Brazil is a country of enormous social differences. The unequal distribution of property is especially dramatic in rural areas, where the elite has always been interested in preserving the status quo, and where almost all endeavours to implement an agrarian reform have failed so far. When, in the mid-eighties, the military dictatorship ended and the country opened up, numerous new social movements began to seek a solution of the problem. The most important of these is the Movimiento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST; English: Landless workers’ movement). Having become an influential factor in Brazil by now, the landless workers’ movement regularly interferes in the country’s politics and enjoys great popularity with many Brazilians. Yet extreme forms of action, such as occupying farmed estates and public buildings, a backward-looking ideology, and the vision of building a socialist society also incite resistance and justify a critical analysis.
