The MST and the rule of law in Brazil.

• Author: Meszaros, George
• Position: Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - Essay

Abstract

The paper begins by acknowledging the uncomfortable nature of the MST's relations with prevailing legal orthodoxy, but then go on to briefly examine their nature, origins and extent. In acknowledging the tension between the MST and prevailing legal orthodoxy we ask how much this reveals about the movement's approach to legality, and how much it reveals about the legal system itself and the attitudes of those who operate it. The paper goes on to emphasise the positive interactions between the MST and the rule of law rather than points of friction. It underscores the importance of unpicking these relations, as well as examining the MST's record, which does not conform to the lawless stereotype. The overall picture that emerges, however uneven and localised, is that of an increasingly rich interplay between legal practitioners and the MST. The latter, it turns out, has quite a sophisticated legal discourse and strategy. Similarly, albeit to a more limited extent given that this is a major part of the challenge, we find that the legal sphere is the subject of internal contestation in addition to external social pressure. Finally, the paper draws these threads together in the light of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's administration. His 2002 election and 2006 re-election undoubtedly gave a distinctive new slant to the MST's relationship with the State in general and the rule of law in particular. If the rhetoric was to be believed, land questions had acquired a new urgency. Gone was the repressive tension that had underlain relations between the movement and all the post dictatorship administrations. Temperamentally, at least, significant sectors of Lula's government, including the President himself, were favourably disposed towards land reform. This raised the tantalising possibility that, for the first time in decades, a fundamental reorientation of the State--and its corollary, a loosening of the legal regime and decriminalisation of landless struggles, might take place. But it also raised the difficult question of how a government of the left would respond to Rule of Law imperatives on the one hand, and to a social movement known for tactics of direct action, on the other.

Keywords:

Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Rule of Law, Land Reform, Social Movements, Brazil.

1. Introduction

   Few subjects so exercise commentators and politicians in Brazil than the real or imagined relationship between the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) and the Rule of Law, or Estado de Direito,. Here is a typical example, an open letter sent by Raul Jungmann, the Minister of Agrarian Reform in President Cardoso's government, to President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in July 2003:

   President, no democrat can sacrifice the Rule of Law in name of the combat against poverty and social exclusion. I am sure you understand this. The MST and the UDR (1), for different reasons, do not. Agrarian reform has been carried out in two contexts; that of rupture or institutional normality. Rupture is in nobody's interests. Normality implies the strict and rigid adherence to the law--whether we like it or not. Mr President, follow the law and make others follow it. (2) The implication is clear: firstly, that the MST's restricted worldview means that questions of poverty and social exclusion are invariably set upon a collision with more broadly based Rule of Law imperatives; and secondly, that Brazil's reconnection with 'institutional normality', makes it imperative for the President to uphold the Rule of Law at all times, even if this is to the detriment of allies like the MST. This is powerful language. It strikes an historical chord with Brazilians who recall the military rupture of 1964 and its costly aftermath; and at the same time makes a point of universal significance in terms accessible to all generations. It proposes a highest common denominator by appealing to people's sense of fair play, firmly rejecting the idea that any individual or organisation should be considered above the law, and offering a clear way forward: 'follow the law and make others follow it'. What could be simpler than that?

   The present article argues that this is precisely the problem with the way the discussion is framed. The picture presented of both the MST and law is deceptively simple, representing little more than a caricature. Of course caricatures have their uses, and public letters must take short cuts in the interest of clarity, but why should someone like Raul Jungmann, one of the sharpest intellects in the Cardoso government, with a deep understanding of the issues involved and the dangers of oversimplification, adopt this type of limiting discourse? Part of the answer is that he remains a politician and the text is a political document and not just a statement of legal orthodoxy. It skilfully takes a sideswipe at the Lula administration by highlighting a vulnerability, namely how a government of the left can reconcile Rule of Law imperatives with direct action tactics deployed by its ally in opposition, the MST. By far the most crucial part of the letter, however, consists in the claims it makes about law in general and the MST in particular. In this respect it offers not so much a distorted caricature as a remarkably faithful and succinct portrayal of dominant legal and political discourses. For this reason it cannot be dismissed lightly and was chosen as our point of departure.

   This paper addresses some of the issues raised by orthodox discourses like Jungmann's, but from an entirely different perspective. We begin by acknowledging the uncomfortable nature of the MST's relations with prevailing legal orthodoxy, but then go on to briefly examine their nature, origins and extent. Typically, critics emphasise the points of friction (of which there are many) and trace (in our view erroneously) their origins exclusively back to the MST and its supposed unilateral failure to 'understand' the rule of law. Constructing the problem thus both raises the stakes to a supposed clash between the MST and law. In fact, Jungmann's letter suggests that it heralds nothing less than an assault upon democracy itself. (3) This view invites the conclusion that containment, with repressive measures if necessary, is the best course of action. Indeed, Jungmann has gone on to say that it is high time for 'law's truncheon to be brought down upon the MST'. (4)

   The approach of this article differs. In acknowledging the tension between the MST and prevailing legal orthodoxy we ask how much this reveals about the movement's approach to legality, and how much it reveals about the legal system itself and the attitudes of those who operate it. The suggestion is that we are dealing with a multilateral equation. Titanic clashes or assaults upon democracy are not the issue. Indeed, aspects of legality may actually be fortified by the MSTs actions. The second part of this paper emphasises positive interactions between the MST and the rule of law rather than points of friction. It underscores the importance of unpicking these relations, as well as examining the MST's record, which does not conform to the lawless stereotype. The overall picture that emerges, however uneven and localised, is that of an increasingly rich interplay between legal practitioners and the MST. The latter, it turns out, has quite a sophisticated legal discourse and strategy. Similarly, albeit to a more limited extent given that this is a major part of the challenge, we find that the legal sphere is the subject of internal contestation in addition to external social pressure.

   The third and final section draws these threads together in the light of President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's administration. His 2002 election and 2006 re-election undoubtedly gave a distinctive new slant to the MST's relationship with the State in general and the rule of law in particular. If the rhetoric was to be believed, land questions had acquired a new urgency. Gone was the repressive tension that had underlain relations between the movement and all the post dictatorship administrations. Temperamentally, at least, significant sectors of Lula's government, including the President himself, were favourably disposed towards land reform. This raised the tantalising possibility that, for the first time in decades, a fundamental reorientation of the State--and its corollary, a loosening of the legal regime and decriminalisation of landless struggles, might take place. But it also raised the difficult question of how a government of the left would respond to Rule of Law imperatives on the one hand, and to a social movement known for tactics of direct action, on the other.

2. Tensions between the MST and Legal Orthodoxy

   2.1. Social and Political Origins

   There is an element of inevitability governing the MST's difficulties with the established legal order. While this is partly due to the movement's chosen course of action, methods and self-conception, it also derives from the movement's social origins, i.e., to the fact that the MST was a product of, and not just a response to, circumstances. These circumstances, especially the extent of social polarisation, are well known. Land and income inequality in Brazil are star. According to the latest UNDP Human Development Report, Brazil's Gini coefficient (the most widely used inequality indicator) was 58.0, lower only than Colombia (58.6), Bolivia (60.1), Namibia (74.3), Botswana (63), Swaziland (60.9), Lesotho (63.2), Central African Republic (61.3) and Sierra Leone (62.9). (5) Recent data suggest that 56 percent of propertied land is still concentrated among just 3.5 percent of property holders, while a mere 6.3 percent of land is held by 57.6 percent of property holders, in other words, 144,281 properties have successfully appropriated 183,564,299 hectares of land, leaving 2,441,770 other properties to squeeze into just 26,601,982 hectares. (6)...