A função social da propriedade e a legitimidade jurídica do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra (MST) sob a tutela jurídica da posse

Abstract

Introduction: With the publication of the Land Law in 1850, an anti-democratic process was created to obtain land that privileged large estates over small family properties. Two weeks earlier, the signing of the Eusébio de Queirós Law heralded the end of the slave trade and, consequently, the near collapse of the archaic Brazilian economy that relied heavily on slave labor. It was necessary to remedy the end of slavery with the creation of cheap labor to work on the large estates, which was resolved with the Land Law, which, not accidentally, prevented slaves, indigenous people, immigrants and peasants from accessing land. The result of this measure, allied to the inertia of the governments that followed, was the concentration of land in the hands of the landowners and the predominance of misery, devastation and hunger for the people. In this context, the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra emerged to claim the lands that the elite denied access to, through the occupation of properties that did not meet their social functions. The land, previously empty and unproductive, becomes the home of needy communities who build a community there where much more than just housing is offered, with education, health and work. Why, then, are some sectors of society so resistant to the Movement, even calling the occupations “invasions” and the actions of the MST as terrorists? The answer, perhaps, can be reached via an analysis of the contours of the legal institutes of possession and property, with a directed study about the organizational capacity of the Movement, its structure and its historical roots