The MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) is a social movement founded in 1984 in Brazil to help landless rural workers obtain land. Large landowners and corruption in the Brazilian government had resulted in much of the rural poor being landless and oppressed. The MST organizes land occupations on unused private property to establish encampments that become self-sufficient agricultural communities, while advocating for land reform policies. Over many years of struggle, the encampments often gain legal ownership of the land from the government. The MST remains one of the largest and longest running social movements in Latin America, helping to redistribute land and empower the rural poor in Brazil.

1. Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement