Cristiano: COPAVI

This post is about Cristiano!  

Each day, Cris works here--in front of this computer screen.  He studied administration through La Via Campesina's 1st term, and graduated from college in 2010.  He is 26 years old, and was born in an MST land occupation, where he lived until he was 5 years old.  He remembers little about those early years.

When Cris came to COPAVI, it was only sugarcane.  The family constructed a black plastic tent, where the lived for a year.  By the second year, they built houses, close together in the agrovila. In the mornings he went to school, and in the evenings he played with the other children. He often helped out in the horta, and the various productive sectors in the community.

Cris learned about and developed a consciousness of the MST when he was young, by attending the aulinha's about the MST, given by Alex.  This teacher took the kids of COPAVI to the first encontro of the sem terrinha in Curitiba, and they did activities together each week.  They learned about the history of the MST.

As he grew up, he continued to participate in the MST, just as his parents, long-term miliantes have.  He got to travel to a meeting for MST-Youth in 2005, and started building his own group of sem terra friends, throughout the state.

When Cris turned 18, he was invited to take a course through the MST at the national school.  At age 21 he was invited to come and stay for two years, and contribute.  He was excited.

After finishing his course in administration, which was a major struggle (the term closed for 2 years due to a lack of resources), he decided to come back to COPAVI to help.  At the graduation ceremony, his entire family and members of the community came, and everyone cried.  It was a big conquest--for everyone.

Cris' role in the cooperative is important--administration and managing the excel spreadsheets is time consuming work.

 But, he was recently liberated and participated in MST-PR's School of Youth--where he is part of the coordination, as I understand.  These schools, he says, are critical for political development.

This is a photo of Cris and his godson.  He invited Dominic's mom and dad to live in the community three years ago.  They came for a visit, and have been there ever since.

 Cris is a reference person in terms of COPAVI's youth group.  He thinks that in settlements without MST-schools, such groups are important, but they are rare.  There are only two references in the region.

When asked about why youth are leaving the countryside, Cris has some definite opinions.  He said,

 The issue is that there is a poor vision of the rural, as a backwards place, behind the cities.  The cities are viewed as a place of opportunity, and the country is left behind.  Also, in the settlements, there is no leisure, no diversion, and this leads to a lack of excitement with the rural.  I think the principal question is a matter of income, because youth have necessities to consume, and so, in individually organized settlements, youth work with their families on their accounts, and don’t make any money.  They don’t have any autonomy, and so they leave.  This is why cooperative organization makes a difference, and why we need to organize agroindustries to create another space for them to work, where the old and the young and the women and the men can work together, each with their own income.  

In short, Cris thinks that cooperatives can mitigate some of the unfavorable, difficult circumstances that youth confront in the countryside. 

Magila!

The horta