Landless Rural Workers Confront Lula

In the minds of most MST members, President Luis Inácio "Lula" da Silva and the Workers' Party (PT) have failed to implement the radical economic and social reforms that were promised, especially agrarian reform. According to José Maria Tardin, who was elected the first mayor of the PT in the state of Paraná in 1989, and now works in the MST, "For the left, Lula is the biggest political tragedy in the history of Brazil."

In a discussion with reporters, founder and national organizer of the MST João Pedro Stedile recalled that when Lula was elected in 2002 the MST hoped that Brazil would overturn many of the neoliberal policies imposed on the country by Washington and institutions like the International Monetary Fund. However, "nobody can say that Lula is implementing an alternative project. We cannot be so simplistic as to say that everything is Lula's fault, but the Lula Government does not represent the working class, and is not on the left," said Stedile. He pointed out that during Lula's first four year mandate, the financial sector accumulated more capital that it did during the previous eight years under President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.