Brazilian Landless Women Fight for Social Justice on March 8th

Since Wednesday, Brazilian landless women have been holding various demonstrations and meetings regarding March 8th, the International Day of Women's Struggle.

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“We will fight for our bodies and territories!” is the motto that the Landless Workers Movement (MST) has been using to call on citizens to commit to social transformation.

"The mobilizations denounce social inequalities, hunger and poverty created from the commodification of life, common goods, and nature," the MST said, highlighting that women daily experience situations of violence in the public and private spheres.

Landless women link their mobilizations to the defense of all rural and urban workers who fight for a "Popular Agrarian Reform" and the production of healthy food.

The text reads, "300 Landless Women from the Federal District and surrounding areas protest at the Israeli Embassy!! ️ The demonstration in Brasilia is framed in the National Day of Struggle of Landless Women and seeks to denounce the genocide caused by the Israeli State against the Palestinian people."

Considered the largest agrarian social movement in Latin America, the MST demands the implementation of a profound agrarian reform to solve rural violence and hunger, as well as to provide work, income and dignity to millions of Brazilians.

This movement also highlights the importance of recognizing and demarcating Indigenous lands to stop the abuses that corporations commit against Brazilian people and ecosystems.

Besides promoting agroecology as a solution to climate change, the Landless Workers Movement emphasizes the construction of "Popular Peasant Feminism" as a strategy to combat discrimination against women and the LGBTI+ population.

“The MST highlights the importance of continuous mobilization, not only on International Women's Day but every day, encouraging perseverance in the struggles for social justice, equality and dignity,” outlet Brasil de Fato recalled.

On Friday morning, some 500 families occupied the Aroeiras farm in the municipality of Lagoa Santa, in Belo Horizonte, said Maria Eni, an MST leader in Minas Gerais.

"This occupation is a response to the failure to fulfill the social function of the land, since this property was abandoned by its owners and remains unproductive," she said.

"The Landless Workers Movement asks that the law be complied with and this property be used for agrarian reform," Eni added, recalling that over 5,000 Mina Gerais families living in provisional camps hope to have a proper home soon.