Editing Landless Workers' Movement (section)

===2010–present===
The MST wholeheartedly declared support for [[Dilma Rousseff]]'s candidacy, and once elected, she offered the movement very qualified support. In a national broadcast in November 2010, she declared land reform a question "of human rights," that is, a purely humanitarian one.<ref>Genny Petschulat, "Grass-Roots Struggle in the 'Culture of Silence': Collective Dialogue and the Brazilian Landless Movement". University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects, 2010, pages 47/48, available at [http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/1351] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430192819/http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/1351/|date=2012-04-30}}. Retrieved November the 19th. 2011</ref> As Lula's chief of staff, she supported economic growth over ecological and land reform concerns.<ref>Gustavo de L. T. Oliveira, "Land Regularization in Brazil and the Global Land Grab: A Statemaking Framework for Analysis". International Conference on Global Land Grabbing, 6–8 April 2011, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, p. 12.</ref> In a radio interview during the campaign, she repeated the old conservative trope that economic growth could make Brazilian land issues recede: "What we are doing is doing away with the real basis for the instabilities of the landless. They are losing reasons to fight."<ref>Benjamin Dangl, "Why land reform makes sense for Dilma Rousseff". ''The Guardian'', 27th January 2011, available at [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/27/brazil-farming] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203131718/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/27/brazil-farming|date=2016-12-03}}</ref> Thus, one author described the MST's endorsement of Rousseff as a choice of the "lesser evil."<ref>Eduardo Silva, ed., '' Transnational Activism and National Movements in Latin America: Bridging the Divide''. New York: Routledge, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-415-83237-3}} , page 74</ref>

State agencies and private individuals continued to violently oppose the movement's activities. On 16 February 2012, eighty families were evicted from an occupation in [[Alagoas]] of a farm rented to a [[sugar cane mill|sugar mill]] awash in unpaid debts.<ref>"Polícia realiza despejo em acampamento do MST no estado de Alagoas". MST site, {{cite web |url=http://www.mst.org.br/Policia-realiza-despejo-em-acampamento-do-MST |title=Polícia realiza despejo em acampamento do MST no estado de Alagoas &#124; MST - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra |access-date=2012-02-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303023154/http://www.mst.org.br/Policia-realiza-despejo-em-acampamento-do-MST |archive-date=2012-03-03 }}. Retrieved February the 22nd. 2012</ref> According to MST activist Janaina Stronzake, MST assumes that landowners have a hit list of MST leaders. Many have in fact been killed, although some murders were doctored to make them look like accidents.<ref>Mª Ángeles Fernández,J. Marcos, eds., ''Diez encuentros incómodos con América del Sur: Diez entrevistas a diez voces críticas del continente''. Hornillo de Cartuja (Granada, Spain): Crac, 2013, page 30 (e-book)</ref> In April 2014, a [[Global Witness]] report called Brazil "the most dangerous place to defend rights to land and the environment," with at least 448 people killed between 2002 and 2013 in disputes over environmental rights and access to land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.globalwitness.org/library/sharp-rise-environmental-and-land-killings-pressure-planet%E2%80%99s-resources-increases-%E2%80%93-report |title=Sharp rise in environmental and land killings as pressure on planet's resources increases – report |access-date=2014-04-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420112350/http://www.globalwitness.org/library/sharp-rise-environmental-and-land-killings-pressure-planet%E2%80%99s-resources-increases-%E2%80%93-report |archive-date=2014-04-20 }}</ref> A report for the Catholic Pastoral Land Commission, ''Land Conflicts in Brazil 2013'', estimated that land struggles were involved in 34 murders in Brazil in 2013, and 36 in 2012.[http://www.cptnacional.org.br/index.php/publicacoes-2/noticias-2/12-conflitos/2032-cpt-lancara-o-relatorio-conflitos-no-campo-brasil-2013]

On April 16, 2012, a group of MST activists occupied the headquarters of the [[Ministry of Agrarian Development (Brazil)|Ministry of Agrarian Development]] in Brasília, as part of the movement's regular "Red April" campaign, a yearly nationwide occupation initiative in honor of the April 1996 [[Eldorado dos Carajás massacre]].<ref>"MST invade prédio do Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário". Folha.com newssite, April the 16th. 2012, available at [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/1076642-mst-invade-predio-do-ministerio-do-desenvolvimento-agrario.shtml] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232652/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/1076642-mst-invade-predio-do-ministerio-do-desenvolvimento-agrario.shtml|date=2013-12-30}}</ref> Minister [[Pepe Vargas]] declared ongoing talks between the government and the MST suspended for the duration of the occupation.<ref>"Governo suspende negociações após MST invadir ministério". Folha.com newssite, April the 16th. 2012, available at [http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/1076696-governo-suspende-negociacoes-apos-mst-invadir-ministerio.shtml] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231000702/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/1076696-governo-suspende-negociacoes-apos-mst-invadir-ministerio.shtml|date=2013-12-31}}</ref>

Land activists were dissatisfied with the slowing pace of official land reform projects under the Rousseff government. Fewer families were officially settled in 2011 than in the previous 16 years. Government reaction to the occupation sparked widespread accusations from the PT base that Rousseff had sold out.<ref>"Dilma fights accusations of selling out, risks losing party support". ''Global Post'', April 6, 2012, available at [http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/dilma-fights-accusations-selling-out-risks-losing-party-support] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414232007/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/dilma-fights-accusations-selling-out-risks-losing-party-support|date=2012-04-14}}</ref> In a 2012 interview, Stedile admitted that the movement had not benefited from the policies of the PT administrations, since the coalition governments of the PT could not act politically on behalf of land reform.<ref>Interview, ''Jornal dos Economistas'', no.278, November 2012, pages 6/7</ref>

Both political pundits and activists thought Rousseff's first term was a lean period for land reform, and mainstream media called the MST "tamed" by the two consecutive PT administrations, and drained of mass support by steady economic growth and expanding employment—denying the movement its chief ''raison d'être''. In 2013, MST attempted only 110 occupations.<ref>"Em 2013, MST registra o menor número de invasões durante governos do PT". ''O Globo'' , January 1, 2014, [http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/em-2013-mst-registra-menor-numero-de-invasoes-durante-governos-do-pt-11192302] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106031656/http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/em-2013-mst-registra-menor-numero-de-invasoes-durante-governos-do-pt-11192302|date=2014-01-06}} Retrieved January 5, 2014</ref> The same year saw another low, with only 159 families resettled. MST National Coordinator João Paulo Rodrigues said that the federal government's reliance on [[agribusiness]] exports for procuring [[hard currency]] was the main reason the Rousseff administration did not advance land reform, and even went backwards in some cases.<ref>''Século Diário'', December 28, 2013, [http://seculodiario.com.br/14632/10/mst-2013-fica-marcado-como-o-pior-ano-da-reforma-agraria-no-pais-1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226204130/http://seculodiario.com.br/14632/10/mst-2013-fica-marcado-como-o-pior-ano-da-reforma-agraria-no-pais-1|date=2013-12-26}}. Retrieved December 29, 2013</ref> The only recent advances in land reform policies had come in programs, such as the National Program for School Meals (PNAE) and Food Catering Plan (PAA), which purchased food from land reform farmers for use at public schools and other government facilities. However, Rodrigues disputed that such programs were "entirely disproportionate to what [was] being offered [in terms of public money, subsidized credits, etc.] to agribusiness." He concluded that the only chance for land reform in Brazil would be a kind of [[joint venture]] between small producers and urban working class consumers, as simple [[land redistribution]] would be fated to fail, as it had in [[Venezuela]], "where [[Hugo Chávez]] stockedpiled seven million [[hectares]] of nationalized land property which remained unused for want of proper peasants."<ref>" 'Agora estão tentando privatizar inclusive o ar', diz João Pedro Stédile" - IG newssite, December 11, 2013, [http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/politica/2013-12-11/agora-estao-tentando-privatizar-inclusive-o-ar-diz-joao-pedro-stedile.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214054037/http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/politica/2013-12-11/agora-estao-tentando-privatizar-inclusive-o-ar-diz-joao-pedro-stedile.html|date=2013-12-14}}. Retrieved December 30, 2013</ref>

The PT government's base generally felt that the vested interest of agribusiness in setting development policies during the Lula and Rousseff administrations hampered aggressive policies of expropriation and land reform.<ref>Armando Boito Jr. & Tatiana Berringer, "BRASIL: CLASSES SOCIAIS, NEODESENVOLVIMENTISMO E POLÍTICA EXTERNA NOS GOVERNOS LULA E DILMA".REVISTA DE SOCIOLOGIA E POLÍTICA V. 21, Nº 47: 31-38 SET. 2013. Available at [http://ojs.c3sl.ufpr.br/ojs/index.php/rsp/article/viewFile/34470/21378] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427111623/http://ojs.c3sl.ufpr.br/ojs/index.php/rsp/article/viewFile/34470/21378|date=2015-04-27}}. Retrieved April 19, 2015</ref>

In November 2014, amid the radicalization surrounding Rousseff's reelection, an unannounced visit to Brazil by Venezuelan Minister for Communities and Social Movements [[Elias Jaua]] led to an information exchange agreement in agro-ecology between the MST and the Venezuelan government. The visit and agreement created tension among the conservatives in the Brazilian Congress; Senator and landowner [[Ronaldo Caiado]] described it as "an arrangement between a high-placed representative of a foreign government and an unlawful entity, aimed at building a socialist society," and argued for a clearly more conservative stance on land reform, and therefore, less maneuvering room for the MST.<ref>George Meszaros, ''Social Movements, Law and the Politics of Land Reform: Lessons from Brazil''. London: Routledge, 2013, {{ISBN|978-0-415-47771-0}} , page 20</ref> The movement described Caiado's reaction as evidence that "conservative sectors are hostile to any form of grassroots participation [in the political process]."<ref>"MST defende acordo de cooperação assinado com ministro venezuelano". Agencia Brasil, ''Carta Capital'', 10 November 2014, available at [http://www.cartacapital.com.br/sociedade/mst-defende-acordo-de-cooperacao-assinado-com-ministro-venezuelano-9820.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113165759/http://www.cartacapital.com.br/sociedade/mst-defende-acordo-de-cooperacao-assinado-com-ministro-venezuelano-9820.html|date=2014-11-13}}. Retrieved November 13, 2014</ref>

In an even clearer sign of limited room, Rousseff chose [[Kátia Abreu]], the notorious female landowner, to be a member of her second-term cabinet.<ref>"Lil' Miss Deforestation", who had clashed in public with the MST over the issue of [[forced labour|slavelabour]]</ref><ref>Bret Wallach, ''A World Made for Money: Economy, Geography, and the Way We Live Today''.University Of Nebrasca Press:2015, {{ISBN|978-0-8032-9891-0}} , page 218; Francesco Giappichini, ''Brasile terzo millennio''. Lulu Author: 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-4709-2543-7}} , page 216</ref>  However, some have suggested that the ongoing tension between the MST and the PT, far from signaling an impending end, on the contrary, suggested a ''reconfiguration'' of the MST, from a single-issue movement to one with a wider focus on political and social emancipation.<ref>Jan Nederveen Pieterse,Adalberto Cardoso, eds., ''Brazil Emerging: Inequality and Emancipation''. London: Routledge, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-415-83704-0}} , Chapter 6</ref> Since the 1990s, such a tendency has been expressed in the integration of MST with various other grassroots organizations in a network sponsored by progressive Catholics, the CMP (''Central de Movimentos Populares'', or Union of Popular Movements),<ref>Lúcio Flávio de Almeida & Félix Ruiz Sánchez. "Um grão menos amargo das ironias da história: o MST e as lutas sociais contra o neoliberalismo." Lutas Sociais-Desde 1996 - {{ISSN|1415-854X}} (1998): 77-91.</ref> through which the MST developed its collaboration with its urban "sister" organization, the MTST.<ref>Jeffery R. Webber,Barry Carr, eds. ''The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire''.Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,2013, {{ISBN|978-0-7425-5757-4}} , pages 101/102</ref>