To Inherit the Earth: The Landless Movement and the Struggle for a New Brazil

by Angus Lindsay Wright, Wendy Wolford

In the country with the widest income gap between rich and poor and where millions of children fend for themselves on city streets, one of the world’s most successful grassroots social movements has arisen. To Inherit the Earth tells the dramatic story of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement, or MST–millions of desperately poor, landless, jobless men and women who, through their own nonviolent efforts, have secured rights to over 20 million acres of farmland. Not only are the MST fighting for their own rights, they are transforming their society into a more just one–and their approach may offer the best solution yet to Brazil’s environmental problems in the Amazon and elsewhere.

Authors Wright and Wolford put the movement in its historical, political, and environmental context, trace its growth, and address the issues the MST faces going forward. And throughout, they share dozens of personal stories of people in the movement—stories filled with tremendous courage, personal sacrifice, faith, humor, drama, and determination.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Social Movements, Anthropology, Politics, Brazil

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exhaustive sociological-anthropological analysis of the MST and its history up to 2003, when the book came out. Although much Brazilian history has happened in the two decades since then (to say the least!), the book remains worthwhile as a snapshot of the movement and its origins at that time, especially since it has only grown since then.
The authors are clearly American progressive-liberal academic types who are not completely comfortable with the socialist orientation of the MST, which allows them to highlight some of its shortcomings, but because of their honest analysis, they’re able to conclude that it must be one of the best and most impressive hopes for social justice in the americas. A more Marxist or anarchist analysis would probably highlight different shortcomings, but would also reach the same conclusion.

[Jimmy Tarlau · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter, Becky, is current in Brazil studying the schools in the areas where there are settlements organized by the MST (the Brazilian Landless Movement) so I thought I would do some background reading so as to better discuss her thesis paper with her. This was much more of an advocate story of the MST rather than an objective history but it gave me a lot of information. In Brazil there is a history of laws (very simple) that say that if less than 10% of the land is being used for productive purposes, others can take over the land and use it for farming. There is also a lot of dispute on who actually holds titles for much of the rural land in Brazil. The landless movement started in 1985 and now includes 1 million people in settlements throughout the country. Brazil is a huge county and there is a lot to understand. The book was written in 2002 (at the beginning of the Lula Administration) and I am interested in finding how things have changed in the last 8 years.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I wanted an in-depth history of the MST (Landless Workers' Movement) which included the political context from which it arose. I found it here, though I found their analysis a bit lacking. I'm a huge fan of the MST, but for that reason, I feel like I need to be able to confront criticism of it, and this book didn't help me do that. They also went on way too long about unimportant details like what people were like, what they were eating, how they traveled to certain places, etc. I think it was an attempt to humanize the story and make it more interesting, but come on, if I'm purposely reading a non-fiction book, I think I can handle it if you just get to the point and stop trying to paint pictures of everything.

[katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book paints a pretty solid picture of the landless movement of Brazil, but despite my left-leaning political preferences, I could hardly get past the leftist portrayal of this movement. It's not all sunshine and puppies, as this author might have you believe.