The geography of conflicts in Brazil’s countryside: figures of Lula Federal Government

Abstract

This article shows a short thought on Geography of conflicts in Brazil’s countryside, between 2003 and 2006. It stresses the first period of Lula federal government. The figures come from the work of Comissão Pastoral da Terra – CPT. CPT, since 1985, collects data on rural violence in Brazil. From this, we have a very good dimension of significant measures in the realm of Brazilian agriculture, mainly those related to land reform. The reality of violence and conflicts in the Brazilian rural Areas shows the maintenance and reproduction of a agricultural pattern based in the concentration of land ownership, of wealthy and political power. Nevertheless, the data show the rural population struggle and resistance. Peasants, landless people, indigenous communities, rubber collectors and “quilombolas” are tanking in their hands the action in order to keep the land and the rights to live and work. The social movement presence in the Brazilian political scenery shows the land ownership reform in the context of new forms of Brazil’s development.