Racism and the agrarian question

the racialized selectivity of repression in rural Brazil

Abstract

The struggle for land in Brazil is a historical phenomenon shaped by relations of power, domi-nation, and racialization. This article advances the hypothesis that the repression of land struggle movements is grounded in racist foundations rooted in the colonial period, particularly in the experiences of resistance led by Black, Indigenous, and peasant populations, especially those organized through quilombola resistance. From a critical theoretical perspective, adop-ting an inductive approach and employing bibliographic research methods and documentary analysis, this study examines how the penal system, through the political and media apparatus and a stigmatizing ideology directed at those labeled as “invaders,” operates in a coordinated manner in the criminalization of popular resistance in rural contexts. Based on data collected by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the article demonstrates that agrarian violence in Bra-zil is not episodic but rather the result of an essentially racist, class-based, and selective struc-ture that disproportionately targets historically marginalized groups. By establishing a continuity between historical and contemporary forms of oppression and resistance, the article highlights racism as a constitutive element of the relations underlying the struggle for land in Brazil and underscores the need to understand the criminalization of agrarian conflicts as a strategy for maintaining a racially structured status quo.