Editing Landless Workers' Movement (section)

==Land ownership==
Consolidation of land ownership continued unabated. In 2006, according to the property census, the [[Gini index]] of land concentration stood at 0.854, while at the beginning of military regime in 1967, it was at 0.836. In other words, concentration of land ownership into just a few hands actually increased.<ref>''Carta Capital'', issue 657, July 29, 2011</ref> As of 2009, Brazilian economic policy, especially in [[international trade|foreign exchange]], relied upon [[trade surplus]]es generated by the agricultural [[export]]s, so "the correlation of forces moves against [[agrarian reform]]."<ref>A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Saturnino M. Borras, Cristóbal Kay, ''Land, poverty and livelihoods in an era of globalization'', p. 111</ref> The resumption of sustained general economic growth in the Lula years might have greatly diminished social demand for land reform, especially among the informally and/or under-employed urban workers, who formed most of the movements' later membership.<ref>Wendy Muse Sinek, ''Coalitional Choices and Strategic Challenges: the Landless Movement in Brazil 1975–2000''. Center for Latin American Studies working paper, University of California-Berkeley, September 2007, Paper no. 19. Available at [http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7q5402w4#page-1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121170017/http://escholarship.org/uc/item/7q5402w4#page-1|date=2015-01-21}}. Accessed December the 28th. 2011. Pp. 29 sqq.</ref><ref>Haro Brookfield, H. C. Brookfield, Helen Parsons: ''Family Farms: survival and prospect'', p. 169</ref> In a 2012 interview, a member of the MST national caucus, Joaquim Pinheiro, declared that the recent increase in welfare spending and employment levels had had a "sobering" influence on Brazilian agrarian activism, but he declared himself in favor of government spending on social programs, adding that the MST feared, however, that people would become "hostages" to such programs.<ref>''O Globo'', January the 30th. 2012</ref> But as of 2006, according to the MST, 150,000 families lived in its encampments, compared to 12,805 families in 1990.<ref>Armando Boito, Andréia Galvão e Paula Marcelino: "Brasil: o movimento sindical e popular na década de 2000". CLACSO paper, n.d.g., available at [http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/osal/osal26/05boito.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231809/http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/osal/osal26/05boito.pdf|date=2012-04-25}}, page 50. Accessed December the 29th. 2011</ref>