Last modified: 2002-10-12 by joe mcmillan
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![[MST-Movement of Landless Rural Workers]](../images/b/br}mst.gif)
by
Guillermo Tell Aveledo
See also:
During the IV National Meeting of the MST, held in January 1987 in Piracicaba, São Paulo, the selection and official approval of the flag of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers took place. The flag is a symbol of the national character of the fight for agrarian reform. Let's see the significance of the drawings and colours that compose our flag:So I'd say it's definitely a left-wing movement. It also must be explained that in some areas of Brazil the latifundia are on average larger than several European countries, and I'm not referring to Liechtenstein or Monaco!The map of Brazil represents that the MST is an organization of national scope and wishes to take the fight for agrarian reform to the whole country.
The man and the woman represent the need to engage men and women and whole families in the struggle.
The machete represents the tools of work, struggle, and resistance. [The word is facão. While "knife" in Portuguese is faca, the Brazilian facão is a very large knife similar to a cutlass.--Trans.]
The color white represents the peace for which we fight, which can only be won when there is social justice for all.
The color red represents the blood that flows in our veins and the will to fight for agrarian reform and for the transformation of society.
The color black represents our mourning and our tribute to all the workers who have already fallen fighting for a new society.
The color green represents the big latifundia we have to occupy and turn productive. And the hope that our fight will be victorious in each occupied latifundium.
The flag is a 2:3 red field with the symbol of the MST centered. Along with
the symbol, the flag bears the colors red (predominantly), white, black
and green. The emblem of the movement is a white circle bordered in black. Inscribed
inside it, along the circumference, the words Movimento dos Trabalhadores
Rurais Sem Terra - Brasil. Inside the circle we see the figure of a green Brazilian
map, and, within it, the figures of a man and a woman from the waist up,
the man holding up a machete in his right hand, and the woman wearing a red shirt.
Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 18 August 2000
Not really a party in the proper sense of the word, but a major left-wing
political presence.
Joseph McMillan, 16 April 2001
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