Letter from the MST on the postponement of the 7th National Congress

From the MST Page

We have learned over our 40 years that solidarity is the tenderness of peoples, a revolutionary principle, and a human value. We recognize that our existence and resistance is the fruit of the solidarity of the peoples of the world. Therefore, in these times of violence and degradation of life, it is necessary to place solidarity at the center of our political action and, in this moment of pain and mourning for the people of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the MST has decided to postpone its 7th National Congress until July 2025.

We will devote our strength and the best of what we have built throughout our history to contribute to the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul and to welcoming and caring for its people. We will offer our solidarity, our best food, our militancy, organization, and our open arms. We will offer all our affection for the reconstruction of humanity and the interrupted dreams of the people.

We will continue to join forces in solidarity actions with society, demanding public policies and initiatives from the federal government to rebuild housing, cultural, educational, productive, cooperative and care spaces in all our territories. As a concrete and immediate action, the MST will organize support brigades to rebuild new memories, a new history and new dignified material conditions of existence for families in the different affected areas.

We will stand together, hand in hand, with all the working-class people of the countryside and of the city who are feeling the impact of the environmental crisis expressed in the catastrophe that has hit the state of Rio Grande do Sul since the end of April.

This catastrophe is a tragedy foretold. For decades, scientific studies have pointed to the acceleration and intensification of extreme climate events resulting from the capitalist model ofdevelopment and agribusiness, which seeks profit in an uncontrolled way: with the concentration of land, deforestation and forest burning, intensive use of pesticides, extensive monoculture production, appropriation of nature’s common goods, and the dismantling of environmental protection laws. It is not a natural disaster or an act of divine vengeance, but rather the expression of the destructive model of capital, represented by those who want to “destroy in bulk”, who are directly linked to the interests of agribusiness, hydro-business, and mining, and who have infiltrated the most diverse political decision-making spaces in the country.

In this context, we continue our struggle, reaffirming our commitment to building the Popular Agrarian Reform as a necessity and an urgency, based on agroecology, cooperation, democratization of the land, and with human beings and nature at its core.

In this context, the postponement of the MST’s 7th National Congress means extending the process of preparation, continuing the debates with our base and society, deepening the study of the environmental issue in our territories, and further applying our agrarian program at the base.
To this end, we call on all our militants, our encamped and settled families, and we reaffirm our invitation to friends and popular organizations to get involved in a broad process of grassroots organizing, training, and struggling with creativity and discipline.

Finally, postponing does not mean paralyzing, it means organizing, mobilizing, showing solidarity, and humanizing ourselves, so we will continue to build towards the 7th National Congress of the MST and mobilize all our solidarity with the people of Rio Grande do Sul!

National Board
Landless Rural Workers’ Movement

Struggle, Build Popular Agrarian Reform!