The role of land occupations in the MST structuring process (1984- 1995)

Abstract

This article analysed the transformations performed in (and by) the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST, in Brazil) from the definition of the strategic and multiform nature of land occupation, such as form of struggle, instrument for the expansion of the Movement, formative space for militancy and element of distinction of other political organizations. Through the specialized literature and a series of interviews with the actors of this process, leaders who formulated and carried out countless land occupations during the 1980s, especially in the Brazilian Northeast, the conflicts, the deliberations, are discussed the relationship with the State and the material and symbolic achievements resulting from land occupations in the national territory.