MST settlement celebration in Cascavel (PR) demands progress in Agrarian Reform

Among the participants were João Pedro Stédile, Gleisi Hoffmann, representatives of the federal and state governments and municipalities in the region

More than a thousand people attended the celebration for the settlement of Resistência Camponesa, in Cascavel, western Paraná, this Saturday (February 08). The celebration brought together allies and friends from the federal and state governments and municipalities in the region, the Executive and Legislative branches, as well as religious leaders. Barbecue and lunch were shared free of charge with the public, and a fair and dance ensured the celebrations for the settlement of 71 families.

The celebration came 26 years after the first shacks were built on the site. The symbolism was even greater because it was the same city where the MST held its founding meeting 41 years ago. “This struggle is an achievement, thanks to the help of our fellow members who joined us, and to our Movement, which has always been active in providing guidance so that we could achieve this,” said Serlei da Silva Lima, an agroecological food producer and one of the community coordinators.

In addition to the appreciation for the achievement of the new settlement, speeches by Movement leaders demanded that the federal government speed up the implementation of Agrarian Reform, to settle more than 60,000 families living in camps throughout Brazil, 7,000 from Paraná alone.

“We no longer have time to wait, there are areas that have been occupied for 20, 30, 40 years. It is time for us to regularize them,” said José Damasceno, a member of the MST leadership, who is settled in the north of the state. “Our achievements have a name and a surname: the fruit of a popular struggle by the people, fellow members of popular organizations, unions, and progressive churches. All of this is achieved through popular resistance,” emphasized the leader.

João Pedro Stedile, a member of the MST’s national coordination team, also attended the event and stressed the urgency of government action to obtain land and establish new settlements. Given the ongoing global environmental crisis, Stedile sees the agribusiness model as becoming unviable. “The class struggle has changed. We are no longer fighting over hectares with the bourgeoisie, but rather fighting over the future of society. The fundamental goal of our struggle is to produce food, plant trees and protect nature.”

Gleisi Hoffmann, president of the Workers’ Party and federal deputy, stressed the need for priority in the public budget to be given to Agrarian Reform and Family Farming. “This is food production, this is money circulating. More than justice, land rights are also money circulation. We need to return credit to beans, rice and food, not just soybeans.”

The mayor of Cascavel, Renato Silva, also took part in the event and had lunch with the community. He assured cooperation with the settlement and the Agrarian Reform: “Count on us, we need to keep fighting for the common good […]. We still have a long way to go, we need to help the people who need it most.” Stedile highlighted the history of struggle of the rural people of Paraná, including indigenous people, squatters, caboclos and landless people. “This territory of Paraná carries the legacy of a history of warrior people, which began there with the Guarani, and has gone through many other struggles”. As a task for the Movement and for the popular organizations of the state, Stédile emphasized the urgency of popular support for the Avá-guarani of Guaíra (PR), who have suffered constant violence by farmers in the region. The party was a point of collection of food for the indigenous population that is a victim of the conflict. Among those present were Rose Rodrigues, from the National Incra; Gessica Leite, social participation advisor for the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger (MDS); João Pedro Stedile, from the national leadership of the MST; Roland Rutina, General Superintendent of Dialogue and Social Interaction (Sudis) of the government of Paraná; national president of the PT and federal deputy Gleisi Hoffmann; Darci Frigo, from the coordination of Terra de Direitos; Hamilton Serighelli, Permanent Council for Human Rights of Paraná (Copedh); federal deputies Elton Valter and Zeca Dirceu; state deputies Luciana Raffagnin and professor Lemos, both from the PT. Mayors Renato Silva, of Cascavel; and Vitor Antônio, of Diamante do Oeste; Luiz Carlos Gabas, reverend of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil; in addition to other religious leaders and councilors from several municipalities.

Consolidated community

Over the 26 years of existence of the camp, the collective organization ensured the improvement of the families' living conditions and the structuring of the community.

The peasants built a community shed, churches and a soccer field. Another achievement is the extensive production of food, largely free of poison, in addition to the implementation of an agroforest and the planting of trees throughout the common area of ​​the settlement. The families also acquired an agroindustry to commercialize the production of mandioca, destined for public schools through the National School Feeding Program (PNAE).

This Saturday's celebration also showed the great participation of families. The political act with the authorities debuted a new wooden shed in the center of the community, built by a collective effort especially for the event.

At the back of the stage, a mural produced by the landless artist Acir Batista, who settled in the region, brought colors and symbols of the struggle, with people, food and the name of the settlement. Between the wooden wall and the mural, a panel of interwoven bamboo showed the mark of the indigenous and caboclo culture in that territory.

March of conquest

The 26 years of struggle to conquer the settlement left great marks, among them the organization of the Peasant Resistance Vigil: For Land, Life and Dignity, a form of struggle that was unprecedented in the MST communities until that moment. The action took place on the side of the BR 277 Highway, close to the community.

The mobilization was in response to a repossession order, authorized by the Ratinho Junior government, which threatened to evict 212 families from three encampments – the Dorcelina Folador and 1º de Agosto communities, as well as the Resistência Camponesa, were at risk. In total, there were around 800 people, including 250 children and 80 elderly people.

The vigil lasted 83 days, starting on December 27, 2019 and ending in March 2020, when it had to be interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the families in the encampment joined the MST's solidarity actions, donating food to the urban population, who were facing hunger during that period of health crisis.

To commemorate this recent and decisive period of resistance, the community began the celebration of the settlement in the same place as the 83-day vigil. After a mystical event in which they recalled the memory of the vigil, the public was invited to participate in a march to the center of the community, where the celebration continued. During the almost one-kilometer walk, flags were raised, sickles were struck, songs were played and slogans were shouted, bringing back the necessary strength of those days of eviction threats.

Before the walk began, agroecological peasant Adair Gonçalves, a member of the community's coordination team, spoke about the symbolism of that piece of land on the side of the highway. “This space represents the place of resistance. That's why the first moment had to be in this place, it's symbolic. The Movement teaches us to fight. Families choose to fight, for life, for land and for dignity […]. This is a space that reminds us of the certainty that when we fight, it works out”, he assured, in front of the sign fixed at the location, with the inscription Peasant Resistance Settlement painted on it, the MST flag and the phrase by Pope Francis: “No family without a home, no peasant without land, no worker without rights”.