Popular Mobilization Advances the Struggle for Land Regularization at the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil
An exciting correspondence from our comrades and fellow workers in Brazil.
Olá ao nossa camaradas em Brasil! Muito obrigada por ler e solidariedade para sempre!
We are excited to share the following correspondence from comrades and fellow workers in Brazil with our readers. In Ceará, in Northeastern Brazil, the protagonists of multiple working class movements are uniting—with residents of land occupations, university workers, students, and community supporters cohering around the vital issues of housing and education. This organizing has helped birth União Terra e Trabalho (Land and Work Union), a new, national syndicalist organization that partially emerged from worker organizing in Ceará state's education industry.
We will be publishing an english translation of their manifesto—From the Sea to the Mangrove—within the next few weeks. For now, here is a link to the original version from the UTT's website:
As well as a Spanish language translation from the IWW's Solidaridad publication:
Cole Weber
Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil – November 4, 2026
On Wednesday, November 4, residents and supporters from communities located within and around the Pici Campus of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) organized a public mobilization during the opening ceremony of the University's annual Academic Meetings (Encontros Universitários).
The mobilization is part of an ongoing struggle for land tenure regularization and the recognition of the right to housing for working-class communities that have established themselves in areas belonging to or administered by the University.
For several years, these communities have faced uncertainty regarding their right to remain in their homes. Through collective organization, residents have been demanding a negotiated and socially just solution that guarantees housing security, dignity and the right to the city.
The campaign has been coordinated alongside the Organização Popular Terra Liberta, a grassroots popular organization that supports community self-organization, direct action and collective struggles for housing and social rights in Ceará.
A direct action to move the process forward
The mobilization took place during an important public event attended by the University's Rector, Custódio Almeida. Taking advantage of this opportunity to bring the communities' demands into the university's public space, residents and supporters:
- Raised a protest banner calling for immediate land regularization.
- Distributed more than 100 informational leaflets to university students, workers and visitors.
- Personally delivered a formal request to the Rector demanding progress on the regularization process.
The technical work concerning the proposed regularization has already been completed, but the matter has remained pending at the Rector's office and has not yet been submitted to the University's Superior Council (CONSUNI) for deliberation.
During the encounter, the Rector stated that he would move forward with the regularization process. While this statement represents an important development, the communities remain attentive and organized, understanding that institutional commitments must be translated into concrete decisions and effective guarantees.
The struggle continues: towards a Popular Assembly
The next major step in this campaign will be a Popular Assembly on Land Tenure Regularization, scheduled for November 24, 2026, at 5:00 p.m., at the Rector Ícaro de Sousa Moreira Auditorium, Pici Campus, Federal University of Ceará.
The assembly aims to bring together residents, supporters, university workers, students and other allies to collectively discuss the situation, strengthen mobilization and advance the demands of the communities.
An internationalist perspective
This struggle is part of a broader reality experienced by working-class communities across Latin America and elsewhere: the contradiction between the social function of land and its institutional, economic and political control.
The right to housing cannot depend on the goodwill of authorities, nor can communities be treated as obstacles to urban development or institutional interests. Those who build their lives and social relations in a territory must have the right to participate directly in decisions concerning its future.
We understand that lasting victories come from grassroots organization, solidarity and collective action. Institutional negotiations may be necessary, but they must be sustained by an organized community capable of defending its own interests.
We therefore share this experience with grassroots organizations, housing movements, workers' organizations and internationalist comrades around the world.
From Ceará to the world: solidarity with all those organizing for land, housing and dignity!
LAND TENURE REGULARIZATION NOW!
HOUSING IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE!
Organização Popular Terra Liberta
Ceará, Brazil