MST creates Marxist school in Brazil

http://www.mst.org.br/multimidia/gfotos/fotos/escolaff8peq.jpg

Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes

Photo: MST

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The Landless Workers Movement (MST) inaugurated on Sunday the school Florestan Fernandes created by the movement. The school is located at the city of Guararema, 60Km (37.282 miles) from São Paulo and is about 30,000 $m^{2}$ . Its estimated cost was about US$ 1,3 million, the money coming from the European Union, NGOs from France and Germany and the MST's own finances.

The inauguration was attended by the Brazilian Minister of the Agrarian Development Miguel Rosseto, Venezuelan Education and Culture Ministeries delegates, the writer Fernando Morais among other international guests.

According to the MST the proposed courses for the school are: professorship and pedagogy (teaching), collective administration expert, general farming, movement leadership, and Human and Social Sciences.

João Pedro Stédile, a leader of the MST said: "This school is for taking the power for the workers. So that the friends transform the scientific knowledge into instrument of liberation and not of exploitation, as they do." He also said: "Our enemies are the large farmers, the imperialism, the multinationals, the bankers, the capitalist exploitation and the ignorance. Against them we fight." According to him the school has an ideological function.

Critics

The Brazilian Rural Society (Sociedade Rural Brasileira-SRB) President criticized the inauguration of the school. He said “is absurd that Brazilian Courts accept the creation of a school which will teach desrespect for the Law. Instead of the Executive being there joining them, it should do something so the Law gets obeyed.” According to him the pedagody that will be followed by the MST school is concerning since it is attached to old revolutionary ideologies. He accused MST of teaching guerrilla techniques to children.

According to the President of the União Democrática Ruralista (UDR) Luiz Antonio Nabhan Garcia, representant of the farmers, the government of the President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gets perverted upon the society when it supports a school which teaches invading lands. “In a country like ours, poor in education, is not acceptable that the government supports a group which acts against the Law and indoctrinates anachronistic ideologies of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro”, he added.

References

"MST inaugura uma escola de capacitação técnica para camponeses" — EFE, January 23, 2005

Marcos de Moura e Souza. "MST abre escola e afirma "direito" de invadir terra produtiva" — Reuters, January 23, 2005

"MST inaugura escola política de R$ 3,5 mi" — Folha de São Paulo(AF), January 21, 2005

"MST inaugura escola nacional em Guararema (SP)" — Landless Workers Movement MST, January 23, 2005

"Ainda sob impacto das declarações de apoio de Lula, MST inaugura faculdade" — Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), January 24, 2005

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