A produção da ação coletiva no MST: relações de poder e subjetividade.

Abstract

The Landless Workers Movement (MST) is an organization which fights for land and improving the life quality of land reform settlers. The movement has produced diverse forms of collective action in the settlements which can guarantee the social and economic viability of the settlers. In this perspective, the aim of this study is to analyze the production of collective action of the MST considering the power relations generated in the land reform settlements and the subjectivity of the settlers. The research is based on case studies in two settlements in the State of Paraíba: Mandacaru in the Semi-Arid Region and Massangana III in the Zona da Mata Region. This study has drawn on theories of the "New Social Movements" proposed by Alain Touraine, among others authors. It shows that MST seeks rather to introduce models of collective action in the land reform settlements than to understand the Brazilian rural realities and try a strategic dialogue between the world visions of the settlers and the movement ideology. The research identified that in the settlements supported by the Landless Workers Movement, the settlers has not accepted the ideological model which guide the practices of the movement. The case studies in the two settlements showed that although some families are identified with the principies of MST, the collective representation can only exist if constructed from the interaction between the settlers and the movement. The introduction of models of society and forms of production organization has not been appropriated to the social, cultural and historical trajectories of the settled families. The sense and meaning attributed to the collective action by the settlers do not express the ideais of the revolution and socialist society of MST. These conclusions are grounded on the interviews, field observation during many weeks in the settlements and a detailed analysis of the internai and externai documents of MST since its formation until the year 2005. Those elements prove that the agrarian reform is not itself a end, but rather a way to achieve the dreaming ideal of socialist society. But, this dream is absent from the mentality of the vast majority of the settlers interviewed in Mandacaru and Massangana III. Added to this, the MST face difficulties in the promotion of collective actions due to attitudes and behaviors of its leaders who has generated power relations in the settlements on behalf of personal benefits. In Massangana III, the collective actions were interrupted due to internai conflicts between the own leaderships and the settlers. The settlements is more based on the family social organization than the collective form. We noticed that in the studied settlements the settlers have a moral debt with the MST generated in the asymmetrical reciprocity relation producing respect, obedience and dependence. But, other human values of solidarity, friendship or responsibility are generated by local relations. They are based on the recognition in the fight for land of MST and the change of strategy of the leaders action. That is the case of Mandacaru Settlement where there is the continuity of collective action in the settlement from local leaders who first uses the dialogue, listening and discussing the projects and points of views of the settlers.