Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST): Education & Resistance in Latin America (3/10)

International Guest Speaker
ANDREIA BORGES FERREIRA
Brazilian Land Activist
Friday, March 10th
6:00 - 8:00pm
Cabrillo College Watsonville Center
318 Union Street, Room 4360


The MST is the largest social movement in Latin America, with an estimated 2 million members organized in 23 of Brazil’s 27 states. Since 1985, the MST has peacefully occupied and won title to unused land for over 300,000 landless families. On these lands, the MST has established cooperative farms, constructed houses, schools, and health clinics, and promoted gender equality, indigenous culture and a healthy and sustainable environment.

With Leftist leaders sweeping Latin America’s elections, the MST continues to play a vital role in securing respect for human rights in the Brazilian context. The 2002 election of Brazil’s first ever working class President, Luiz Ignacio ‘Lula’ da Silva, marked a milestone in Latin America’s electoral shift to the left. This year, 11 Presidential elections are to take place across the continent, including a re-election attempt by Lula in Brazil. The MST offers us a unique perspective into the role played by the social movements – resisting rightwing backlash amidst a Latin American shift to the Left.

Andreia Borges Ferreira, of Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST), is coming to Watsonville, CA on Friday, March 10th. Andriea comes to us representing the MST’s Education Sector, responsible for the political education of MST members throughout the country.

Andreia is in the United States by invitation of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, but her Watsonville debut is hosted by the Santa Cruz Friends of the MST in partnership with the Watsonville Brown Berets <http://www.brownberets.info>, Cabrillo College MEChA, La Manzana Community Resources, and the Agricultural and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA).

For additional information on the MST, please see <http://www.mstbrazil.org>