‘During the IV National Meeting of the MST, which took place in January, 1987, in Piracicaba, São Paulo, the Flag of the MST was chosen and officially approved. The flag is a symbol of the national character of the struggle for Agrarian Reform … whose design and colors have the following meaning: THE MAP OF BRAZIL shows that the MST is an organization at the national level that wants to carry the struggle for Agrarian Reform to the whole country; THE MAN AND THE WOMAN represent the need for the struggle to be carried out by men, women, and entire families; THE MACHETE represents the tools of work, struggle, and resistance; the color WHITE represents peace … which can only be won when there is social justice for all; the color RED represents the blood that runs in our veins and the willingness to fight for Agrarian Reform and for the transformation of society; the color BLACK represents the mourning for, and homage to, all the workers who have fallen in the struggle for a new society; the color GREEN represents the great landed-estates to be occupied and made to produce, and the hope for a victorious struggle’ (Calendário Histórico dos Trabalhadores. São Paulo: MST, Setor de Educação. 3a. edição,1999, p. 20).