THE MST, P.O. Box 478487, Chicago, IL 60647 USA.
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El Dorado dos Carajás - 10 Years (El Dorado dos Carajás - 10 Anos):**PORTUGUESE ONLY. NO SUBTITLES**
10 years after the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre, Brazil's most notorious example of land-related violence and legislative impunity, the MST's Sector of Communication has produced El Dorado dos Carajás - 10 Anos. This documentary film presents numerous first-hand accounts of the lasting effects of the El Dorado massacre, and includes extensive commentary by Brazilian Human and Land Rights activists. Available in Portuguese ONLY (w/ NO subtitles) and filmed entirely in rural areas of Brazil's Northern State of Pará, the film requires an ADVANCED level of Portuguese proficiency.
El Dorado dos Carajás - 10 Anos
MST Setor de Comunicação, 2006
DVD, 40 Minutes, PORTUGUESE ONLY
Copies can be obtained from the FMST for educational purposes. Please write info@mstbrazil.org with FILM REQUEST as the email's subject. We ask that you cover the $35 cost of the tape, reproduction and shipping either by making a tax-deductible donation online at www.mstbrazil.org by clicking Donate Now! (and be sure to request the video in the "Contact Us" section) or by sending checks, cash or money order made payable to FMST-Global Exchange to FRIENDS OF THE MST, P.O. Box 478487, Chicago, IL 60647 USA.
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~BOOKS~
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To Inherit the Earth:
Authors Angus Wright and Wendy Wolford put the movement in its historical, political, and environmental context, trace its growth, and address the issues the MST faces going forward. And throughout, they share dozens of personal stories of people in the movement—stories filled with tremendous courage, personal sacrifice, faith, humor, drama, and determination.
This book can be ordered directly from Food First - To Inherit the Earth or any commerical book reseller.
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Cutting the Wire: The Story of the Landless Movement in Brazil
By Sue Branford & Jan Rocha. "A compelling, blow-by-blow account of the MST's remarkable expansion in the last two decades. The narrative is interspersed with first-hand accounts of those involved; these life stories are vivid testaments to the human impact of the policies pursued by the Brazilian government in its attempts to modernise the agricultural sector. ... Sue Branford and Jan Rocha's account offers an invaluable insight into a mass movement which, through direct action, is mounting a credible challlenge to mainstream thinking on rural development."
--Times Literary Supplement,
6 September 2002
This book can be ordered online by visiting KP Books or any commerical book reseller.
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Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform
Agrarian reform is back at the center of the national and rural development debate, a debate of vital importance to the future of the Global South and genuine economic democracy. The World Bank as well as a number of national governments and local land owning elites have weighed in with a series of controversial policy changes. In response, peasants landless, and indigenous peoples' organizations around the world have intensified their struggle to redistribute land from the underutilized holdings of a wealthy few to the productive hands of the many.
The essays in this volume, edited by scholars from the Land Research Action Network (LRAN), critically analyze a wide range of competing visions of land reform. PROMISED LAND is an essential resource for academics, students, policy makers, activists, and peasant organizations.
"A pathbreaking volume that provides a compelling critique of the current market-led reforms promoted by the likes of the World Bank... This is state-of-the-art analysis coupled with a rich and sophisticated account of on-the-ground experiences and struggles. A tour de force."
This book can be ordered online and/or downloaded in its entirety, by visiting FoodFirst - Promised Land or any commerical book reseller.