and powerful and the poor and organized (Amnesty International 1).The MST not only strives for land and agrarian reform, but they also call for a "society more just." Under the auspices of this sentiment, the MST has established 8,5000 makeshift schools across Brazil that teach and are supported by the families of the landless (Epstein 14). Almost 1,500 teachers use MST educational materials to teach at least 40,000 students how to read, write and engage in political debate (Maxwell 50). In addition to teaching basic education, they also reinforce the MST political rhetoric in order to keep the movement strong (Epstein, 2). In this way, the MST and its supporters are making a progressive and self-sufficient contribution to the furthering of their cause. In a country where the literacy rate is high and the educational system badly neglected, especially in light of the recent economic woes, the self-education of the MST's offspring could prove to be a powerful factor in their success.Today in Brazil less than 3 percent of the population owns nearly two thirds of the land, out of nearly 917 million acres of land that could potentially support agriculture, about 45 million are unproductive. As a result there are four million landless families in Brazil (Amnesty International 1).Since the MST was founded in the mid-1980s, it has posed a threat to the Brazilian elite and to rural land owners who hold large amounts of unproductive land. In light of the recent economic crisis in Brazil, the MST stands to gain ground, both figuratively and literally. Brazil's acceptance in 1998 of bail-out funds from the IMF means strict austerity measures must be enforced by the government. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, president of the country in his second term in office, won re-election in the fall of 1998 as the Asian and Russian economic catastrophes sent tidal waves of panic into Brazil's markets, effectively crashing investor confidence and trigge...
