Many people who hear about the “Sem Terra” (Landless in Portuguese) imagine that we are the rural workers, sharecroppers or tenant farmers who do not have land.
“Sem Terra” has become a proper name – the name of workers who are organized to struggle for Agrarian Reform and the transformation of society.
“Sem Terra” has become a symbol for the rescue of dignity for men and women workers who were once called vagrants, kicked around from one corner to another. These workers have achieved their own identity by joining the struggle: I am a “Sem Terra” is stated with pride. The “Sem Terra” have become a respected citizen and the MST is nothing more than hundreds of thousands of “Sem Terra”.
Today’s society excludes the poorest of us, leaving us without work, without rights, and without dignity. In the MST, little by little, we have succeeded in rescuing our dignity by expressing our citizenship and registering ourselves and our children as citizens. Gathering our documentation and registering our children; to learn to read and write reality and to see their children going to School, getting a roof for their family.
But this is just a little. We will only achieve our objectives when Agrarian Reform becomes a struggle for all.