ARIADNÓPOLIS: em busca de identidade

Abstract

Brazil is one of the countries with the largest concentration of land in the world. The form of occupation of our lands by the Portuguese established the roots of social inequality that persist in Brazil to this day. Peasant movements emerged in search of reforms in the country's agrarian distribution system, and promoted the debate with the State regarding the concentration of land. However, the fight for the right to land has encountered an opposition: Agribusiness, which through the influential ruralist groups has hindered access to the territory by the Landless Workers Movement (MST), because they hurt the mercantile logic with the which land is treated in Brazil. By inflaming public opinion with generalizations and biased information, a negative and uninformed spectrum was created in relation to the MST. The objective of this article is to clarify the national and international relevance of the MST with regard to the discussion on agrarian reform and agricultural production, as well as to demystify issues that classify the movement as criminal. Through a field survey carried out in the settlement Nova Conquista II in the municipality of Campo do Meio (MG), the book-report "Ariadnópolis - in search of identity" was developed, which gathers stories and accounts of more than 15 years of confrontation of the MST behind the expropriation and access to the unused land of the Ariadnópolis Farm. Thus, the study proposes reflections on negative public opinion regarding the movement, based on its history and its social and economic relevance.