Kyrkans organ för bönderna mycket bekymrat

Den politiska striden hårdnar i Brasilien CPT (kyrkans arbete bland småbönder) är bekymrade över högerns ökade inflytande i kongressen BBB (Boi, bala e biblia) ett samlingsnamn för dessa intressen, storgodsägare, militärer och konservativa kristna, är på offensiven Svårare att bestraffa slavarbete, svårare för indianers rätt till land, mera bemanningsföretag, Lägre straffålder och enklare att öppna gruvor De är bekymrade men anser samtidigt att Dilma inte lyssnat på de utsatta Härunder brevet,

Lennart

O momento político atual e a surdez do governo Dilma

A Diretoria e a Coordenação Executiva Nacional da Comissão Pastoral da Terra – CPT vêm a público se manifestar sobre o grave momento da conjuntura nacional, cujo foco na polarização da crise política, em muito enviesada e distorcida, obscurece a percepção dos atuais conflitos violentos contra os povos do campo.

O país viveu, neste ano de 2015, um período conturbado pela recessão econômica e pela crise política que encurralaram a presidência da República. A incompetência no enfrentamento da crise econômica, as denúncias diárias de corrupção que atingem o PT e aliados de seu governo de coalizão têm sido utilizadas pela oposição para uma busca ilegítima do poder que ameaça desestabilizar a ordem democrática. A corrupção, endêmica na vida política brasileira, é apresentada, sobretudo pelos meios de comunicação, como a maior e mais grave da história deste país.  Esquece-se que somente agora estes casos estão sendo investigados e punidos.

A crise econômica tem sido potencializada ao máximo por uma crise política alimentada diariamente na mídia e por um Congresso Nacional venal e obscurantista, que tenta um processo de impedimento da Presidenta da República com mais que frágeis argumentos.

Este Congresso tem demonstrado publicamente o quanto é refém e está a serviço do poder econômico que custeou as caras campanhas eleitorais dos seus ocupantes. Os interesses do povo, sobretudo os dos mais fracos, de forma alguma são prioridade da maioria dos congressistas. Isto se torna evidente pelas proposições e defesas da poderosa bancada ruralista, e das bancadas da bala e evangélica, que se tornaram conhecidas como a bancada do BBB - do boi, da bala e da bíblia.

Os interesses por trás destas bancadas se revelam na aprovação das leis da terceirização do trabalho e da redução da idade penal e nas tentativas, já em fase adiantada nos procedimentos regimentais, de desmonte dos direitos indígenas e de outras comunidades tradicionais com a PEC 215, com o projeto de lei que quer modificar o conceito de trabalho escravo, e com a pressa em aprovar um código de mineração que prioriza os interesses das mineradoras em detrimento das comunidades atingidas.

A avalanche contra os pequenos se consubstancia ainda na CPI da FUNAI e do INCRA para barrar todo e qualquer avanço no reconhecimento dos direitos territoriais dos povos indígenas, das comunidades quilombolas e de outras comunidades tradicionais.

O que acontece em nível nacional se reproduz em nível estadual. No Mato Grosso do Sul, a violência contra os indígenas campeia solta com ações quase diárias de agressões às aldeias e aos acampamentos, sobretudo em áreas próprias retomadas pelos indígenas. Na esteira destas ações a Assembleia Legislativa constituiu uma CPI para investigar o Conselho Indigenista Missionário, CIMI, pelo apoio que tem dado à causa dos povos indígenas. Com isso tenta desmobilizar e desmoralizar a luta indígena, sugerindo que os indígenas não são capazes de defender seus próprios interesses.

Aproveitando-se deste cenário mais que sombrio, como já temos reiterado mais de uma vez, tem crescido de forma assustadora a violência contra os trabalhadores e trabalhadoras do campo. Até o final de novembro, o Centro de Documentação Dom Tomás Balduino, da CPT, tinha registrado o mais alto número de assassinatos no campo, desde 2004, 46 pessoas - camponeses, sobretudo posseiros, sem terra e assentados da reforma agrária. 44 destas mortes ocorreram na Amazônia.  A maior parte dos conflitos nesta região está relacionada a terras públicas griladas. A fraqueza do Estado em recuperar estas áreas para destiná-las à Reforma Agrária, como manda a Constituição, favorece que os ataques de grileiros e pistoleiros se multipliquem, bem como as invasões de áreas e a expulsão de famílias.

Tão ou mais grave que o mar de lama da Samarco em Mariana, Minas Gerais, é o mar de lama que escorre do mundo da política. Pois enquanto a lama da Samarco afeta a bacia do Rio Doce, a que escorre do Congresso Nacional, das assembleias legislativas e de gabinetes de Brasília e dos estados afetam sonhos e esperanças de toda nação brasileira, sobretudo dos mais pobres.   

Neste cenário de sombras, ainda bem, algumas luzes se acendem. Tem crescido o número de sem terra que fazem ocupações em busca de um pedaço de chão para viver e plantar. Nas cidades, jovens têm se destacado na luta em defesa da educação pública e de qualidade diante de tentativas de fechamento e de uma reorganização questionável de escolas, ou da entrega do ensino público a Organizações Sociais (OS), como acontece em Goiás. As ocupações das escolas pelos estudantes, com apoio de suas famílias, em São Paulo e em Goiás, são um grito de alerta para uma sociedade sonolenta.  A organização dos jovens, o cuidado com os espaços ocupados, o uso das tecnologias de comunicação soam para os ouvidos atentos como fina música de um concerto de harmonias que pareciam perdidas.

 A Diretoria e a Coordenação Executiva Nacional da CPT, ao mesmo tempo em que denunciam as tentativas da quebra da normalidade democrática, lamentam a falta de sensibilidade do governo Dilma no atendimento às reivindicações populares. Nunca um governo, desde o final dos anos de chumbo da ditadura militar, foi tão surdo às demandas populares, no campo e nas cidades, quanto o governo Dilma. Foi o governo que menos reconheceu terras indígenas e territórios quilombolas e o que menos fez assentamentos de sem terra. As decantadas políticas sociais, decadentes sob os cortes do ajuste econômico que mais uma vez favorece os que têm poder, já não conseguem aludir a uma imagem “popular” do governo.

A surdez da Presidência se tornou quase uma afronta aos homens e mulheres do campo com a nomeação para o Ministério da Agricultura da senadora Kátia Abreu, que sempre se mostrou inimiga dos movimentos do campo e do meio ambiente em plena crise climática. E diante de tantos apelos dos mais diversos movimentos populares, mantém o ministro da Fazenda totalmente alinhado aos interesses da classe dominante.

Esperamos que a estrela que conduziu os Magos até Belém possa conduzir nosso país nos caminhos da normalidade democrática, duramente conquistada, e na superação dos entraves que impedem o reconhecimento efetivo dos direitos dos pequenos e pobres.

Goiânia, 17 de dezembro de 2015.

Diretoria Nacional e Coordenação Executiva Nacional da CPT

Mais Informações:

Nyårshälsning från Stédile

"From now on, no more unemployed," claims João Pedro Stedile

In an interview assessing the year ending and pointing to 2016, the MST leader states that the year that passed was a "lost year for Brazilian workers" and that the [popular] movements should demand changes in economic policy: "no more unemployed."

12.28.2015

By Bruno Pavan,
São Paulo (SP)

The year ending represented an extremely complex situation for Brazil. Faced with such a scenario, the popular movements built new connections of spaces for social struggles.

João Pedro Stedile, of the national directorate of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) and member of the Brazil Popular Front, believes that 2015 was "a lost year for Brazilian workers."

In an interview with Brazil de Fato, Stedile believes that "the drama of impeachment" must end by April 2016 and that next year will be marked by the struggle over the conduct of government economic policy. "No more unemployed," argues João Pedro.

Check out the full interview:

Brazil de Fato - How do you assess how the movements that make up the Brazil Popular Front are doing in the year that is ending, in terms of struggles and political confrontations?

João Pedro Stedile - The Brazil Popular Front is a broad front, an alliance of the different forms of organization of our people: popular movements, from the youth, trade unions and parties. We always take decisions by consensus; we have no governing bodies, nor spokesmen. So I can’t and shouldn’t speak for the Brazil Popular Front. I speak from what I see in the movements of Via Campesina, in popular movements and in my travels around Brazil. Overall, I think we can say that 2015 was a lost year for Brazilian workers. A year in which political mediocrity reigned. Most of the Brazilian people, with its 54 million votes, re-elected President Dilma [PT – Worker’s Party]. However, sectors of the ruling classes and the more conservative parties came up and wanted to resume the command of the Executive in tapetão.* They began conspiring since Dilma took office. For this they used the spaces in which they have hegemony – such as the corporate media, the judiciary and Congressional power - to try to overthrow the president. The federal government got scared, set up a mediocre ministry, which does not represent the forces that elected the president. And she [Dilma Rousseff, president of Brasil] spent the year defending herself, creating a situation of dispute and maneuvers just around the small policy.

And what is the assessment of the mobilizations?

Well, I think there was a year well played. Earlier, in March and April, many sectors of the institutional left did not want to go into the street. It was we, the popular movements and the unions, which insisted on the line that our main dispute with the right should be on the street. The Right peaked in March, and then decreasing in August and was met with ridicule in December. And the popular movements did the opposite direction: we were increasing slowly, and gave the change in December, with mass mobilizations in many capital cities, mainly São Paulo. I think we can now involve not only the militants, but many of the base began to stir and also went to the street. I think, on the street, the impeachment is defeated. For the small reactionary bourgeoisie who ranted calling for a coup, the return of the military, could not mobilize anyone other than themselves. In addition, the petty bourgeoisie in Brazilian society is negligible in terms of social base.

And the economy, which is the assessment?

The assessment is extremely negative in the economy. The Brazilian economy is going through a serious crisis, the result of its dependence on international capitalism and the hegemonic control of banks and transnational corporations. We ended the year with a drop of 4% in GDP. Productive investments fell, either by the government and state enterprises, or by entrepreneurs. The government committed a number of mistakes that exacerbated the crisis. First, it brought a neoliberal to the Ministry of Finance, which certainly would have been the ministry of the crony, Aécio Neves. Neoliberal measures increased the 7% interest rate to 14.25%, cuts in social spending, such fiscal adjustment, only produced more problems for the people and the economy. Inflation reached 10% per annum and unemployment averaged 8.9% of the working class. The National Treasury paid 484 billion reais in interest and amortization to banks. They used public money to ensure the profiteering of financial speculation, rather than investing in problem solving and productive investment. Fortunately, the minister fell. He left, however, a lost year. It is necessary to change the economic policy, not just the manager.

How do the popular movements analyze the environmental tragedy that happened in Mariana?

2015 will be marked by greatest environmental crime of the country's history, and perhaps one of the largest in the world. And what happened? The demand of the mining companies, in this case Vale, is to have maximum profit. In other countries, the waste [run-off, pollution] of the mining companies would have been treated. However, that costs more. Here, covered up by politicians and benevolent authorities that Vale finances, Vale prefers to let [the waste] be contained in dams – a procedure, according to experts, which has no safety. Already five dams have broken in the country, and there are another 48 under similar conditions. Thousands of people were affected. They killed the River Doce, along its entire length of 700 kilometers. And nobody knows how all this can be recovered. If we had a more courageous government, it was time to propose the re-nationalization of Vale, and use all their income to repair the damage. Incidentally, stalled for years is the process that annulled the auction of Vale [when Vale was privatized] for fraud, in the Federal Regional Court of Pará.

What is your evaluation of the performance of Congress, especially the House of Representatives, during 2015?

The Congress was the largest mirror of the political mediocrity during the year. First it elected Eduardo Cunha [PMDB-RJ] as Speaker of the House, although everyone knew of his schemes. And when he learned that the Prosecutor's Office would ask for his dismissal and imprisonment, he stepped forward and proposed the impeachment of President Dilma. But the spell turned against the witch and President Dilma was saved by the cruelty and manipulation of the sorcerer, who used false arguments. I'm sure that with the rite given by the Supreme Court, certainly the government will have the necessary votes in the House and Senate to stop the process.

It is necessary that Mr. Cunha is judged by the Supreme Court as soon as possible. But beyond the antics of this Brazilian Ali Baba, Congress proved extremely conservative in all matters submitted, some being approved, representing a setback, the destruction of constituency of 88 [National Constituent Assembly of 1988 which drew up a democratic constitution(link is external) for Brazil,(link is external) after 21 years under military rule.(link is external) The work of the Constituent Assembly was closed on September 2, 1988, after the vote and approval of the final text of the new Brazilian Constitution] and a complete dichotomy with the desires and practices of society. Various weird projects, meaningless, are going through Congress, especially the House. From the reduction of legal age for criminal punishment as an adult, the prohibition of putting on labels that the product is transgenic - denying information to the consumer, authorization for the use of sterile seeds; the privatization of Petrobras - Sierra senator's project [PSDB], to homophobic and extremely reactionary measures. All this is the result of the failure of the Brazilian parliamentary democracy, caused by the hijacking that companies have made by financing millions for political campaigns. According to the former minister Ciro Gomes, Congressman Eduardo Cunha would have distributed 350 million reais from companies to elect crony congresspersons, who now defend...

And what is the solution to this malfunction of Brazilian democracy?

We from the popular movements have defended the need for profound political reform, which make several changes in the political system, the electoral system, to return to the people the right to choose without media influences or capital. There are several bills introduced in the House, by various entities of the Democratic Coalition ... But this Congress does not want, nor is moral, to cut their own fingers. So, we can only fight for a Constituent Assembly, which will only come with rekindling the mass movement. So it will take, but it's the beginning output of a feasible and necessary policy.

And we had some achievement on the agenda of agrarian reform? How are the struggles and the government in this sector?

It was also a lost year for the landless and for family farms. The government escalated a good team in the Ministry of Agrarian Development and INCRA, but handed the Ministry of Agriculture to the worst in Brazilian politics. And with the cuts of neoliberal fiscal adjustment agrarian reform has been hit. The few achievements that occurred were the result of a lot of mobilization and social pressure. The government has not fulfilled its promise to accelerate the settlement of 120 thousand families camped in the country. There weren’t any new contracts for home construction in rural areas. The National Supply Company (Conab) left very good programs of the EAP (food program) involving simultaneous delivery to urban entities; there were resource cuts for Pronera [rural education] and for Ates (technical assistance to the settlers). Everything stood or worsened. In previous governments, we had won the national plan for the reduction of use of poisons (Pronara), seven ministers signed but the minister of poison in agriculture vetoed it, and the president did not dare to enact. The program to support agro-ecological agriculture (Planalpo), has good guidelines, but does not have resources ... and so on. We lost a year in family agriculture and agrarian reform. I hope the government stops deluding itself about agribusiness, which coupled with the profit of commodity exports by transnational corporations, but does not represent any gain for society. Even in agribusiness investments in machinery and inputs fell 30%.

What are the political prospects for the year 2016, from the viewpoint of popular movements?

We expect that by April the impeachment drama will end. And from there, the government recompose with a new alliance of ruling parties, with a new ministry adequate to the reality of society. And the government will again assume the commitments it made in the campaign. If the government does not give signs that it will change, it will take that defended the campaign, it will be a government that condemns itself to failure. It has no confidence of the elites, who tried to overthrow it, and at the same time does not take measures for the immense social base, which is 85% of the population. I hope the government has a minimum of political vision to choose the right side.

CUT has already expressed by the change of economic policy and made criticism of the government Dilma. How do you see this process?

CUT [Central Workers Union] and other unions had a very good performance during the year 2015, when they mobilized their bases, against the coup, but also to defend the rights of workers. I also read the note that CUT is welcoming the departure of Levy [Joaquim Levy, pro-austerity Minister of Finance, who resigned on December 18, 2015], but cautions the government that we need to change economic policy. And the signs that Mr. Barbosa [Nelson Barbosa, current Minister of Finance] is giving the press are not good, to resume neoliberal-corporate agenda of pension reform to raise the minimum age, tax reform, to consolidate the exemptions and labor reform to break the CLT {Brazilian labor laws]. CUT has warned that it will fight. And we will also together with the trade union movement. If the government increases the minimum age of rural retirement, there will be a revolt in the countryside and against the government. I'm just warning you.

Is there an alternative proposal for economic policy by the popular movements?

In 2015, about 150 of our best economists in the universities, trade unions and research institutes spent months discussing and presented a document with short and medium-term measures to exit the economic crisis. The government did not take the ball. It took the Brazil Popular Front to present the document to the government, which only occurred on December 16th. I have listened to many economists, entrepreneurs, researchers and nationalist politicians. And all have clear proposals. The problem is that the government is deaf and self-sufficient. The government needs to urgently present a recovery plan of economic growth, and propose a pact between workers and employers to cease rising unemployment. No more unemployed, beginning now.

I have heard proposals that could use $100 billion of our reserves – of which there are $350 billion - and therefore would not affect the flow of trade and no external payment. With these features, apply to productive investment in the economy, such as construction, which quickly enables all the economy, in infrastructure of the cities, family agriculture and education. Imagine applying over a few months 400 billion reais [about $100 billion dollars] into productive investments, certainly they would activate the economy to return to growth, providing jobs and income also for workers.

The government should lower the interest rate, and part of the funds paid to banks in interest move to Petrobras, resume their works, some there are only 10% to complete and are stopped. Also transfer resources to the BNDES [Brazilian Development Bank] to finance industry and big business in the cities. Proposals abound. The government lacks the courage to build a large social coalition of popular forces and businesses, to change the direction of its economic policy. If you continue the same bureaucracy and public accounts, it will be a government doomed to failure, and there is no way to defend it. For this it needs to show signs soon.

Even if you assess that the resolution of impeachment will take place at the beginning of the year, how are the movements organizing to address the issue?

During the month of January every movement will make their assessments, balance sheets and draw the lessons of 2015. Then we will conduct our national plenary Brazil Popular Front, to see what we will do together in 2016.

For now, there is a political will that, in the days or weeks of the decisive votes of the impeachment process, an encampment will be organized in Brasilia and the legislative assemblies in the capital. And also do massive vigils, in defense of democracy and against the coup. I attended a mobilization and popular assembly in Porto Alegre [RS], where we approved that we will repeat the encampment in front of the Piratini Palace [seat of the executive branch in the state of Rio Grande do Sul], in memory of Leonel Brizola, who in August 1961 broke the coup against Goulart [João Goulart, 24th president of Brazil, deposed by a military coup in 1964], in his campaign for legality. Now is the vigil for democracy and repeat the camp in front of the Piratini Palace.

Addressing expectations and outlook for 2016 are municipal elections part of this scenario?

The expectation we have is that the climate for mass mobilizations will increase during the first half of 2016: on the one hand, various sectors of the working class are facing more problems with unemployment, inflation; the other, more social sectors are realizing that only exit from the crisis is with popular mobilizations. The election period should galvanize attention only during the timing of campaigns. And yet, as there is a discouragement with the institutional policy, it is likely that in large cities there is an apathy for the process. In the inner cities, which determines municipal elections always revolves around people and families.

Finally, in your opinion, how should popular and leftist organizations behave next year?

We still have many challenges, historical; we must face the [next] year and the medium term. Brazilian society is facing an economic, social, political and environmental crisis. And this crisis will only be overcome with a project of the country that can bring together the majority of society to create a new hegemony around it. The financial capital and transnational corporations want to return to neoliberalism, but fail to achieve social hegemony, because Brazilians know that this project is concerned only with the big capitalists. The internal bourgeoisie, profitable, does not have a project. The petty bourgeoisie wanted impeachment and will be defeated. And the working class has not yet united around a project for the country. It is still stunned watching the problems.

We have the challenge to connect all means of popular alternative media, to cope with the daily massacre of the bourgeois media.

We have the challenge to take back the debate on the need for political reform, which will come only with a Constituent Assembly. And we have the challenge of pressuring the government to change its economic policy, to prevent the worsening of the problems of the economy and the working class. And if the government does not change until April, giving clear signals of which side it is on, it will surely lose its social base, and will become a government of permanent crisis until 2018.

Link: http://www.brasildefato.com.br/node/33797(link is external)

*An expression used in soccer when a team loses on the field, they take their case to the soccer “court.”

Backlash i Brasilien, högern och jordägarna slår tillbaka

Samtidigt med försöken att avsätta Dilma flyttar högern fram sina positioner, kan bero på nya styrkeförhållanden, backlash på gång redan nu? Kyrkans organ som stöder småbönder (CPT) påpekar att man nu angriper lagstiftningen kring slavliknande arbete. Ett förslag ligger i senaten att ta bort kraven på att egendomar som använder sig av slavarbetskraft skall köpas upp av staten.

ESCRAVIDÃO NO BRASIL, BASTA!

Hoje 10 de dezembro de 2015, Dia Internacional dos Direitos Humanos, na calada da noite escura que encobre um Congresso Nacional mais que nunca ilhado do povo real, o Senado Federal está pronto para dar um golpe fatal a um direito humano duramente conquistado pela sociedade brasileira nestes mais de 40 anos de combate à escravidão moderna.

Descartando qualquer discussão democrática, está para ser votada hoje a redução da definição legal do que é trabalho escravo no Brasil, numa lamentável tentativa para tornar inócua a Emenda Constitucional 81/2014 que determinou o confisco da propriedade onde trabalho escravo for encontrado. Ao ser aprovado o PLS 432/2013 de autoria do senador Romero Jucá, ficarão descartados como elementos caracterizadores deste crime a imposição de condições degradantes e de jornada exaustiva de trabalho.

Eu, Brígida Rocha, 32 anos, mãe, filha de trabalhadores rurais, assistente social no Centro de Defesa da Vida e dos Direitos Humanos de Açailândia, MA, e educadora da Campanha Nacional De Olho Aberto para não Virar Escravo, da Comissão Pastoral da Terra, venho a público denunciar esta manobra espúria que envergonha a todos nós.

Estando ás vésperas de receber o Prêmio Nacional de Direitos Humanos na categoria Combate e Enfrentamento ao Trabalho Escravo, gostaria apenas de ter vindo a público agradecer pela insígnia honra e pelo reconhecimento de tantos amigos e parceiros e parceiras desta luta. Sei que todos os resultados desses longos anos de luta são frutos da dedicação coletiva de milhares de militantes dos direitos humanos, Brasil afora. Somos muitos, somos agentes de cidadania, educadores sociais, advogados/as, assistentes sociais, psicólogos/as, lideranças, religiosos/as, missionários/as, crianças, adolescentes, artistas, quilombolas, indígenas, quebradeiras de coco, ribeirinhos, assentados, sem terras, ainda temos parceiros auditores/as fiscais do trabalho, procuradores/as do trabalho, e tantos outros que procuram construir uma rede eficiente de ação integrada para combater a escravidão. Todos irmanados naquele sonho de um país que garante justiça, liberdade e dignidade aos seus filhos e filhas, sem exceção. Por isso resistimos!

Gostaria, sim. Mas hoje estou com vontade de chorar.

Quantas vezes - este é meu trabalho diário – não escutei de trabalhadores/as que nos procuram que já não aguentam mais beber agua do açude barrento onde o gado também bebe, de comer carne apenas quando conseguem uma caça, de dormir amontoado no pequeno barraco de lona, sem paredes, ou mesmo no curral, repleto de embalagens de agrotóxicos e outros “Mata tudo”. Quantas vezes não presenciei eles pedirem a Deus para não chover, para que não tenham que passar mais uma noite no molhado? Ou não comer outra vez arroz com molho de pimenta malagueta ou feijão temperado só com sal? Ou não acordar de madrugada para preparar o boião ou a marmita e seguir para a juquira, e comer lá nas matas sem se quer ter agua de lavar as mãos, ou poder se quer descansar meia hora porque tem gato cobrando produção? Ou não ter que aguentar caladinho e humilhado, os palavrões que, de gente, os reduziram a coisa ou a bicho? Ou não ter que seguir trabalhando no medo de apanhar outra vez, sem outra opção a não ser sair fugir dos tiros, com corpo já marcado por panadas de facão, e pés inchados de correr nas matas?

Isso, ouvi e vi de tantos homens que fugiram de fazendas e carvoarias. Nem falo da falta de equipamentos de proteção, dos acidentes fatais, do pagamento que não vem nunca, da família que sofre.

Ficam tão cansados, tão enfadados que, ao chegarem, muitos desmaiam e até adoecem. Tudo isso é apenas metade do que vivenciam e nos contam.

Tudo isso são as condições degradantes e a jornada exaustiva que nossos nobres congressistas se preparam a eliminar de uma canetada. Desde quando isso não é a expressão óbvia da escravidão? Por qual malabarismo, pretendem agora reduzir a escravidão apenas às figuras tradicionais da servidão por dívida e do trabalho forçado, quando a experiência de mais de 50 mil brasileiros libertados do trabalho escravo desde 1995 está aí para testemunhar?

Todos os dias, temos sobreviventes desse crime ameaçados de morte ou ficando inválidos. Muitos já morreram. Todos os dias, há militantes ameaçados de morte, por denunciar isto. Buscam nos amedrontar e calar nossa voz. Basta!

Por isso estou aqui a gritar: Senadores, não cometam essa insensatez! Vão para consulta popular! Congressistas, tenham a vergonha do Brasil na cara! Presidenta Dilma, não tolere essa balbúrdia! E se eles teimam, veta!

Brígida Rocha, brasileira 

Ut med Eduardo Cunha

MST protesterar mot den gravt korrumperade Eduardo Cunha som nu inlett processen med impeachment av Dilma, trots att det är han som är den verkligt korrumperade. Man ser detta som en statskupp mot den demokratiskt valda Dilma

STATEMENT FROM MST ON THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT DILMA

The Landless Rural Workers Movement - MST, publicly denounces the attempt at an institutional coup d'Etat against the President of the Republic, Dilma Rousseff, promoted by the President of the Federal Chamber, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB/RJ), and reaffirms its commitment with the defense of democracy and the respect of the vote.  

We reject the behavior of Deputy Eduardo Cunha and we reaffirme that he is the reflection of the explicit alliance between the corporate media, led by the Globo network, together with the righ-wing political parties. Therefore, he lacks the moral, ethical or political legitimacy to propose the impeachment of the President of the Republic. 

All the attacks on the rights of the working class launched under the Presidency of Eduardo Cunha in the Chamber of Deputies, are being repelled with a great FORA CUNHA! (CUNHA OUT!) campaign. Therefore, we will still wave that flag until Cunha falls and his criminal culpability is proven in the established processes, resulting in his immediate imprisonment. 

We stress the need for the Dilma Administration to assume the program it was elected on in 2014 and excercise a mandate that defends the working class. Nevertheless, we do not accept any type of coup and we will defend the President's mandate legitmated by the votes. At the same time, we will continue struggling against the current economic policy of neoliberal characteristics, implemented under President Dima's second term, which penalizes the Brazilian population, promotes a regress in labor rights, benefits rentist capital and signals the surrender of our natural resources to the plundering of international capital. 

We believe that the political, economic, social and environmental crisis that we are undergoing today demands deep structural reforms that secure the consolidation and deepening of democracy, promote the distribution of income and wealth produced here and guarantee the sovereignty of our country. 

That is why we call upon all the militants and all the working class to struggle for the abrogation of the mandate and imprisonment of Eduardo Cunha under the understanding that only with structural reforms we can place Brazil in a new platform for democracy and social justice. 

Landless Rural Workers Movement - MST

Sao Paulo, December 3, 2015

- NOTA DO MST SOBRE O IMPEACHMENT DA PRESIDENTA DILMA

O Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra vem à público denunciar a tentativa de golpe institucional contra Presidenta da República, Dilma Rousseff, promovido pelo presidente da Câmara Federal, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB/RJ) e reafirma seu compromisso em defesa da democracia e do respeito ao voto.

Repudiamos o comportamento do deputado Eduardo Cunha e afirmamos que ele é reflexo da aliança explícita entre a mídia empresarial, liderada pela Rede Globo, seguida por partidos políticos de direita. Logo, não tem legitimidade moral, ética ou política de propor o impedimento da presidência da república. 

Todos os ataques aos direitos da classe trabalhadora, proferidos sob a Presidência de Eduardo Cunha na Câmara de Deputados, estão sendo respondidos com um grande FORA CUNHA! Portanto, seguiremos empunhando essa bandeira até que o Cunha caia e seja provada a sua culpabilidade criminosa nos processos instaurados, sendo imediatamente preso.

Salientamos a necessidade de o Governo Dilma assumir a pauta que a elegeu em 2014 e fazer um mandato que defenda a classe trabalhadora. Porém, não aceitamos nenhum tipo de golpe e vamos defender o mandato da Presidenta legitimado pelas urnas. Ao mesmo tempo, continuaremos lutando para combater a atual política econômica de viés neoliberal, implementada no segundo mandato da Presidenta Dilma, que penaliza a população brasileira, promove um retrocesso nos direitos trabalhistas, beneficia o capital rentista e sinaliza a entrega das nossas riquezas naturais à rapinagem do capital internacional.

Acreditamos que as crises política, econômica, social e ambiental que vivemos nos dias de hoje, exigem profundas reformas estruturais que assegurem a consolidação e aprofundamento da democracia, promovam a distribuição da renda e riqueza produzida aqui e garantam a soberania do nosso país. 

Por isso, convocamos toda a militância e toda a classe trabalhadora para lutar pela cassação do mandato e prisão de Eduardo Cunha. Entendendo que, somente com as reformas estruturais podemos colocar Brasil em um novo patamar de democracia e justiça social.

Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST

São Paulo, 03 de dezembro de 2015

Svenska pensionsfonder deltar i ”land grabbing” och fördrivning av människor

by Anders • 21 november, 2015 • 0 Comments

Denna av mig översatta artikel har publicerats av den lilla organisationen ”GRAIN” (spannmål) och av Globalresearch med titeln ”Top Swedish, US and Canadian Pension Funds Linked to Brazilian Land Grabs, Displacement of People” GRAIN är en liten internationell ideell organisation som arbetar för att stödja småjordbrukare och sociala rörelser i deras kamp för samhällsstyrda och biologisk mångfald baserade livsmedelssystem. I artikeln finns uppgifter om mediakontakter och var man kan beställa rapporten på GRAIN(https://www.grain.org/article/entries/5336-foreign-pension-funds-and-land-grabbing-in-brazil)

Sammanfattning◾En jordbruksfond som investerar i Brasilien förvaltas av TIAA-CREF i New York City
◾Farmförvärv är kopplade till brasilianska affärsman anklagas för våldsam beslag av mark och inblandning i penningtvätt
◾Farmer som förvärvats i Brasilien med hjälp av en bolagsstruktur som går vid sidan av bestämmelser om utländska investeringar
◾TIAA-CREF och pensionsfonds-investerare bryter mot internationella principer för investeringar i jordbruksmark investeringar som de utvecklat

Ett företag i New York som hanterar pensionssparande för arbetstagare i Sverige, USA och Kanada kringgår brasilianska lagar om utländska investeringar för att förvärva jordbruksmark från en affärsman som är anklagad för att våldsamt förskjuta och behandla lokalsamhällen, enligt en ny rapport, som släpptes 16/11 av Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos, GRAIN, Inter Pares, och Solidarity Sweden – Latin America (Solidaritet Sverige – Latinamerika.)

Rapporten med titeln ”Utländska pensionsfonder och landgrabbing i Brasilien (“Foreign Pension Funds and Land Grabbing in Brazil”) avslöjar hur svenska, amerikanska och kanadensiska pensionsfonder förvärvade jordbruksmarker i Brasilien med hjälp av en lokal affärsman anklagad för att använda våld och bedrägeri för att förskjuta småbönder.
Pensionsfonderna har investerat i Brasilien genom ett fond för jordbruksmark globalt som kallas TIAA-CREF Global Jordbruk LLC (TCGA). Fonden förvaltas av New York-baserade ”Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF)”. De som investerar i fonden inkluderar TIAA-CREF, Andra svenska AP-fonden (AP2) och Caisse de Dépôt et placering du Québec (CDP) och British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC) i Kanada.

I stället för att stödja affärsmannen, har hans tidigare arbetsgivare Världsbanken inte sagt särskilt mycket om hans fall och fortsätter till att finansiera den etiopiska regeringen, liksom regeringarna i USA, Storbritannien, Tyskland, Schweiz och Kanada.

”Under många år har dessa pensionsfonder vägrat att offentliggöra detaljerna om sina markaffärer i Brasilien, säger att vi borde lita på sina deras förfaranden”, säger Annelie Andersson i Solidaritet Sverige – Latinamerika.

Det tog tre år av utredningsarbetet för att hitta platsen för några av de jordbruksfastigheter som pensionsfonder förvärvat och vad vi hittade är i strid med principerna för ansvarsfull investering i jordbruksmark som dessa företag hävdar att de följer.
TIAA-CREF är en av grundarna av principer för ”the Principles of Responsible Investment in Farmland” (ansvarsfulla investeringar i jordbruksmark) och den största institutionella investerare i jordbruksmark globalt. Denna organisation påstår sig följa strikta rutiner för att kontrollera förhållandena för den mark som förvärvas och den påstår att alla jordbruksfastigheterna i Brasilien har förvärvats i enlighet med federala och lokala lagar som skyddar ursprungsbefolkningen och dess historiska arv och inhemska samhällsrättigheter.
Men rapporten visar hur TIAA-CREF och andra pensionsfonder förvärvat flera gårdar i de södra delarna av delstaterna Maranhão och Piauí, där markkonflikter och landgrabbing är utbredd och att dessa förvärv skett av en affärsman som anklagas för att använda våld och lönnmord att förvärva landområden där.
”Genom vår efterforskning i officiella dokument och intervjuer med lokala myndigheter och samhällen där pensionsfonderna har förvärvat gårdar, kunde vi konstatera att dessa utländska pensionsfonder flera gårdar förvärvat med hjälp av en affärsman som anklagas för olagligt förvärva stora markområden i området ” säger Fábio Pitta från den brasilianska organisationen Rede Social de Justiça e Direitos Humanos. ”Denna affärsman är känd för att använda förfalskade dokument och våld för att avhysa invånarna, och federala myndigheterna anklagar honom för penningtvätt och landgrabbing för flera miljoner dollar.”
Brasiliansk lagstiftning har utvecklats för att förhindra utländska investeringar i jordbruksmark i denna skala. Rapporten visar i detalj hur pensionsfonderna använde en komplex företagsstruktur och ett system av skuldebrev som tillåter dem att kringgå brasilianska föreskrifter.

”Människors hårt intjänade besparingar i Sverige, Kanada och USA används för att ta mark från småbönder i Brasilien för att bygga upp stora industriella jordbruk som förgiftar samhällena med bekämpningsmedel och beröva dem deras lokala vattenkällor”, säger Devlin Kuyek i GRAIN. ”Dessa samhällen får ingenting tillbaka: inga anständiga jobb, ingen ersättning, och ingen mat eftersom allt det exporteras någon annanstans.”

”Vi är djupt störda över att att se pensionsfonder för lönearbetare användas för att finansiera utbyggnaden av en modell för industriellt jordbruket som är så förödande för familjejordbruk”, säger Kathy Ozer från National Family Farm Coalition i USA. ”Denna typ av finansiell spekulation hindrar eller får familjejordbruk här i USA och Kanada att upphöra, och det måste stoppas.”

”Pensionsfonderna har bedragit de människor vars pengar de förvaltar att tro att de gör socialt ansvarsfulla investeringar”, säger David Brüer från Inter Pares. ”De borde genast avyttra sina investeringar i jordbruksmark och se till att all land de har förvärvat illegalt eller genom landgrabbing återlämnas till de lokala samhällena.”

7.4.1 ”Land grabbing” -Utdrag ur kommande uppdatera skrift på 100 sidor om ”USA som världspolis”.
Mellan år 2000 och 2010 köpte eller hyrde utländska investerare över 200 miljoner hektar jordbruksmark i utvecklingsländer – en yta mer än åtta gånger större än Storbritannien. En stor del av marken används för produktion av biobränslen. Utländska direktinvesteringar i jordbruk har femdubblats mellan 1989-1991 och 2005-2007. Investeringarna sker ofta under mycket förmånliga villkor för de utländska företagen i länder där de styrande är en slags kompradorbourgeoisi*. Ofta säljs eller hyrs den bördigaste marken ut billigt. Detta kan ses som en ny form av kolonial exploatering på bekostnad av fattiga människors försörjning.

“Det är brottsligt mot mänskligheten att omvandla jordbruksmark till produktion av biobränsle” enligt Jean Ziegler, FN:s särskilda rapportör on the Right to Food, oktober 2007 (Toussaint & Millet 2010). Ytterligare utveckling och expansion av biobränslesektorn kommer att medföra högre matpriser på medellång sikt och till osäker tillgång till mat för de mest sårbara befolkningsgrupperna i utvecklingsländerna” (OECD, 2008). Men de rika ländernas jordbrukspolitik möter också motstånd. Dubbelmoral inom tullområdet sköt WTO:s DOHA-runda (kapitel 4) i sank. Vid WTO:s femte ministerkonferens i Cancun 2003 vägrade utvecklingsländerna att göra fler eftergifter till USA och EU. Nätverket Via Campesina (”Bondens väg”) omfattar mer än 150 organisationer i drygt 50 länder och har enligt många lyckats visa att dagens paradigm inte medför en effektiv matproduktion.

MST protesterar mot angrepp på Joäo Pedro Stedile

The National Direction of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) come through this statement to repudiate the assault suffered by the member of the national coordination of MST, João Pedro Stédile, at the airport of the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, this Thursday evening.

For the MST this is not an isolated event, it reflects the current political moment that Brazil is going through, in which the hatred against the popular movements, immigrants and the poor black population is growing. As shows the recent events in Rio de Janeiro, where the marginalized youth from favelas are being prevented, at risk of assault, from going to the beaches of the south part of the city.

This acts of violence and hatred spreads over the social media, and reverberates increasingly on the streets. It is another demonstration of the brutality of Brazilian elite sectors willing to promote a wave of violence and hatred against the people.

Nevertheless, in another recent event of hatred against Stédile - when a wanted: dead or alive poster was released at the social media - we already alerted that the dimension of this events has its origins, above all, in a manipulative media that distorts information, at the same time that promotes hatred and prejudice against those who think differently.

These media, at service of a mad and fascist right, is responsible for generating this kind of criminal and hateful minds, feeding the streets and social media with anti-social end inhumane values.

However, these attitudes are not capable of keeping us from the struggle for land reform and the social rights that were historically denied to the Brazilian people. We won't accept that any participant of the popular movements suffers any kind of assault or insult for defending and fighting for social justice.

We commit to remain in the streets fighting in defense of democracy, the civil rights, the working class and the respect for human values.

“Dare to fight, dare to win!”

Lutar, Construir Reforma Agrária Popular!

(Struggle, build Popular Agrarian Reform.!

São Paulo, September 23th of 2015.

MST om politiska läget i Brasilien

The MST issues a statement about the current political situation and agrarian reform

Friday, September 11, 2015

The political crisis that began after the re-election of Dilma Rousseff and the offensive by the opposition and the most conservative sectors of the country has given us some warnings.

In the face of the national and international political situation, one of the main warnings is not to equate the political struggle with the electoral struggle and to not succumb to the pitfalls of traditional politics.

That said, the Movement is issuing its official position on the current political crisis and the current situation of agrarian reform in the country.

In addition to denouncing the persecution, killings and the criminalization of social movements in the city and in the countryside and criticizing the austerity that has impacted the working class very severely, the Movement is demanding that the federal government makes it a priority to settle all the 120,000 families in encampments (some for over ten years), establish a National Plan of Healthy Food Production and implement the National Agroecology Program, approved in 2012 and still not implemented.

THE POSITION OF THE MST ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION AND THE SITUATION OF AGRARIAN REFORM

 1. The Brazilian people have built democracy in the contradictions of class struggle. We still have a long way to go, but we will not allow any setback in the rights won in our people's struggle.

2. We built the BRAZILIAN PEOPLE'S FRONT, and all the initiatives of the Brazilian working class struggles to defend their rights and national causes, such as the mobilization scheduled for October 2 and 3 to advocate for changes in economic policy and the oil dispute, for the Brazilian people. In the face of projects to privatize Petrobras and deliver the pre-sal, breaking the rules of sharing and royalties for education.

3.We recognize the existence of a global economic crisis, but we do not believe that the workers should pay this bill. We are against the austerity measures and consider that the Dilma government is implementing neoliberal adjustment measures that harm workers' rights and slash social investments. We express our total disagreement with the current economic policy. And we demand that at least the President implements the program that got her elected.

4. The program for agrarian reform, which was already weak, suffered an aggressive cut of 64% in the MDA budget (Ministry of Agrarian Development) and the budget of INCRA (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform). Moreover, these agencies are threatened with being closed down.

5. We reject the suspension by the central government, yielding to pressure from large farmers, of Instruction n.83, which established rules to speed processes for obtaining land, mainly in areas with slave labor.

6. We demand that the federal government implement the commitments made by President Dilma, in audience with the national coordination of the MST held in December 2014, which agreed on the following:

a) Priority settlement of all the 120,000 families currently in encampments (some for more than 10 years). Present a plan with goals;

 b) Develop on an emergency basis a development project for the settlements, ensuring the necessary infrastructure;

c) Implement the agro-industry program for settlements;

d) Have a National Plan for Healthy Food Production. Implement the National Program of Agroecology, approved in 2012 and still waiting to be implemented;

e) Ensure the release of credits for families, as a fundamental right for the development of food production, especially to women, ensuring their economic autonomy;

f) Release and extend the capabilities needed for the Food Acquisition Program and strengthen the National School Nutrition Policy;

g) Ensure that all families in settlements have Technical Assistance. Ensure the management and operation of the National Rural Technical Assistance Agency together with the executive agencies for family farming;

h) Ensure resources for rural housing projects, especially for the 120,000 settlement families who do not own homes;

i) Free up the necessary resources for rural schools and especially for the PRONERA projects (National Education Program in Agrarian Reform).

 7. We denounce the persecution, killings and the criminalization of social movements. It is not a crime to struggle! We condemn the massacre orchestrated by agribusiness and the conservative forces against indigenous peoples, especially the Guarani people - Kaiowá. We demand the veto of the Anti-Terror law proposed by the executive branch, approved by Congress.

8. We will always struggle in defense of agrarian reform and to ensure the rights of our social base. We are committed to unified mobilization in the Brazilian countryside, with all the organizations and movements impacted by agribusiness and mining.

 9. The current situation of the class struggle summons us to the political struggle, spelled out in our specific slogans. Structural changes and the pressure to carry out the popular and structural reforms such as the agrarian reform, urban reform, political reform, the democratization of the media, university reform, go through an extensive process of social mobilization and strengthening of partnerships with the working class of the countryside and the city. Let's carry on with the struggle!

São Paulo, September 11, 2015.
National Leadership of the MST

Stoppa Roundup

Det har dragits igång en kampanj mot glifosat, det verksamma ämnet i Monsantos Roundup, WHO har klassificerat det som cancerogent och det används mycket i monokulturerna i Brasilien. MSTgruppen i Italien vill att vi driver detta på internationell nivå, för att äntligen få en seger på detta område

Se nedan på portugisiska



queridos/as amigos/as, certamente vocês sabem que há alguns meses
atrás, a Agência Internacional de Câncer IARC, agência da
Organização Mundial da Saúde OMS, classificou o glifosato como um
provável cancerígeno humano.

Desde então, a batalha contra o herbicida, o Roundup da Monsanto, tem
aumentada em todo o mundo. Mesmo em Itália, existe um grupo de
associações ambientalistas, de agricultores, comsumidores, Médicos
para o Meio Ambiente e do Movimento para Agua Bem Comum, que lançou o
Manifesto STOP Glifosato, pedindo ao governo italiano para bloquear o
uso e a venda do glifosato (Em anexo, em Português).

No final de 2015 na Europa expira a autorização para o uso de
glifosato e a Comissão Europeia deve voltar a autorizar ou não o uso
de glifosato.

O glifosato foi também encontrado em águas de superfície e de
profundidade e até mesmo na água potável.

Jà escrivei a Stedile e Marina dos Santos pedindo que Via Campesina
Internacional para lançar uma campanha internacional contra o glifosato
(sabemos quantas doenças que provocaa as fumigaciones sobre os cultivos
transgenicos mesmo no Brasil Argentina ..), e ajudar a coordenação da
Via Campesina na Europa organizar uma batalha para impedir a
reauthorization em União Europea, donde o glifosato è muito utilizado,
tambem para uso non agricolo

Acho que todos os Comites Amigos Mst de Europa e USa devem trabalhar
para isso, temos grande necessidade de uma vitória, esta é uma batalha
dificil, mas que podemos vencir , e seria uma derrota tremenda para o
agronegócio, a Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta etc., mas também seria um
grande obstáculo para a aprovação do Tratado de Livre Comércio entre
os Estados Unidos e Europa (TTIP).