Chocolate and Sovereignty: A Journey into Terra Vista, Bahia, Brazil

By Noa Cykman

The documentary “Terra Vista” depicts the journey of a settlement of Brazil’s Landless Peasants Movement (MST) to recover a degraded territory and establish autonomous and agroecological cacao production. The film is directed by Noa Cykman and Pedro Stropasolas and was a production of the Orfalea Center (UCSB) and Brasil de Fato.

I take part in the extensive global club of chocolate enthusiasts. I've been eating chocolate for three decades, and I grew up in a country that was once a leader in cocoa production, though I wouldn’t have recognized a cacao tree until recently. Driving through the cacao region of southern Bahia, Pedro pointed to me cacao trees here, cacaos trees there. Family and friends responded to the photos with similar questions: What is this yellow fruit? What is that thick white juice? Besides showing the distance that separates many of us from the origin of what we are and what we eat, this estrangement strategically obscures the understanding of the reality of farmers in Brazil (and elsewhere) and the country's position in global society. Oblivious to the form of cocoa, but familiar with chocolate brands, the mainstream gaze ignores the world of “raw material” production that has been placed on the back of the Global South five hundred years ago. Our focus lands on what suits the interests of power and the market: the consumption of the final product, processed and sold by multinational companies.

Power relations between classes, races and countries offer fundamental questions for understanding the most urgent challenges we face, from poverty and hunger to the climate and ecological crisis. Conversely, the most potent alternatives to these problems also tackle them in a multidimensional manner. “Terra Vista” depicts a community settled by Brazil’s Landless Peasants Movement, the MST, in 1992, at the forefront of a historical process of resistance to the hegemonic system of cacao production in southern Bahia, typically marked by white farmers’ oligarchical power and degrading working conditions. Today, a total of 55 families settled on 904 hectares are involved in the production of organic chocolate, which stands out for its clean production chain, as well as for the agroforestal approach, ecological preservation and production of seedlings of the Atlantic Forest. The settlement’s land belongs to all members and cannot be sold.

During my visit I saw the abundant and vital forest that spreads across Terra Vista. I had the chance not only to witness the beauty of a thriving river but also to swim in its waters, at times deeper than my feet. Both forest and river were absent at the time of the occupation. Terra Vista began to restore the Atlantic Forest and practice cacao agroforestry in 2,000. Since then, the community recovered 92% of river Aliança’s riparian forest and 80% of its springs, bringing its dry streams back to life.

The film features new interviews with the settlement’s occupants, including some of its first members, and depicts how the process of agroecological transition began – and continues to this day. The trajectories and reflections of community members expose their operative agenda merging social justice, food sovereignty, and ecological restoration. They say that agroecology is not only a set of techniques – it is a way of life. It is a practice rooted in land stewardship, social justice and communitarian cooperation, guided by values such as collectivity, reciprocity and solidarity, not only between human beings, but also with the land, soil, waters, and all its inhabitants. The documentary portrays these day-to-day practices.

Poverty, hunger, and the loss of biodiversity are first-order concerns for agroecology – the MST, alongside other peasant movements around the world, demonstrates the effective potential of this practice and way of life, to respond with integrity to these global challenges. Terra Vista is a living example of transformation of the production model and structures of local domination, and of (re)territorialization of people, fundamental processes in the construction of fair and ecologically balanced models of society and food systems. Agroforestry, Joelson explains, is a step on the path of food sovereignty within the long walk towards liberation and the overturning systems of oppression: a task for a tactic within a strategy.

A Short Dive into Terra Vista, August 2023

I arrived at the settlement on a Friday evening of August for a two-week stay, along with Pedro, documentary’s co-director, cameraman, and old friend. In the warm and humid evening of the tropical coast, one could mistake winter for any other season. Joelson Oliveira opened the window to see who was calling and invited us in. Joelson is one of the veterans who participated in the first occupation of the land, in 1992, and one of the three who still hold this living memory there today. With Solange, his wife, they work tirelessly: reclaiming land and territory for the people, reviving these territories through agroecology, and establishing networks of collaboration and mutual aid among the territories. Solange offered us dinner –tasty rice and beans, farofa and lots more of the Brazilian food I love and miss. Then she retreated to prepare for the “Marcha das Margaridas,” an annual event in the country’s capital reuniting thousands of peasant women, where she would be heading in a couple of days.

Joelson sat with us for hours around the large and cozy wooden table in the kitchen, the social hub of the house and the community. We listened to the history of the settlement and talked around maps, photos, slides and records. Under the calluses of a life dedicated to the fight, Joelson maintains his sweetness and extreme generosity. His eyes moved calmly, replenished with memory. With modesty, passion and patience, he told us about the virtues, contradictions, setbacks, successes and mistakes of Terra Vista.

During my stay at the settlement and production of the documentary, every time I called someone’s name in front of their house, they would come greet me with a smile and invite me in for coffee, even if we hadn’t met before. Peasants shown in the documentary like Loro, Teresa, Sisi and others show consistent generosity, kindness, humility and intelligence. Despite the challenges of past and present, they express gratitude and pride for the achievements of the movement and of the settlement – every house has an MST flag painted on the front wall, and another one dearly stored inside.

Rebel Chocolate

It is important that this film reaches other organizations and other rural movements that are building this alternative to agribusiness worldwide. The MST today positions itself as an alternative in the production of healthy food and in combating inequalities, even after four years of an extreme right-wing government, a government that legislated against the people and popular organizations.

Seedlings

Terra Vista’s operative agenda include popular agrarian reform, peasants’ rights, the struggle for/defense of land and territory, and building sovereignty at various levels, from education to water, and energy to food. The settlement’s history and their establishment of two public schools highlight their accomplishments pursuing these goals. The future includes advancing those layers of sovereignty, enhancing their income and the chocolate production, and establishing alliances with other peoples through the “Web of the Peoples” (“Teia dos Povos”). With the documentary “Terra Vista” we hope to create dialogues with other organizations and social movements around the world that are building agroecology as an alternative to agribusiness, and reach educators and policy-makers. The MST, and Terra Vista in particular, is an important reference for the advancement of equitable and just food systems.

More on the Settlement

The settlement organizes immersions and major events focused on agroecology. They get involved with national politics, promoting their demands and resisting systematic attacks (as exemplified by the most recent parliamentary inquiry commission in 2023). They create connections with indigenous peoples and communities on urban outskirts and fight tirelessly for justice. We had arrived late, and out of generosity dressed as convenience, Joelson and Solange offered that we sleep in their house instead of moving to the accommodation. When I got up the next day, there was already coffee in the thermos and Joelson was peeling yams. Food is valued and meals are important moments; those who cook often do so for larger groups.

After hosting and feeding us for a weekend, Solange departed with a group of women for the "Marcha das Margaridas."

Their house is like a bird's nest in which, in addition to the couple, two children, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, cat, dog and plants, sometimes others rest, sometimes for a few moments, a coffee or a meal, sometimes for a few days. Those who visit learn through direct experience. Time for observation and socializing vs. pressure for speed and productivity. "The earth likes affection." They are in constant movement. When they're not hosting, they're working elsewhere. 's house is also constantly full - with family,

neighbors, guests, as well as a dog and a cat.

Organized Peasants Living Collectively and Fighting for Social and Ecological Prosperity

Loro's house is a meeting point. Loro is one of the elders who, together with Joelson and Odete, keep a living memory of the beginning of the occupation. Loro is a black man, short and thin, with an illuminating smile. From the first time I went to his house to meet him, through my many visits and until the last day of my stay, he greeted me at the door, calling, "Come on in!" During each visit, people came and went from Loro's house. He welcomes everyone into his small living room and serves coffee, or sometimes treats us with juice from cocoa or cupuaçu pulp, grown and extracted by himself. I asked him how many people came a day: about ten? And he laughed: “Much more!”

Loro extracts the pulp in a machine and packages it in frozen bags for sale. The machine is located in one of the two rooms of his modest house, next to two large freezers full of pulp. Once, we accompanied him to the field and witnessed the cocoa harvest. The process requires two people: one harvests the fruits with a machete, and the other opens the fruits and removes the pulp, one at a time, but quickly. The fruits have thick, orange, yellow or dark red skin; They are the shape, and some of them the size, of a baseball. The cocoa beans covered in their white, creamy pulp accumulate in a bucket. At a quick glance, it looks like raw chicken.

Cacao in Brazil’s History

Displaced since the beginning of Brazil’s colonization, with no systemic agrarian reform or benefits to effectuate, after the legal abolition of slavery the transition of enslaved people into citizens marked a centuries-long history of struggle for land for many Black and Indigenous communities. The plantation model of the colonial period persists: exploited labor on usurped lands, producing monoculture for export in order to generate profit for Northern countries’ industries and economies. This model assumes free land and other people's labor, extirpated to supply Europe with “raw materials.”

The cocoa region of Bahia is a notorious case: the cultivation of the “golden fruit” took Brazil to the position of largest producer in the world in the 1970s and 1980s, enriching farmers and establishing global chains of production with Europe. Despite a massive decline in production and profit in the 1980, caused by the spread of a fungus, landowners partnered with the global market of cacao still dominate the crop’s production, extracting and exploiting Brazil’s land and peasants, and determining its price as a commodity.

In response to this partnership, Brazil’s Landless Peasants’ Movement (MST) was formed in 1984 to reterritorialize peasants onto the vast, abundant country’s land. Their struggle unfolds to this day, and so do the problems surrounding land and labor. The cacao production chain in Brazil, mainly in Pará and Bahia, is marked by precarious work, especially among cultivation workers and child laborers who survive on unhealthy farms, often subjected to the classic model of debt slavery.

Cocoa production was structured and strengthened decades before the abolition of slavery in 1888, and mechanisms were set in place to ensure that the event didn’t provoke serious losses to white landowners. The Land Law of 1850 transformed land in private property, so that farmers could cautiously purchase it before “freeing” their slaves. In addition to being deprived of access to land, the formerly enslaved people did not have access to any financial resources or institutional support when slavery was abolished, remaining at the mercy of the colonels.

To echo Marx: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Upon the large-scale loss of cacao production in the 1980s, many landowners abandoned their farms, leaving properties unproductive and exacerbating ecological problems by turning to logging. This shift led to the dismissal of about 250,000 workers. Left with no employment, no land, and nowhere to go, several organized peasant movements began occupying the degraded and unproductive lands. In the period that followed, from 1990 to 2010, 113 settlements were established in the region through direct occupations, guaranteeing access to land and housing for over five thousand families (INCRA, 2010).

Today, three multinational companies – Cargill, Olam and Barry Callebau – retain between 94 and 97% of the profit while conveniently ignoring working conditions on the farms. To those unknown workers they leave between 3 and 6% of the commodity’s value. In contrast, Terra Vista rebel chocolate is produced with organic cocoa grown within the settlement, by the same people who cultivate the fruits, and who thus become progressively autonomous and sovereign in their territory. With their own chocolate, they add value to the product and retain 100% of the income.