ABSTRACT
From 10 to 14 February 2014, the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) held its VI National Congress in the capital of Brasília, with 15,000 peasant-activists participating. OnWednesday 12 February 2014, 500 children – the sem terrinha, or sons and daughters of the families living in MST settlements and camps across the country – rode in buses to the Ministry of Education (MEC). Several MST activists who had been waiting by the Ministry jumped in front of the doors as the first bus arrived, allowing dozens of children to run into the front lobby before the guards tried to shut the doors. Hundreds more children soon followed. The message of this protest was clearly written on banners the children were holding: ‘37 thousand schools closed in the countryside’. ‘Closing a school is a crime!’ ‘Sem Terrinha against the closing and for the opening of schools in the countryside!’Meanwhile, inside the MEC, the recently appointed head of the ‘Education of the Countryside’ office – a long-time ally of the MST – tried to convince the Minister of Education to meet with the children.1 Eventually, after three hours of occupation and protest, the Minister came downstairs to address the children, promising them that the federal government was committed to providing quality education in the countryside.2
