The Landless Rural Workers Movement and the Fight Against Illiteracy

With Support from Cuba, over the last 25 years the MST has helped over 200,000 adult family farmers learn how to read and write

Brazil’ was one of the last countries in the Western Hemisphere to implement universal access to public education, which only came in to full effect in the late 1990s. This has left the country in a situation in which 11 million adults still don’t know how to read and write. When the MST decided to tackle this problem on its agrarian reform settlements, home to over 1.5 million people, it drew inspiration from Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and turned to the Fidel Castro administration for support. Later, when Hugo Chavez announced an adult literacy drive in Venezuela, the MST provided technical support. Last week, on Brazil’s National Day of Fighting Illiteracy, the MST announced 1500 new adult literacy courses on its agrarian reform settlements, which are located in rural areas in all 26 of Brazil’s states. The following is my story on this for TeleSur English, followed by the full transcript.

Transcript

Narrator: On November 14 every year since 1966, Brazilians have commemorated the National Day of fighting illiteracy - a date which corresponds with the founding of Brazil's national ministry of Education, in 1930. This year, the Landless Rural Workers Movement, or MST, is remembering the over 200,000 adults who have learned to read and write through its teaching methodology "Yes, I can."

Pedro Ferreira da Silva - Farmer: My Mom and Dad and my family were poor. So when I asked about school, my Dad would put a stop to it and told us we had to work on the fields. I had a lot of problems in the big city before I learned how to read. I would go to the big city to work and I couldn't figure out how to take the bus. I'd choose a bus because of its color and it wouldn't work because the buses in the big cities are almost all the same color.

Narrator: After Cuba achieved nearly 100% literacy in its rural areas, the Fidel Castro administration worked to share it's adult literacy teaching methodology with peasant organizations around the Global South. When the MST decided to tackle the problem in its settlements, it turned to Cuba for help. Later, the MST provided technical assistance to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, when Hugo Chavez initiated an adult literacy campaign.

María José - Farmer: I feel good now, because it's really bad when you don't know how to read. You arrive somewhere and can't figure out how to use public transportation and it's almost impossible to go to the bank.

Narrator: The MST's methodology is based on the principal of recognizing and respecting the vast technical knowledge and life experiences that illiterate family farmers have accumulated, while using teaching techniques such as associating letters with numbers, that were proven successful in Cuba.

Paulo Henrique da Silva - Education Director, MST-Pernanbuco

Teaching adults and youth how to read and write enables these subjects to interpret the world from the written word. Reading enables them to learn about the world. Above and beyond that, it provides dignity to these people, the people from the countryside, who where denied their rights to access school during their childhood.

Narrator: This month, the MST announced a new round of over 1500 adult literacy courses in its agrarian reform settlements across Brazil.

Brian Mier, TeleSur, Pernambuco