In the Brazilian elections, the right wing can't stop talking about the MST

They'll have to swallow the Popular Agrarian Reform in the country.
The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) 6 October 2026

Campaign ads from right-wing candidates cite the MST (Landless Workers' Movement) to generate moral panic, but Popular Agrarian Reform is on the agenda and demands representation in Parliament.

Just turn on the television or radio: numerous election advertisements from right-wing candidates mention the MST (Landless Workers' Movement). They seek to link their opponents to the MST. They create moral panic about land occupations in the struggle for land. They promise voters who struggle to pay rent and have never been near an occupation or settlement of the Agrarian Reform that, by voting for them, "the danger of the MST will be averted."

In one of the Senate races, a right-wing candidate suggested in a debate that his opponent (also from the conservative camp) should wear an MST (Landless Workers' Movement) cap, simply because the latter did not fully align with Bolsonarism; in his radio and TV election program, a certain gubernatorial candidate, excessively "harmonious," presents as a highlight of his resume having chaired the MST CPI (which concluded without even an approved report); in another segment, with visual effects worthy of the Record TV soap opera Mutantes, the right side of the screen is associated with progress, harmony, and the right wing, while the left side is associated with corruption and, of course, land "invasions."

Consulting a platform that analyzes data from media coverage in recent days, one thing becomes clear: Agrarian Reform is a hot topic in these elections. It's constantly on the lips of its opponents. Its enemies are trying to capitalize on the negative perceptions created by decades of media coverage that relentlessly seek to convince the Brazilian people that agribusiness is "popular" and that Agrarian Reform and the fight for land "hinder" the country.

A specter continues to haunt the right-wing imagination: the specter of the MST (Landless Workers' Movement) and Agrarian Reform. Combating the Movement is on the agenda of the mob propelled to parliamentary candidates by the winds of the far-right. In this sense, it seems increasingly clear how essential it is to elect MST candidates—candidates who will, indeed, discuss and formulate public policies, who will vote on and approve proposals, but, centrally, candidates who will: 1) defend the MST as an agent of Popular Agrarian Reform; 2) use state or federal platforms to promote the much-needed counterpoint to candidates who mobilize fear of the MST as a rallying cry to garner votes.

In a country where some of the main initiatives of agribusiness are, on the one hand, to build a self-image of being "popular," while, on the other hand, financing candidates who form its shock troops in parliaments and on social media, the public forums have become one of the battlegrounds in the dispute between two distinct and antagonistic projects: that of Popular Agrarian Reform vs. Agribusiness; that of the production of healthy food vs. that of the production of commodities for export; that of cohabitation with nature vs. that of fire, deforestation, and environmental destruction.

"Against the lies of the right, our voice at the ballot box: the urgency of electing the Agrarian Reform Caucus"

If agribusiness is today the main destructive force of capital in the country, there is no longer any way to postpone the opposition of a Popular Agrarian Reform bloc against it. If the right floods election broadcasts with its misleading propaganda about the MST (Landless Workers' Movement), there is no longer any way to postpone the MST speaking for itself in electoral campaigns. If agribusiness forms its shock troops in parliaments, there is no longer any way to postpone candidacies directly linked to the MST from engaging in the parliamentary struggle for Popular Agrarian Reform.

The clash of projects is a given. Those who consider Popular Agrarian Reform important amidst the climate catastrophe, rising food prices, and the flood of ultra-processed foods on supermarket shelves, have candidates whose central agenda will be contributing to a different society.

If you don't already know them, get to know the MST candidates. The right wing can't stop talking about the MST. It's time they had to swallow our candidacies.
https://mst.org.br/2026/10/01/nessas-eleicoes-a-direita-nao-tira-o-mst-da-boca-terao-que-engolir-a-reforma-agraria-popular-no-pais/?

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