Journal of Unicamp

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The big camp
Landless young people 'invade' Unicamp Gym
in the fourth Course on Brazilian Reality

Approximately a thousand landless young people transformed the stands of the Unicamp Sports Gym into a large camp, during the 4th Course on Brazilian Reality promoted by the Landless Movement (MST), from January 27th to February 6th. In ten days, the meeting brought together children of rural workers settled or camped from all regions of the country, in a marathon of lectures and debates on the agrarian issue.

The first impression is that of the great music festivals of the 70s, with hundreds of healthy-looking young people gathered in groups and chatting animatedly among backpacks, mats and clothes and towels hanging to dry. In addition to the scene, which includes posters of idolized characters, panels alluding to the Landless Movement and banners with political quotes and slogans, hymns and songs with equally politicized content are also sung, which young people know and sing together.

The differences, however, outweigh the similarities with the festivals. They were evident in the simple and casual clothes (t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops) and in the themes of the circles, often about forms of political struggle and Brazilian social reality. Freedom is limited, with rules that prohibit alcohol and smoking, and even people accessing and leaving the place at certain times. Instead of the flowers and bright colors that adorned the hippies, red caps and t-shirts with the MST symbol.

Culture is selective. They are taught to despise the consumerism of the elites and vulgar music like Tchan and the funk of Bonde do Tigrão, but they sing Raul Seixas and praise rap lyrics by Racionais MC's and Gabriel O Pensador. The lyrics of the movement's own songs call for guerrilla warfare and confrontation, with the aim of putting an end to capitalism, latifundia and the bourgeoisie. The motto is occupy, resist, produce.

The organization is impressive. Under strict rules of discipline, there is no dirt and the public's behavior is exemplary and coordinated: it remains completely silent when necessary and speaks out loudly when requested: “Free Homeland”, provokes the announcer; “United we will win”, responds the choir of young people. “Agrarian Reform”, he reinforces; “For a Brazil without large estates”, counters the masses. The same procedure is adopted – with everyone standing and brandishing a clenched left fist – during breaks between lectures, sometimes doing a kind of banter with other brigades (as the study groups are called). The war cries include the combination of the words union, land reform and revolution.

“Last year 1.449 young people came, but space was tight for so many people. So far we have close to 800 activists”, explained Adelar Pizetta, coordinator of the MST Training sector and the Florestan Fernandes National School, at the opening of the event. Delegations from some states were yet to arrive. This year, no groups from Alagoas, Espírito Santo and Amazonas came. But all other states were present.

Stone by stone – Rector Hermano Tavares, who opened the doors of Unicamp for the event for the fourth consecutive year, congratulated the young people on the beauty of the opening spectacle: with the gym in darkness, they lit candles and formed, with sawdust, the map of Brazil in the middle from the court. Then, while the lights gradually came back on, always with narration in the background, another group placed a small black plastic tent in each of the states, symbolizing the occupations. The map was sown and soon produced fruits, flowers and plants, placed next to the tents. At the end, after a procession of candles around the map, the inscription in large cardboard letters: “Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra – Brasil”.

“This is an opportunity for young people who have difficulty entering university to acquire knowledge of what the Brazilian reality means. At the same time, the World Social Forum is taking place in Porto Alegre, discussing the problems, injustices, difficulties and obstacles to the development of our people. We are sure that these movements do not happen by chance. They are part of the democratic will of the Brazilian people, in an effort to improve and perfect relations and the fruits of work. Stone by stone, we will build a solid foundation of greater social status for everyone”, said the rector.

Also welcoming the participants were the mayor of Campinas, Izalene Tiene, Roberto Teixeira Mendes, vice-rector of Extension and Community Affairs, Alvaro Penteado Crósta, vice-rector of University Development, Carlos Roberto Fernandes, administrator of the Gymnasium, and José Vitório Zago, from Adunicamp.

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`May the taboo not be resurrected'

The MST should not give up on the courses held at Unicamp for young people from rural areas, despite the change of Rectory next April. This was the advice of professor Alvaro Penteado Crósta, dean of University Development, who spoke at the end of the event on behalf of dean Hermano Tavares. Also citing the dean of Extension and Community Affairs, Roberto Teixeira Mendes, Crósta recalled that it is up to the MST to maintain understandings with the new managers, not only regarding current courses but also new partnerships.

This was the fourth meeting of rural young people, in the fourth year of this Unicamp administration, which is not a coincidence, according to the pro-rector. “This is an expression of this administration’s political will to open the University to the MST. There were other previous attempts that were not successful, but which prove our desire to contribute to the movement”. The professor remembers that this contribution did not come at no cost to the administration, considering the many criticisms from the press and the academic community, which failed to understand the importance of opening the University to these young people from the countryside.

On July 11, 1999, the year of the first course, rector Hermano Tavares reacted thus to attacks by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo: “It is the practice of the public university, a pluralist and democratic institution, to open itself to all organized segments of society . We understand that the resources of the public university must be used to support social development, forming citizens who, in the case of young people from the MST, would never have access to the benefits of education that the public university offers”, said the letter, read by Crósta during the closing of the meeting.

Such criticism, however, only occurred in the first event. “The press changed its focus on the following courses and no longer criticized. I believe this shows that we were right to form the partnership. A taboo has been broken and let’s hope it isn’t resurrected,” said Crósta. He highlighted the role of his predecessor at PRDU, professor Luís Carlos Guedes Pinto, whose work was essential for the partnership between MST and Unicamp.

“For our part, as members of the academic community, we will always be ready to provide our support so that these meetings continue to take place”, he added. For the dean, the MST's fight for land distribution is a very important part of the fight for social justice in Brazil. “And the most effective way to invest in this fight is through the training of MST youth, which Unicamp is contributing to.”

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