The Landless Workers' Movement

MST Meets with President Lula

MST Informe
July 31, 2003
MST 

1) LETTER TO THE READERS OF THE MST INFORMES
Jo�o Pedro St�dile
MST National Direction
Bras�lia, July 2nd 2003

Dear comrades,

MST Informes have been made available to you as a way of keeping you informed about the agrarian situation in our country and about some facts that we consider important to share. Like you, another 26 thousand comrades and friends of the MST receive this bulletin.

Today we wish to send this special letter to let you know the contents of the document that the national direction of the MST handed to the Presidency of the republic. They are thoughts aiming at contributing with the Federal Government for the urgent elaboration of a national Plan of Agrarian reform, as determined by law.

The President has constructed his political trajectory defending Land Reform. He has a historical friendship and alliance with the MST. He received us with generosity and friendship, as is customary of a Statesman. But also as a president elected by the MST and by the poorest people in our country. And as part of our historical alliance, he once again put on the MST cap. He must be tired of wearing our cap, one he has been wearing since 1985.

On the other hand, the MST, through its 20 years of existence, has been received since 1984 by elected Presidents Tancredo Neves, Jos� Sarney, Itamar Franco and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, all of them in several legally expelled President Fernando Collor.

So what is the reason for so much aversion of the bourgeois press, the parliamentary right and the farmers?

They lost the elections, but thought that it was all a little game, that they would carry on doing what they pleased to maintain their privileges, as they are managing to do in other areas. And now, they realized Land Reform is not only a historical pledge, but will be a priority of the federal Government.

Now, Land Reform has the support of the society, church, rural workers through all its official bodies, some state governments, and the Federal Government.

On the side of the Land ownership there were only conservative congressmen and governors who are landowners themselves. Worried landowners appealed to three classical weapons:

a) Increase their influence in local judiciary, in which the ties with economic power and landownership are historical.

b) Manipulation through the press in attempting to criminalize the MST and corner the Federal Government. The landowners even managed to move the Senate, calling a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate the causes of the land occupations. In doing so, the Senate ignored CPI petitions to investigate the corruption and privatization of SIVAM, Teles, Banestado (all of which continue to be ignored).

c) Organization of militias and armed outlaw groups that provocate and carry out all kinds of violent acts. They have even created the First Rural Commando, using the same tricks of organized crime. They have publicly shown their AR-15 guns on television. It is this type of terrorism that the landowners have always used.

This is the situation. But we are certain that Brazilian society is aware of land Reform. And that it will fulfill a fundamental role in this moment of crises of the economic model, of the transition for a new economic model, for a new agricultural model and for the generation of jobs and the solution of hunger and poverty in the rural area.

Jo�o Pedro St�dile Dire��o Nacional do MST

 

 

 

2) MST�S PROPOSALS FOR AGRARIAN REFORM Jo�o Pedro St�dile MST National Direction Bras�lia, July 2nd 2003

Please read the following document delivered by the MST to President Lula on their July 2, 2003 meeting.

PROPOSALS FOR AGRARIAN REFORM

I - LAND:

1. To speed the elaboration and implementation of a National Land Reform Plan to benefit the settlement of 1 million families of rural landless workers between 2003 and 2006;

   2. Assure the immediate settlement of the 120 thousand families that are in encampments throughout the national territory;

   3. To strengthen the INCRA as a body of land reform by providing financial and human resources;

   4. To protect the Rural Territorial Tax (ITR) as a complementary tax for the land reform, linked to the Federal Tax office;

5. To determine the expropriation of farms that; do not accomplish a social function, that use slave labor, that are linked to smuggling, that cultivate psychotropic drugs, where labor laws are not complied with, which promote aggression to the environment and squatted public land. To determine that state banks and the INSS make it available immediately to the land reform all mortgage areas with public money

II �SETTLEMENTS:

1. To create a special credit program for land reform, in the moulds of PROCERA, without bureaucracy, that will stimulate co-operation, agribusiness, agroecology, and offer conditions to structure the economic and social development of the settled families;

2.To develop a technical assistance program with multidisciplinary teams having one technician as a reference for each 100 families, under the organization of the settled;

   3. To implement a program of co-operative agroindustry in settlements of the land reform - refer to proposal annex;

4. To stimulate the implementation of a new technological model, based on organic agriculture, in the multiplication of seeds by farmers and the production of all products (insumos);

5. To assure the conditions for the implementation of the basic infra-structure in all settlements, such as: roads, electricity, housing, basic sanitation, medical service, culture and leisure.

      III � EDUCATION:

   1. To associate land reform to a massive program of education in the countryside;

2. To intensify the campaign to eradicate illiteracy in settlement areas, being necessary to allocate more financial resources to MEC (Ministry of Education and Culture) to do so;

   3. To promote a professional skills program for 20 thousand youngsters and adults in the settlement areas and encampments;

4. To strengthen the National Educational Program in the Areas Land Reform (PRONERA) and designate R$30 million in 2003 to do so.

IV � HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST IMPUNITY:

1. To approve a Constitutional Amendment Project transferring to Federal jurisdiction the competence to investigate and sue crimes against human rights

2. To determine the opening of an inquiry by the Federal Police against farmers that use armed militias, incite violence and crime, and keep links with the narcotraffic and the smuggling of weapons;

V � GENERAL CONCERNS:

   1. We manifest our position against the liberation for planting and selling of GMOs;

2. We manifest our position against the implementation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and we defend the sovereign integration of all Latin-American and Caribbean countries;

3. We defend a new agricultural model aimed at the generation of jobs, production of food for the internal market, control over the production of our own food, and the appreciation of life in the countryside.

3) INTERVIEW WITH JO�O PEDRO ST�DILE REGARDING MST MEETING WITH PRESIDENT LULA BRASIL DE FATO Interview by Claudia Jardim

FOR STEDILE, now Brazil has the chance to defeta the latifundio. The government of President Luiz In�cio Lula da Silva is willing to make agrarian reform an absolute priority, states Jo�o Pedro Stedile, of the National Coordination of the Landless Workers Movement (MST). Together with the other members of the MST leadership, Stedile participated in a meeting with Lula and several of his ministers at the Pal�cio do Planalto, on July 2. The President received the MST in a very friendly fashion. He put on the cap with the movement�s logo, played with a soccer ball made in the settlements and even offered one of the landless a cookie also produced by the rural workers. It was enough to cause the media, expressing the point of view of the owners of the large estates (latifundios), to artificially provoke a national scandal. In the interview given to Brasil de Fato, Stedile tells how the meeting went, the main topics discussed and his impressions about the meeting with Lula. An optimist, Stedile believes that Brazil has the historic opportunity to defeat the backward latifundios.

WHO HE IS: Jo�o Pedro Stedile is one of the founders of the Movement of Landless Workers (MST) and a member of the National leadership of the movement. He graduated with a degree in Economics from the Catholic Pontifical University (PUC) of Porto Alegre in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), and with a graduate degree in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). The son of small farmers, Stedile was born in Lagoa Vermelha (RS) on December 26, 1953. Among various struggles, he acted as a member of the Regional Commission of Grape Producers, of the Syndicates of Rural Workers of Rio Grande do Sul, assisted the Pastoral Commission on Land in Rio Grande do Sul and, at the national level, worked in the Agriculture Department of the State Government of Rio Grande do Sul. Since 1979, he has participated in the struggles for land reform in Rio Grande do Sul and in Brazil.

Stedile is the author of various books: Assentamentos: Uma Resposta Econ�mica da Reforma Agr�ria , A Luta pela Terra no Brasil (published also in Italian � Senza Terra ), A Quest�o Agr�ria Hoje � 7th edition, Quest�o Agr�ria no Brasil , A Reforma Agr�ria e a Luta do MST , Brava Gente � the history of the MST and of the struggle for land in Brazil (also published in Spanish by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo publishing house). He has been interviewed by practically all the national newspapers and magazines and has written countless essays and articles about the agrarian question, published in Brazil and abroad.

INTERVIEW: Brasil de Fato (BF) � The leadership of the MST was with President Lula to discuss the agrarian reform situation in the country. How did the movement evaluate this meeting?

Jo�o Pedro Stedile (Stedile) � The meeting was very important and positive, because it allowed a joint evaluation of the historic opportunity that we have to implement agrarian reform. There is a common understanding in the government and in the social movements that there exists a correlation of favorable forces to defeat the backward latifundios. The government is willing to make agrarian reform a priority in the second half of their first year in office, including making a self-criticism that in the first six months it was only worried about the farm policy (the Harvest Plan) and �straightening up the house�. The positive signal of the meeting was clear enough that the backward latifundio and its representatives in the press and the parliament immediately reacted in their typical fashion.

� What were the main demands presented by the MST? What commitment did Lula make?

Stedile � The MST did not bring a list of demands. We brought a document with reflections on what we consider necessary for true agrarian reform. We showed that it was necessary to have a massive process, that is to say to serve the millions of poor in the rural area and that agrarian reform must be wed to agro-industry, technical assistance, and education in the countryside. And instead of making exports and agro-business a priority, we need a new model that prioritizes the production of food, the internal market, the creation of jobs and the distribution of income. That is the essence of our document. At the Planalto, there was discussion and dialog, not a list of demands. We noted a great convergence of ideas, which is the fruit of historical commitments of the parties of the left that are in the government, of the person of the president himself, and the accumulation of social movements.

� In what way does the president intend to make agrarian reform a priority? Were any schedules established to meet the goals of the National Plan for Agrarian Reform (PNRA)?

Stedile � First of all, the government is going to mobilize various ministries, not only the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA). Secondly, an inter-ministerial group was set up to make a concrete survey of how many public lands and lands that are mortgaged with public agencies can be mobilized immediately. Thirdly, a pledge to restructure the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), with the human and financial resources that are necessary. We presented the idea that it is possible in four years for the government to settle at least a million families. The government prefers to work with a political goal, to make a �massive� agrarian reform of high quality. All of this is going to depend on the capacity of the social movements and the correlation of forces. If we can, we are going to win a million. And the government pledged to prepare in the coming weeks a national plan for agrarian reform, that takes into account all the ideas that we presented. It will be the main tool for a large program for creating jobs in the country.

� What is the new model for settlements presented by the MST? In what way do they differ from the earlier model? How did the president evaluate this new project?

Stedile � It�s difficult to speak of a model. We presented historical ideas, accumulated over the years by the MST, the social movements and the intellectuals who understand agrarian reform. We cannot simply distribute individual lots, but work from the perspective of smaller lots and organize cooperation in farm production. To work from the perspective of bringing the houses together into agro-villas, to urbanize the community nucleus to facilitate access to public services like water, electricity, and schools. To combine this with technical assistance in which the technicians live in the settlements. To develop agro-industry, as a form of improving income and creating jobs for young people in the rural areas. To wed this to a big process of schooling, with adequate education. Finally, to build a new technological model, based on organic agriculture and not agro-toxins.

� One of the problems of the farmers in the settlements is the lack of credit for production. In some regions farm production is responsible for supplying food for various towns. How were these aspects evaluated by the President?

Stedile � In the first place, there is an emergency aspect which was solved. The president signed a decree that authorizes the National Supply Company (CONAB) to make the anticipated purchases and the direct purchases of the products of the settlements in the whole country. R$ 400 million of the Ministry of the Zero Hunger campaign was freed up. This is a great win, because it guarantees the purchase, on the part of the government, and at market prices, of all that the settlement produces. So the purchases are no longer in the hands of profiteers. On the other hand, since these are the resources of Zero Hunger, the idea is that CONAB passes these products on to the town officials and the schools in the towns for the needs of the poor. Besides this, the settlements that are more established will have access to the resources provided in the National Program to Strengthen Family Farming (PRONAF), in the Harvest Plan.

Here the question is to guarantee that the bank bureaucracy is dismantled. And they are guaranteeing us that there is a group working on this dismantling of the bureaucracy, especially the Bank of the Northeast and the Bank of Amazonia (BASA). We also presented the proposal to recreate a new program of credit specially for the settlements, along the lines of the Program of Special Credit for Agrarian Reform (PROCERA). Or else inside the PRONAF program, to have a special mode, free of bureaucracy, that is adequate for the precarious situation of the families that are arriving on the land. We are going to form a work group with the MDA and INCRA to put forward this proposal. Finally, there is the commitment of the government to immediately free up resources for an agro-industry program that we have in the settlements.

� In the last few months, violence in the fields has been incited. The formation of organized militias by the latifundio owners to contain the landless has been widely publicized by the press. How did the President evaluate this scenario?

Stedile � This topic did not come up in the discussion. Our evaluation is that there are two sides to this. There is a lot of bluffing by these owners of the latifundios, who are interested in creating a climate of false tension in the fields, to frighten the government and the public. But there are also radical sectors of landowners, generally near the border, that create their own armed militias, security companies, and hire gunmen; they are linked to the huge cattle farms that traffic in contraband with heavy arms. But these groups are few, insignificant, and do not have support from the most representative organizations of ranchers. For these sectors, there is only one path: the Federal Police must open an inquiry and arrest the criminals. The Minister of Justice guaranteed that he is going to put the Federal Police on the case of these marginal groups.

� Is the posture of the latifundio owners caused by the increase in occupations that the MST has been carrying out?

Stedile � No. First of all, these backward latifundio owners arm themselves and create agitation every time they perceive that society and the government are advancing to really combat the latifundio. Second, the land occupations occur as result of a huge contradiction that exists: on one hand the huge areas of unproductive land; on the other hand the millions of landless families. The former government spent four years repressing the struggle for land and this created a pent-up social demand that is now erupting. Moreover, the agro-business model is perverse.

The more that the production of soy increases, or grains and exports, this only enriches a minority of farmers. Finally because the poor in the rural areas became aware that the correlation of forces to win agrarian reform has improved.

� After the meeting with Lula, does the MST intend to offer a truce?

Stedile � The press, with their right-wing editors, introduced the word �truce� into the question of agrarian reform. A truce exists when there is a war. In our case, there is no war. We have the people on our side, the government and the social movements, all wanting to apply the Constitution that specifies that every unproductive latifundio must be returned to society to create work and production. The President knows that all the social changes depend on social struggles. The actions of the MST are legal. An agreement of the Supreme Court (STF) some years ago ruled that �the occupation of the lands as a form of pressure for agrarian reform is a legal, legitimate form for the people to seek agrarian reform� A demonstration in a public building or on a highway can be considered abusive (although not illegal).

But all the demonstrations are temporary, done only to call attention. The right-wing press is the one who classifies these occupations of public buildings. The worst occupation of a public space is when a private corporation appropriates the roads and charges tolls, or when ranchers rob public lands or when dishonest businessmen take power over state enterprises with the money from the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). We have the pledge of the Minister that the Federal Police are going to open an inquiry against the fascist ranchers who are arming themselves. For the MST, what interests us is peaceful agrarian reform.

� How did the president evaluate the issue of GMOs in the country?

Stedile � The president revealed that 90% of his government is against GMOs and that he personally is against them. But he recognizes that the subject is more complex and polemical and that the government needs to consult the people as a whole and the scientific community, so that new legislation can suit the reality.

� A multi-party commission in the Congress is drawing up a law on GMOs. What does the government think of this?

Stedile � The government created an inter-ministerial work group, and the Ministry of Science and Technology is preparing the consultations and a first report. The Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) was charged with organizing the debate in society as a whole. There are government sectors, in the Ministry of Agriculture and in the Brazilian Company for Farming Research (EMPRAPA) who want GMOs. But we warned that Monsanto has the world-wide patent on genetically-modified soy, that the Brazilian market is the only salvation for Monsanto. And if the government freed the soy, Monsanto would receive around $500 million from our people. The government assured us that they would pay attention to the interests of Monsanto and that they are not going to tolerate a monopoly and nothing should harm the interests of Brazilian farmers. We still said that the government should not hurry to pass a new law about GMOs. That well or badly, the current legislation handles it. That we must let all the farmers know that planting genetically-modified seeds is expressly prohibited, and that every supermarket needs to label products that have GMOs.

� After the meeting with Lula, the congressional bloc from the rural area and the Brazilian elites became furious. What does this reaction mean?

Stedile � The symbolism of the meeting showed that there is a new correlation of forces uniting the government, the parties of the left, the social movements, the churches and the people. The latifundio stood alone. Thus to defend their privileges, they used their classic arms: lobbying their congressmen, and inciting their big newspapers, little newspapers and television stations to attack. The ranchers decided to show their arms, trying to provoke the government.

� The result was the request for the opening of a Parliamentary Inquiry (CPI), approved in the Senate, to investigate the MST. What does the opening of this CPI represent for the MST?

Stedile � In less than 12 hours, they tried to create a CPI -- it�s a record in the history of the Brazilian legislature. To tell you the truth, it�s a way to put pressure on the government and bring out other interests. We are not afraid of the CPI. We are going to use it to explain why the latifundio exists, and why there are landless, slave work, etc.

We are going to find out how many ranches each senator has, among those who will be investigating. Our role is to organize the poor in the rural area to struggle against inequality and for the right to land. The MST is almost 20 years old, the people know us. They know that the problems in Brazil are the latifundio, poverty, and inequality. The elites will never permit the poor and the exploited to organize themselves. Even Lula, at the time of the early strikes, was denounced and arrested.

The elites, as the great Florestan Fernandes taught, always act in the same way. They try to divide us and then to co-opt us. And if they don�t succeed, they move to repression, criminalization, and isolation. But we are certain that the Brazilian people and the poor support and want agrarian reform.

A Land Drenched in Blood

MST Informe
July 25, 2003
MST
 

Frei Betto

On July 25, we commemorate the Day of the Farmer. �We all eat what he plants. But we don�t always repay him with a good bowl of alphabet soup, as John Steinbeck did in �Grapes of Wrath�; Juan Rulfo did in �A plan�cie em chamas�; Jos� Lins do Rego, in "Fogo Morto"; Graciliano Ramos, in "Vidas Secas", Dion�sio da Silva, in "Os guerreiros do campo". �Life springs from two types of production: the hoe and the arts, material goods and symbolic goods. The first gives sustenance; the second, meaning.

Brazil is fat with land. There are 360 millions of acres that can be cultivated. Astute, Pero Vaz de Caminha soon discovered that here, "by planting, it gives food". But they still did not understand the gift. �They prefer �"by fencing it in, no one gets a bite of food".

There is a lot of land in this country for a few people. It�s enough to point out that 44% belongs to just 1% of rural owners. And there are many people without land.�There are around 15 million people wandering the roads and camps, daring to dream that with so much idle land they may find the piece of earth that may redeem them from poverty and the risk of ending up in a favela in the city.

This country never knew agrarian reform. Disabled, it supports itself in an archaic capitalism, far from modernity. And from the balconies of the islands of opulence, the latif�ndio looks out over the multitude of excluded people.

The patience of the poor cannot be abused, emphasizes the Church�s social doctrine. Here, tired of waiting, they organize themselves in the MST. For their educational work, (around 100,000 children and young people) the movement already received the prize from UNICEF-Ita�. For their activity on behalf of agrarian reform, they received the King Balduino Prize (the highest social distinction in Belgium). For maintaining more than 2500 settlements besides a network of cooperatives, they also won the alternative Nobel, "The Right Livelihood Award".

In slavery, that officially bloodied 350 years of the history of Brazil, it was said that the Blacks were rebels. It was hard for the elite like Nabuco to understand that the problem was not in the Black but in the whip and in the whipping post. With the Peasant Leagues, Francisco Juli�o was demonized. Forty years later, the Northeast is even more barren of water and of justice and a sub-human species is blooming in the shade of the cactus: the flagellant.

Under the military regime, all of us who resisted were treated as terrorists. Today, history recognizes the true villains, those who made the coup d�etat, suppressed democratic order, and installed torture and the disappearance of prisoners, as Vargas had done in the �30s.

Today it is the MST that is the target of those who cannot stand the outcry of the poor and who are silent before the unjust land structure. Where has Justice gone in the face of the 21 who fell under assassins� bullets in Eldorado dos Caraj�s? Impunity throws open the doors to criminality.

July 25 will be a day of many deaths announced as long as there is no agrarian reform and justice that does not step forward for the rights of the poor. Brazil does not deserve to be a country drenched in blood.

*Frei Betto is a writer, author of the novel "Entre todos os homens" (�tica), along with other books.

2) NEWS BRIEFS

JUSTICE SYSTEM IMPRISONS MST MEMBERS

Jos� Rainha and Felinto Proc�pio, better known as Mineirinho, were jailed in the city of Teodoro Sampaio on July 11. The judge of the district, �tis de Ara�jo Oliveira, ruled that Jos� Rainha should be jailed as he was leaving a hearing in which testimony was heard about his alleged participation in demonstrations at the Bank of Brazil and Banespa. Mineirinho was jailed after that, when he was visiting Rainha in the city jail. Since 2002, Judge �tis de Ara�jo has already decreed 29 preventative jail terms for MST members. Of these, 25 were annulled by the Tribunal of Justice and by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.

We ask all to send messages of solidarity, condemning the arbitrary actions of Judge �tis de Araujo Oliveira, requesting that the workers be freed: Exmo. Sr. Dr. Ju�z de Direito �tis de Araujo Oliveira F�rum de Teodoro Sampaio Rua Passeio Curi�, n�4 e 5 � Vila S�o Paulo � Teodoro Sampaio CEP: 19280-000 � FAX: (18) 282-1152

For more information and a sample letter, please see �FREEDOM FOR THE POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE MST� on our Urgent Action page at:  http://www.mstbrazil.org/actions.html

Political Realism Doesn't Mean we Ditch Our Dreams

Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva
July 12, 2003
The Guardian
MST
 

Even though it grew at very high rates in the past, Brazil still has one of the most unequal distributions of income in the world. This situation must be reversed. A lack of economic and social democracy threatens democracy as a whole. The values of social solidarity are in decline. State institutions, politics and politicians are viewed with increasing hostility.

This state of affairs has become more acute over the past two decades as a result of recession or stagnation. Since 1990, Brazil - as with other Latin American countries - has been made into a laboratory for disastrous economic recipes that damaged its productive capacity, dismantled the fabric of society, weakened the state's ability to regulate and increased its vulnerability to outside pressures.

The Brazilian Workers' party (PT), in alliance with others, is now putting in place a project that combines economic growth with income redistribution, deepens political democracy and asserts the sovereignty of our country in the world.

We inherited a heavy burden. The currency suffered a sharp devaluation against the dollar and international credit dried up. The new government managed to overcome this situation and confound forecasts of economic collapse. Fiscal discipline, high interest rates in the short term, an aggressive export policy and tax, and social security reform have helped revive both the economy and national and international confidence.

A broad social and political coalition was formed, bringing together state governors, parliament, the trade unions, the business community and other sectors. There are times when only a major coming together of wills can overcome situations of dire crisis.

As a result, the exchange rate has stabilized, inflation has dropped below 9%, the country's credit rating has improved, the debt burden has fallen. Export credits have been reestablished and this year the balance of trade will run a $20bn surplus. In six months, conditions for a return to growth and a boost to employment have been achieved.

The commitment to fashion a new economic model calls for forceful policies, such as our Hunger Zero and First Job programmes. Fighting hunger includes both structural measures - in support of small farmers, education, health, housing, water and sewage treatment � and emergency relief to those suffering from malnutrition.

The social and political conditions are now in place to launch a sustainable cycle of development. That will require the enlargement of the internal market, particularly for mass consumer goods, by integrating into it millions of excluded citizens. Agrarian reform is also fundamental if the Brazilian economy is to be rebuilt. And it will play a crucial role in making the country fully democratic.

The state must also act decisively to carry out its regulatory role in the economy. The loudly proclaimed achievements of globalisation have failed to materialise, made worse by the climate of recession throughout the world. The advice offered by international organisations, and slavishly followed by many, has brought about the deindustrialisation of vast expanses of our planet.

The rhetoric of free trade contradicts the protectionist practices of the rich countries. The uncontrolled flows of financial capital can destabilise a country in a matter of hours. Hunger, unemployment and social exclusion have reached alarming proportions in developing countries. Indeed, there are huge pockets of poverty even in wealthy societies.

This state of affairs demands a new kind of foreign policy to help build a new world order that is both fairer and more democratic. An end must be put to international financial anarchy and the pressures it exerts on developing economies. It is essential that both overt and covert protectionism which marginalises poor countries be done away with.

We are committed to the peaceful settlement of conflicts, defence of multilateralism and a world order that respects both human rights and international law. That demands reform of multilateral bodies, including the UN and its security council; indeed, Brazil has claimed the right to a seat as a permanent member of the council.

The main flashpoints of international tension result from inequalities that prevail in the world, with its billions of unemployed and hundreds of millions that go hungry and ill, with its unfair trade regime. Against this background, South America has become the top priority of the new Brazilian foreign policy, with an agenda for a customs union, economic integration and a future common currency - as well as to pave the way for an elected regional parliament and a common regional foreign policy.

Brazil, the country with the world's second largest black population, has also reinvigorated its ties to Africa and re-engaged with the Arab world. The creation of the G3 group by Brazil, India and South Africa represents a decisive step in strengthening south-south relations, while we have forged a mature relationship with the US and Europe.

The Brazilian experiment is not intended as a model. The Workers' party that currently governs the country was forged around a specific social and political alliance. This young leftwing party rose out of the working classes during the declining years of the military regime. Its appearance in 1980 coincided with the predicaments faced by social democracy and the decline of the USSR and the countries of the communist bloc. It also coincided with the conservative wave that swept the world and even contaminated segments of the left.

Its programme blended economic and social demands with calls for political freedom. It had the support of broad segments of the middle class, of youth and of new social movements. The PT defines itself as a mass leftwing socialist party that is democratic in its internal organisation. The party helped rebuild the trade union movement and has given an impetus to social struggles throughout the country, as well as playing an important role at local government level, where it has pursued anti-corruption policies.

The experience of government has now renewed the PT. And the ties between state and society have been revisited by the adoption of initiatives, such as the participatory budgets, that allow citizens' oversight of public policies.

Courage is needed to implement an ambitious reform programme that can immediately improve the living conditions of the majority of the population. However, such changes must be understood as only one aspect of a broader process of social transformation. Political realism must not be taken as a justification to abandon the dreams that lie at the foundation of the thinking of the left. Neither can it mean disenfranchising the votes of more than 52 million Brazilians.

Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

THE GREATEST FAULT

Lus Fernando Verssimo
MST Informe
July 7, 2003
O Globo
 

The ships of Pedro Alvares Cabral approach the shore where a group of indigenous people is observing them. A man looks at another and says: " Here they come talking about agrarian reform." The talk about agrarian reform might not be as old as the Discovery of Brazil, but it sure is one of our oldest and most recurrent issues. So much so that it has acquired a certain folkloric candor.

A lot of talk about agrarian reform and never carrying it out would be a friendly Brazilian inconsequence, something like our lack of punctuality or any other habit. However, as it was a noble ideal, and since we have so much land, it acted as some kind of permanent geographical remorse; agrarian reform was in every political candidate's speech and every government agenda, on the left and on the right. The huge, unforgivable crime of those who started organizing the landless movement was, first of all, organizing, and second wanting to transform rhetoric into reality - to affront one of the presuppositions of the Brazilian patricians and their speeches in which a good intention is enough in itself. They challenged one of the most deep-rooted national traditions.

It is not about justifying or encouraging the occupations of the MST and questioning it's legality, since violence always favors a reaction. The biggest fault for the combustion point that the land issue has touched off in Brazil is not the activism of a multitude of rejected people from the countryside and the cities, which is not cause but effect. Instead it is the history of promises poorly fulfilled, either through insensitivity or lost opportunities .

Of course it serves no purpose to sit here saying Brazilians have accumulated a social bill since Cabral's ships. The bill for everything that was not done is coming in now , hahaha and serves you right, because in a general combustion we will all burn. But don't blame the victims. Lula did not wear an enemy uniform, as the reaction wishes, when he put on the MST cap. The enemy wears a top hat. Or used to wear it in the old cartoons.

2) BRIEF NEWS

66 YEAR OLD RURAL WORKER ARRESTED IN PERNAMBUCO

Jo�o Pereira da Siva, 66, a rural worker was arrested on July 1st and charged for participating in the looting of food in the Regi�o da Mata (Forested Region), in the north of the state. Jo�o Pereira has lived in Mussumb� settlement in the rural area of Goiana, Pernambuco.

The county's judge denied the defendant the right to bail and sent him to prison in the city of Abreu Lima, without taking in to consideration his age and precarious health. This attitude leaves no doubt about where the Judiciary System stands in relation to the agrarian reform in Brazil.

LANDLESS WOMAN BEATEN IN TARUMIRIM

70-year-old rural worker Francisca Masueta da Silva, was beaten on July 10th on the farm where she has been camping for 18 years in Turumirim. She was surprised by two unknown individuals who punched her several times and later tried to drown her in a nearby brook. Francisca and other residents had been receiving threats for some time and, according to her, the aggressors had being sent by the city mayor who wants to expel them from the land. The mayor was surprised at the accusations and said he will do what he can to find those responsible.

Letter from the Land In Defense of Agrarian Reform and Family Agriculture

MST Informe
May 30, 2003
MST
 

Letter from the Land In Defense of Agrarian Reform and Family Agriculture

The social organizations that work in the rural areas defend the necessity of agrarian reform, of family agriculture, and the change from the current agricultural model as a path to guarantee work, income, production of foods for the internal market, food sovereignty, and the construction of a sustainable development model for our country. For this reason, we struggle for:

1. The appropriation of the latifundios and the confiscation of all lands with slave labor and the cultivation of drugs. 
2. Respect for human rights in the rural areas, combating all forms of violence and the end of impunity. And demanding the demarcation of lands belonging to indigenous communities and the remainders of quilombos.

    

3. The stimulus for family farming with accessible credits, agricultural insurance, technical assistance, fair prices and the guarantee for the marketing of their production;
4. The implementation of agro-industries in the interior towns, in diverse forms of cooperatives and associations;
5. The production of seeds by the farm men and women themselves and the prohibition of the production and consumption of genetically modified foods;
6. The development and promotion of agricultural techniques that do not harm the environment, preserving and democratizing access to water;
7. The improvement of the social welfare system, public and universal, allowing access and permanence of the rural workers in the General Plan for Social Welfare;
8. The implementation of the directives from the National Council of Education for schools in the rural areas, eradicating illiteracy and guaranteeing the right of all to quality education at all levels;
9. The inclusion of women and youth, based on the principle of affirmative action, seeking to correct the discrimination that stems from unjust practices and social systems and guaranteeing equality of opportunities and rights;
10. The elaboration of specific policies for each region especially for the development of the semi-arid area of the country. In this struggle, the groups and social movements clearly take a position against the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) because the proposal that is being imposed represents the domination of U.S. corporations over the continent of Latin America. The groups and social movements demand that a plebiscite be carried out as a form of dialog and full participation of the population and they struggle for the strengthening of solidarity and cooperation amongst the people of the continent.   CONTAG - MST - FETRAF-SUL - CPT - ANMTR - MPA - MAB and groups of the National Forum for Agrarian Reform and Justice in the Rural Areas.

    NEWS BRIEFS

    Friends of the MST in Europe demand the end of conflicts in Colombia During the Fifth Meeting of the European Friends of the MST, held on May 23 and 24 in Portugal, the participants released a statement demanding a political solution to the conflicts by which the Colombian people are suffering and which threaten to destabilize Latin America. Participants from 11 European countries and the United States expressed a concern for the growing number of violations of human rights, took a stand against Plan Colombia, and requested that the Colombian government guarantee the safety of those who are struggling in the social movements.

    The killers of João Canuto on trial: an impartial victory On May 23, the two hired killers of João Canuto de Oliveira, namely Adilson Laranjeira and Vantuir de Paula, were condemned to 19 years and 10 months in prison but will remain at liberty until their appeal is heard. João Canuto was the first president of the Sindicate of Rural Workers of Rio Maria, in the municipality of Sul do Pará. He was assassinated on December 18, 1985 with 18 shots fired by the two gunmen.

    Workers occupy latifúndio in Souza Cruz, Rio Grande do Sul state On May 28, more than 5,000 rural and urban workers from the whole state occupied the Boa Vista Fazenda in the area of Souza Cruz on Highway 471, near Rio Pardo. The action was part of the Day of Struggles for Land, Work, and Social Rights, organized by CUT/RS, Federations, Unions, and Via Campesina. According to the organizers, it is unacceptable that a foreign corporation owns millions of unproductive acres while there are more than 17,000 landless workers just in the region of the Valley of Rio Pardo.

    New Challenges for Brazilian Grassroots Movements

    Social Network for Justice & Human Rights  Maria Luisa Mendonça May 2003

    The recent election of president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil was the result of two decades of grassroots struggle to end inequality in the country. The Brazilian people elected Lula because they hope the Workers Party will build a different economic system, based on social justice. Like many Third World countries, Brazil has suffered the effects of structural adjustment policies -- imposed by the conditions of IMF bailouts -- such as the rise of unemployment and economic vulnerability. This situation has created very serious challenges for the Workers Party administration, which has been unable to make significant changes in economic policies due to the pressure being placed on them by external forces like the IMF.

    In a meeting with representatives of the World Social Forum in January 2003, Lula talked about his strong sense of responsibility, not only to Brazilians, but to all Latin Americans who believed a left-wing government could be elected in Brazil. Lula said he knows that a disappointment with his government could discredit the left in Latin America and around the world for many years to come.

    The Brazilian social movements share this sense of responsibility. It is increasingly clear that the focus of our struggle should be against the institutions that maintain the neo-liberal economic model, such as the IMF and the World Bank, as well as the policies imposed by the United States government.

    For many Brazilian activists, one of the most important tests for Lula's government is the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). There is a very large coalition against the FTAA in Brazil, which organized huge demonstrations at the 2003 World Social Forum, and had already mobilized over 10 million people in a plebiscite on the FTAA.

    Recently, this campaign demanded that the Brazilian government open a public debate about the FTAA, before continuing with negotiations. Currently, the National Campaign against the FTAA is promoting a petition demanding that the Brazilian Government call an official plebiscite on the FTAA negotiation in the fall of 2003. This would prevent the government from moving forward with negotiations before consulting its people. At the same time, the Brazilian Campaign Against the FTAA is intensifying the organization of caucuses and committees around the country to debate, to organize demonstrations, and to collect signatures for the petition on behalf of the official plebiscite.

    Another important issue for Brazilian activists is the agreement that the previous president signed with the United States government, which permits the use of the Alcantara Air Base, in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. There is a great deal of opposition to the agreement in the Brazilian Congress, which will likely reject it. This opposition grew especially after the beginning of a huge grassroots campaign to educate the public about the danger of letting the United Stated control the base. Today it is more urgent than ever that we denounce the linkages between the military and economic strategies of the U.S. government. The consolidation of military and economic control over Latin America has long been a strategic priority of the United States. In the financial arena, Latin American dependence is perpetuated by an illegitimate external debt and by new mechanisms of economic domination, like the FTAA and other multilateral trade agreements, which reinforce the macroeconomic policies determined by the international financial institutions and enforced by the United States. This economic axis of U.S. imperialism is backed up by an enormous military capability.

    The U.S. strategy in Latin America includes the building of new military bases and the reinforcing of existing ones, the training of Latin American militaries, arms sales, the installation of new monitoring and espionage systems, and the exercise of undue influence over law enforcement bodies in Latin American countries. The goals of these policies are to maintain the neo-liberal economic model, to defend the interests of large corporations and to guarantee their control over natural resources, principally petroleum, water and biodiversity.

    Militarization is one of the principal instruments of the recolonization of Latin America. This growing process on the continent is generating and increasing the violations of human rights and the repression of social movements, the displacement and forced migration of millions of people, the destruction of the environment, and the loss of sovereignty and self-determination of peoples.

    In fact, the principal mechanism used by the U.S. to guarantee its economic and geopolitical hegemony worldwide is military force, which represents a tremendous threat to all of humanity. In Latin America, some examples of this structure are:

    • The installation of military bases in Manta (Ecuador), Três Esquinas and Letícia (Colombia), Iquitos (Peru), Rainha Beatrix (Aruba) and Hato (Curacao). These new bases complement the U.S. encirclement of the region, which already included bases in Puerto Rico (Vieques), Cuba (Guantanamo) and Honduras (Soto de Cano). The U.S. is also planning to build bases in El Salvador and in Argentina, and to gain control of the Alcântara base in Brazil.
    • The training of Latin American militaries, as in the case of Operation Cabañas in Argentina, with the participation of 1,500 officers from the U.S., Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. According to government documents from Argentina, the objective of this training is to create a "unified military command" to combat "terrorism..., in a battlefield littered with civilians, non-governmental organizations and potential aggressors." This command would act in the triple border region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The authorization for the entry of U.S. troops into Latin American countries includes guarantees of diplomatic immunity.
    • The U.S. is continuing to train Latin Americans at the School of the Americas, and will set up the Law Enforcement Academy for the Americas in Costa Rica, which has the goal of influencing legislation in the countries of the region, to benefit U.S. political, economic and military interests.
    • The installation of mechanisms like System of Surveillance of the Amazon (SIVAN), a $1.4 billion project with surveillance capabilities over 5.5 million square kilometers. Plans for SIVAN include the purchase of military aircraft, like the A-29 Toucan. The Pentagon wants to build a huge radar facility in Argentina, as part of an international surveillance system.
    • The strengthening of the U.S. defense industry. For example, the Manta base, with the ability to control airspace over a 400 km radius, will be the responsibility of DynCorp, accused of having close ties to the CIA. The Manta base will be equipped with E-3 AWACs and F-16 and F-15 Eagle fighters to patrol the Amazon region, the Panama Canal Zone, and Central America. Other defense contractors, like Raytheon and Northrop, have projected a 50% increase in earnings this year.
    • The $1.3 billion Plan Colombia, plus plans laid out by Secretary of State Colin Powell, to spend $731 million to finance the participation of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in joint military operations. The principal foci of violence, which is causing the expulsion of indigenous peoples from their lands, coincides with the regions with the greatest biodiversity. Plan Colombia is facilitating the implementation of hydroelectric, petroleum exploitation and mining mega-projects, sponsored by the World Bank and by multinational corporations. More than a million hectares of Colombian forest have already been contaminated with chemical agents, and the number of internal refugees is almost 2 million people, 75% of whom are women and children.
    • The U.S. strategy of domination includes regional agreements, like the Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP), a transnational project to build a 'dry canal' linking Southern Mexico and Central America, passing through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The PPP will include a complex of maquiladoras and light assembly plants, controlled by multinational corporations, as well as extensive plantations, possibly with transgenic crops. The PPP will facilitate control of hydrological and biological resources, and reserves of petroleum, natural gas, uranium, aluminum and copper.
    • The Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which binds Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to the U.S. through a series of political and commercial obligations, including support for the "fight against terrorism," and compliance with the intellectual property clauses of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this context, several human rights organizations created the Continental Campaign Against Militarization, a new coalition which is part of the Continental Campaign Against the FTAA. Its main proposals are:
      • To denounce U.S. military domination in Latin America and its impacts, like human rights violations, environmental destruction, and the loss of sovereignty and self-determination of peoples.
      • To expose the relationship between U.S. military and economic strategies in Latin America, and their link with mechanisms like the debt and the FTAA.
      • To organize mobilizations, conduct research, and carry out legal actions against the U.S. military apparatus, and in defense of human rights.
      • Support the social movements in each country that struggle for land, for their culture, for jobs, and for their dignity.  
      • Build a new economic model based on social justice and solidarity. Work toward an alternative, sustainable, and equitable integration of Latin America.

    This campaign is an example of the great challenges that all activists face in the Americas. For Brazilians, the main responsibility is to denounce U.S. imperialism and to fight against the influence of right-wing sectors in the new administration. This is a very complex and difficult context, but it is also a moment of increasing mobilization. The third World Social Forum, which attracted over 100,000 people from 130 countries to Porto Alegre, showed that we are not alone. Recently, we saw the historic demonstrations against the war in Iraq, in more than 60 countries. This is a moment of great fear and great hope, which demands a great deal of unity and a lot of work.

Bishop's Declaration on Transgenics; Solidarity with José Bové

MST Informe
May 16, 2003
MST
 

BISHOPS OF THE PASTORAL COMMISSION OF LAND PROTEST AGAINST THE USE OF TRANSGENICS

Concerned about the recent events involving transgenics, the Bishops of the National Confederation of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), accompanied by the Pastoral Commission of Land (CPT), have written an informative letter about the health dangers caused by these products. They have also called attention to the loss of sovereignty that the use of transgenic seeds implicates. The document was delivered at the ceremony commemorating the shelving of the plan to permit the United States base at Alcântara.

Declaration on Transgenics

We, attendant Bishops to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), in the diverse regions of the CNBB, before the grave problem of transgenics in our country and supported by valid legal mechanisms, take the initiative to express ourselves on this subject.

Transgenics are the result of genetic manipulation that permits the production, alteration and transference of genes among living things, breaks barriers preventing natural crossing between species, creating, altering and transferring genetic material between plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and humans.

All over the world as well as here in Brazil many scholars and social leaders have raised, very opportunely, various questions in relation to this subject. These revolve around the following risks:

1st In relation to human health, the ingestion of genetically modified grains may provoke increased allergies, antibiotic resistance and an elevated index of toxic substances in foods.

2nd There is a risk of genetic erosion in the environment, irreversibly affecting biodiversity, through the contamination of natural seed banks (banks of germplasm). This adds to the frightening increase in monoculture and the consequent loss of the rich variety and quality of seeds.

3rd There is also a threat to our country's food sovereignty, due to the loss of control of seeds and living beings through patenting of the same, turned into exclusive and legal private property of transnational groups that seek only commercial profits.

4th However, the greatest risk, in our opinion, is the total dependence, destruction and finally the disappearance of the small and even middle-sized farmer due to the inexorable global monopoly of the production and commercialization of seeds, that become the dominion of a small group of giant and powerful transnational companies.

In relation to these questions, on the other hand, we cannot ignore or fail to comply with the ethical demands such as "no harm," social justice, environmental justice and precaution.

The principle of "no harm" implicates our duty to avoid or impede harm or damage to others. In the case of massive introduction of new technologies that imply potential health risks, this principle ought to be plainly guarantied through the means of clear and sure information.

The principle of social justice, in cases of massive technological innovations and high social impact, brings us to ask who is going to benefit and who will be put at risk. At present, in the concrete case of transgenics it is clear that a small group of large businesses will be the greatest beneficiaries, with grave damage to family agriculture.

The principle of environmental justice imposes the duty to preserve the environment for current and future generations. Transgenics may represent a serious ecological risk.

The precautionary principle demands that there be strict biosecurity rules before allowing any product to be consumed by humans. This is not intended to hold back science or research, or to provoke a paranoid fear of newness. On the contrary, it supports the greatest space for science and research, oriented, however, for the common good. Technological applications that implicate potential risks of great breadth, be decided, approved, negated, or perfected through democratic decisions and remain under the control of the people

Supporting the heroic struggle of popular rural organizations and echoing one of the great claims of the Porto Alegre's World Social Forum, we readily advocate that seeds be declared a Patrimony of Humanity and conserved in their genetic integrity for farm communities.

On this same note we take the liberty of indicating to the Public Power, to the Public Ministry, to the Legislature, to the Judiciary, and to the Executive Office that, upon addressing these grave questions, they orient themselves to these new and just demands, as well as the ethical principals that govern them.

Itaici, May 6th, 2003. Attendant Bishops to the CPT: Dom Tomás Balduino, President; Dom Xavier Gilles, Vice-President; Dom Orlando Dotti; Dom Ladislau Biernaski; Dom Pedro Casaldáliga; Dom André de Witte; Dom José Alberto Moura; Dom Guilherme Werlang; Dom Heriberto Hermes; Dom José Mario Streher; Dom Moacir Grecchi; Dom José Agusto da Rocha; Dom Maurício Grotto; Dom Apparecido José Dias

NEWS BRIEF

"No more Monsanto. We want a world and a Brazil free of transgenics!" With these words, the MST initiated an event with the Jornada de Agroecologia in Ponta Grossa, Paraná. The event, which included speeches by celebrities Plínio de Arruda Sampaio and Peter Rosset, among others, ended with the destruction 10 hectares used by Montesanto to grow transgenic corn. For more information, see http://www.jornadadeagroecologia.com.br.

  URGENT ACTION

Solidarity with Imprisoned Via Campesina Spokesperson José Bové

MST International Relations Sector Egídio Brunetto June 4, 2003

Dear Friends of the MST,

The repression that José Bové has come to suffer again shows the intolerance that exists against movements that fight against neo-liberal politics.

It is with indignation that we receive notice that a judge will soon imprison companheiro Bové for participating in a protest with 500 other farmers against the planting of genetically engineered rice promoted by the French Minister of Agriculture.

Even with the written declaration of all of the farmers that participated in the protest, only José Bové was prosecuted and sentenced to ten months in prison.

José Bové is one of the spokespersons of Via Campesina and the fact that he has been sentenced is another attempt to discredit and repress Via Campesina and the other social movements that fight against neo-liberal politics.

Therefore, we ask all of the Friends of the MST and Via Campesina to send letters and messages to French President Jacques Chirac seeking amnesty for companheiro José Bové, since the only solution for Bové now is that the French president use his amnesty granting powers as the sentencing by the French Judiciary is final.

June 16 has been established by Via Campesina as the Day of Solidarity with Bové. We ask that Friends organize visits to the French Embassies and consulates in their countries or cities and send letters seeking to them seeking amnesty for José Bové.

Abraços fraternos,

Egídio Brunetto International Relations Sector Reforma Agrária: por um Brasil sem latifúndio!!

Letter to President Lula Requesting an Official Plebiscite on the FTAA and the Autonomy of Brazil's Central Bank

MST Informe
May 2, 2003
MST
 

 

As a part of the commemorations and manifestations of the May 1 International Workers Day, artists, intellectuals, economists and religious folks submitted a letter to President Lula demonstrating their concern and positioning mainly against the FTAA and the autonomy of the Central Bank. The document solicited the calling for a national plebiscite so that these issues be debated and voted on by the population.

Brazil, March 2003 Dear Mr. President,

This letter is addressed to you by persons who hold you in esteem, admire your political trajectory and wish to give you total support so that you can live up to the enormous hopes that your victory has awakened in the Brazilian people,

Aware of the economic-financial situation of the country, we have a clear perception of the internal and external difficulties that have led the government to take measures restricting spending and raising taxes. We know also that globalization has provoked substantial changes in the world economy and that it will be very difficult to develop the country without participating in some way in the international financial community.

Nevertheless, these constraints cannot mean the renunciation of our sovereignty.

Two measures are particularly worrisome in relationship to this matter: the negotiations on the FTAA and the intended autonomy of the Central Bank.

The first, as some of us have already argued in extensive and repeated pleadings, will expose our industrial, agricultural, and service producers to absolutely unequal competition, whose primary consequence will be an even greater de-nationalizing of our productive space. And by its reach that surpasses commercial agreements, but involves agriculture, investments, state purchases, currency, and services, leaves clear the intention of the U.S. Government to re-colonize the continent in accord with its interests.

The second involves handing over control of our currency to external capital and therefore the renunciation of the national project. It cannot be hidden that with the most dynamic sectors of our economy in the hands of foreign corporations, the autonomy of the Central Bank means transferring to them the power to set the value of our currency.

For these reasons, we made the decision to send you this letter. In our understanding, the FTAA as well as the autonomy of the Central Bank are non-negotiable matters, given that they involve the untouchability of the nation's sovereignty. A decision of such magnitude must made by the owner of this sovereignty--the Brazilian people. Thus, each Brazilian man and woman must be called on to have their say about both questions in a plebiscite convoked for this express goal.

The plebiscite would be the occasion for a great national debate about the two topics, thus laying the groundwork for a truly democratic decision.

We are convinced that a firm attitude of Brazil will change the posture of the forces that are pressuring us and will open up a path so that we can build, in an autonomous way, the paths that are most appropriate for our development.

However, if this does not happen, and the government finds itself placed in the situation of breaking with the forces that are pressuring it, please believe, Mr. President, that the retaliation will not be insupportable. Our economy is already sufficiently strong to resist them and our people sufficiently politicized to give you the necessary support for this confrontation.

Alfredo Bosi. Literary critic and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters; Ana Maria Freire, educator, widow of Paulo Freire; Ana Maria Castro, educator, daughter of Josue de Castro; Ariovaldo Umbelino de Oliveira, geographer from University of São Paulo; Augusto Boal, theater director; Benedito Mariano, researcher; Bernardete de Oliveira, anthropologist from State University of São Paulo; Carlos Nelson Coutinho, political scientist and philosopher; Chico Buarque, composer and writer; Dom Demetrio Valentini, bishop; Dom Paulo Arns, cardinal; Dom Pedro Casaldaliga, bishop; Dom Tomas Balduino, bishop; Emir Sader, political scientist; Fabio Konder Comparato, jurist; Fernando Morais, writer; Francisco de Oliveira, social scientist; Haroldo Campos, poet and translator; Joanna Fomm, actress; Leonardo Boff, theologian, philosopher, and writer; Luis Fernando Verissimo, writer; Margarida Genovois, human rights activist; Maria Adelia de Souza, geographer, researcher with Miltom Santos; Manuel Correia de Andrade, geographer, specialist in Northeast Brazil; Marilena Chauí, philosopher; Nilo Batista, jurist; Pastor Ervino Schmidt, pastor of the Lutheran Church and director of National Council of Christian Churches; Plínio Arruda Sampaio, consultant to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on agrarian questions, periodical director; Oscar Niemeyer, architect; Ricardo Antunes, political scientist; Sergio Haddad, educator and president of the Brazilian Association of NGOs; Sergio Ferolla, brigadier-general; Tatau Godinho, feminist; Valton Miranda, psychiatrist;

NEWS BRIEFS

MST Agrarian Reform Store Opens in Maranhao

On April 28th, a new MST Agrarian Reform store opened in Sao Luis, Maranhao. Musicians participated in its inauguration and animated the evening, while other participants tasted the products of agrarian reform (food and drinks free of genetic modification and agrotoxins, as well as cultural items such as books and CDs). The store is located on at rua do Sol, 615 A. Please email the following for more information: mstma@elo.com.br

March Liberates Rural Workers who were imprisoned in Goias

Agricultural workers Claudinei and Odelio, imprisoned on March 10, were freed when the "MArch for Peace AgrarianReform and Social Justice" arrived in the capital on April 15. The lawyers have already expended various judicial avenues, but their release was only possible thanks to the pressure exercised by the landless workers who were willing to stay in the capital until the court freed the workers.

Carajas, National campaign Against Latifundios, International Day of Peasant Struggle

Mst Informe
April 17, 2003
MST
 

  Please see the Carajas Update under Urgent Actions.

NEWS BRIEFS

MST Intensifies the National March Campaign

The NAtional March Against Latifundios and in favor of Agrarian Reform has developed awareness-raising activities around the importance of agrarian reform for the social and economic growth of Brazil. Acts, marches and occupations of large unproductive land estates or latifundios are happening throughout the country, mobilizing nearly 25,000 people in 23 states. The Campaign will be extended throughout the entire year.

International Day of Peasant Struggle

Since 1996, when the massacre at Eldorado dos Carajas occurred, the international movement of peasant farmers Via Campesina declared April 17th as the International Day of Peasant Struggle. The world commemorates the day through marches, debates, meetings and mobilizations, in activities that are being held in 17 countries in the Americas, Europe and Oceania. Next year, mobilizations will be against the WTO and the liberalization of agrarian commerce.

Brazilians Left Without Measure to Identify GMOs

Brasil De Fato and Via Campesina
April 2003
Via Campesina
 
Foods which contain soy products are now suspect since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed Provisionary Measure 131 authorizing commercialization of genetically modified soy . Currently, some farmers are cultivating the soy illegally in Rio Grande do Sul. To add to the situation, consumers are faced with another difficulty: how to know if a given soy product contains a GMO (genetically modified organism) or not. One of the articles of the measure demands that all products that use GMO's indicate as such on the label. However, specialists are saying that this is not going to be an easy task. Carlos Sperotto, the president of the Farmers' Federation of Rio Grande do Sul (a group which will benefit from the Measure 131) admitted that it will be impossible to label the GMO soy because the total harvest is sold in huge volumes, and GMO soy is harvested together with conventional soy.

Without labeling, the consumer will have now way of knowing if the product contains GMO's. "If the farmers do not do the identification, then the government should take responsibility of the risks. As it is, you are awarding the producer who is breaking the law and you are penalizing the population," said Marlene Lazzarini, coordinator of the Institute in Defense of the Consumer (Idec).

The new measure stipulates a US$6,000 fine for those who do not do the identification. Lazzarini announced that Idec will test all of the products derived from soy. If a component of a GMO is found without identification, the industry will be penalized. "So the industry will blame the farmer who didn't identify the product and the government will have to resolve one more problem."

According to Jean Marc von der Weid, the coordinator of the "Brazil Free of GMO's campaign, the federal government gave in to the political pressure exercised by large-scale farmers and by Monsanto, the U.S. based company that retains the patent on Roundup Ready soy (which uses GMO's). Mr. von der Weid theorized that Monsanto has a geo-political strategy to destroy Brazil's conventional soy market, which is the world's largest exporter of conventional soy. "From their point of view, if Brazil surrenders, the other countries resistance to GMO's will also give in."

Some policy makers suggested that if the government allows the production of GMO's then at least this harvest should be exported. However, this solution was vetoed as some said it would adversely affect the "Circulation of Goods and Services Tax" of Rio Grande do Sul. According to the governor, the state would lose nearly $US 300,000.

The genetically modified soy will be commercialized until January 31, 2004, after which time the entire stock will be burned and the fields be cleared of the soy before the 2004 crop. "This process of decontamination guarantees that the next harvest will be conventional. This is a great defeat for Monsanto," said Frei Sergio, coordinator of the "Movement of Small Farmers." However, he noted that the federal government will need to be rigorous in monitoring the fields. "Next year, the social movements will have great difficulties in preserving conventional seeds."

The use of GMO's has yet to be properly evaluated in terms of health-risks. In the U.S., no studies have been done to determine if certain diseases or illnesses are a result of the consumption of GMO's. As a precautionary measure, European countries demand that products that contain GMO's be labeled as such. According to Rubens Nodare of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, the chemicals used on soy plants may provoke allergies. This is because soy has three types of allergenic proteins. Genetically modified soy can contain a greater quantity of the these proteins.

Besides health concerns, there are environmental concerns. The Brazilian Constitution stipulates that a thorough environmental impact study must be conducted before allowing any sort of activity which may be dangerous to the environment. "To allow for the commercialization in this country is not only an affront to the consumer, but a break from the Federal Constitution," commented Ventura Barbeiro, an agricultural engineer.

Brief History of the Juridical Battle over GMOs

1995--Implementation of the Law of Bio-security and the creation of the National Technical Commission of Bio-security (CTNBio). Use of GMO's must have the authorization of this Commission.

1996--Monsanto begins research with genetically-modified soy in Brazil

1998--CTNBio approves of the use of Monsanto's Roundup Ready soy in the south of the country. The authorization was given without an environmental impact study. The consumer watchdog group Idec obtained a court order barring CTNBio's authorization.

2000--Judge Antonio Prudente extends the court order that prohibited the planting of GMO's. The Union and Monsanto try to appeal the decision, but their appeal was denied.

2002--The Union and Monsanto make a new motion which is sill pending vote in the Federal Regional Tribunal. One of the tree judges has already indicated she is in favor of the use of GMO's in the country.

A Few Facts about GMO's

-Nearly 99% of all cultivated GMO's are only in four countries: United States, Canada, Argentina, and China.

-There are already 30 countries which prohibit the cultivation of GMO's.

-The majority of countries require labeling o GMO's on food products if the GMO's make up more than 5% of the product.

-Nearly 80% of Europeans do not want to consume products with GMO's.

-What is increasing in the world is not the cultivation of GMO's , put the cultivation of organic products. It is estimated that in 2005 nearly one fourth of all agriculture will be organic.

-If the Brazilian government permits the cultivation of GMO's, five transnational companies will completely dominate the corn, soy, wheat and cotton seed markets. This puts at risk the country's sovereignty, relying on the good will of these companies.

-During the Fernando Henrique Cardoso presidency, the government gave a low-interest US$250 million loan to Monsanto for the construction of a factory which produces "Glifosato." Glifosato is the prime material of the Roundup herbicides, generally sold with Roundup Ready genetically-altered seeds. The former president therefore helped to lay the groundwork for the production of genetically-altered seeds.

-If the government had used the aforesaid money to construct domestic water wells in the semi- arid Northeast, the problem of potable water would have been solved for one million families.

MST Children are Commemorated on World Health Day

World Health Day
April 7, 2003   

MST Children (the "Sem Terrinha" or "Little Landless") are Commemorated on World Health Day

On April 7th, during the ceremony in commemoration of World Health Day, the MST received a medal from OPAS (Pan-American Health Organization). Representing the Little Landless from throughout Brazil, 9-year-old Tiago Lenen Tomas de Paula, received the medal from the hands of the Minister of Health, Humberto Costa. The ceremony was held at the Butantã Institute in São Paulo. For this occasion, President Lula also was commemorated - receiving an MST flag and cap from the hands of a Sem Terrinha.