Fortsatta hot i Brasilien

Sedan kongressen antagit Codigo Florestal, den nya skogslagen har avskogningen satt fart i Brasilien igen, framförallt de senaste månaderna. Skogsägarmaffian går nu till nya angrepp enligt nedanstående brev från Greenpeace Brasilien. Det handlar om andra områden som skyddas av lagstiftning, indianernas områden, naturskyddsområden och områden avsatta för jordreformen. Nyligen har det varit öppna konflikter kring indianernas områden.


Depois do Código Florestal, que dita regras sobre as áreas florestais dentro de propriedades privadas no país, a nova frente de batalha que começa a ser travada no Congresso Nacional é contra as áreas protegidas por lei. Unidades de Conservação, Terras Indígenas e assentamentos da reforma agrária são os novos alvos da bancada ruralista que quer transformar o Brasil no quintal do agronegócio.

Para tanto, os parlamentares representantes da parcela mais atrasada da economia não medem esforços e estão atacando por todos os lados. Em nome de um suposto progresso econômico, eles querem a abertura de mais áreas de floresta, não se importando com o avanço do desmatamento e na violação dos direitos de povos tradicionais como os indígenas. Precisamos agir agora contra o desmatamento.


As áreas protegidas são as últimas barreiras que ainda conseguem fazer frente à expansão desenfreada da fronteira agrícola no Brasil. E por isso mesmo elas estão sofrendo uma forte ofensiva, com direito a projetos de lei, emendas à Constituição e diversas outras medidas que atentam contra a sua manutenção e preservação.

Na esteira do ataque aos povos indígenas já estão programados ataques aos direitos trabalhistas, ao controle dos agrotóxicos e às regras para compra de terras por estrangeiros. Não podemos deixar que isso ganhe força. A sociedade está unida para defender os povos nativos – brasileiros como eu e você.

Brasília não está correspondendo ao apelo das ruas por mais cidadania e respeito aos direitos do povo. Os índios também são o povo, e levaram suas demandas ao governo. Mas estão sendo mais desrespeitados do que nunca. Vamos nos unir a eles. Colabore com a gente para que possamos manter nossas campanhas na rua em nome da proteção das florestas e daqueles que as habitam e defendem.

MST och protesterna

Den 11 juli försökte de brasilianska sociala rörelserna tillsammans med facket ta initiativet i de protester som hållit på i snart en månad. Mitt intryck är dock att de de inte fick med sig så många av de ungdomar som lett protesterna. Det kommer at vara intressant att se hur det utvecklar sig i Brasilien. Hur kommer protesterna att utvecklas politiskt?


National Day of Struggle - Brasil do Fato
National Day of Struggle: Track mobilizations across the countryRoad Blocade - Rio Grande de Sul
Follow coverage of the mobilizations, strikes, occupations and road blockades realized on Thursday (July 11) around the country
ALAGOAS
Unified mobilization block disposal plants in Alagoas
Unions and movements struggling for land blocked access to the Port of Maceió, the main outlet for production of the sugarcane industry in Alagoas
by Railton Teixeira, Maceió, Alagoas
Earlier on Thursday (11), hundreds of workers organized in peasant movements, trade unions and students blocked the entrance to the Port of Maceió (AL) in the neighborhood of the Jaragua. Protesters continue the Unified National Day of Struggle, which conducts a day of strikes and demonstrations across the country around an agenda of structural reforms.
The trade unions and movements of students and peasants are together demanding rights and social reforms to advance Brazil, among which the reduction of working hours to 40 hours per week without loss of pay and rejection of PL 4330, which loosens labor rights through outsourcing. The agenda of the free [transit] pass and public transport, urban reform and agrarian reform were also prominent.
For Deborah Nunes, form the national coordination of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), unified mobilization is a new direction to those who fight for social change in Brazil. "We support the implementation of agrarian reform and other structural reforms, an agenda already deep throughout Brazilian society, but not yet realized," she explained.
Among other points that unify the various organizations of the working class in Brazil today is the application of 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the education sector and 10% to the health sector. In full year 2013, the public debt service still consumes more than 40% of the budget, preventing investment in strategic areas for social development, such as land policy and education.
Peasants block major highways of Alagoas
The blockades started in the first hours and should extend throughout the day in order to get the message that "the stuggle has never stopped"
by Railton Teixeira, Maceió, Alagoas
Earlier on Thursday (July 11), peasant social movements blocked some major roads of Alagoas in adherence to the guidance of Via Campesina in the municipalities to organize this National Day of Struggle. The blockades started in the first hours and should extend throughout the day in order to get the message that "the struggle has never stopped."
Roads were blocked in the municipalities of Murici, União dos Palmares, Flexeiras, Novo Lino, Atalaia and Joaquim Gomes (forest area). Porto Calvo and Maragogi (coastal), Arapiraca, Girau Ponciano (uncultivated), Delmiro Gouveia, Olho D’Água do Casado e Olho D’água das Flores (sertão [semi-arid region of the Northeast]), and some cities in the low and mid São Francisco.
The mobilization has membership of the Liberation Movement of the Landless (MLST), Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), Movement Land, Labor and Freedom (MTL) and the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).
According Josival Oliveira, national leader of the MLST, rural workers were never silenced and always hold their demonstrations. According to him, the ways to protest today follow the same methodology adopted by peasant social movements.
Also according to him, land reform still remains the main banner of struggle that mobilizes the activities of peasant social movements. Adding to this, numerous other guidelines related to education, health, security, infrastructure and public policy, responsible for setting of rural workers in their land, are the main challenges encountered in the peasant struggle. "That's why our staff will be in our home towns, with blocking highways, so this way we can show society that at no time do we remain silent in the face of the oppressive system which kills rural workers and burns their homes" emphasized Oliveira.
He also pointed out that the federal government's intention is to stifle public policies in the countryside, thus taking the welfare programs, offered to city workers, from the farmers. In addition, they are blocking the resources allocated for agrarian reform settlements. "Thereby causing, in this way, the arbitrariness and atrocities perpetrated by the large estates. There being no guarantees in the law, plantation owners assume the right to send their gunmen to intimidate workers and thus enforce the militarization of the sugar plant," Oliveira concluded.
National Day of Struggle
BAHIA
Buses circulated normally in Salvador, but many banks are closed in the city. The BR-324, the main highway between the capital and the interior was blocked, as well as Via Parafuso, which gives access to the Polo Petrochemical Plant of Camaçari. A group of demonstrators protested near Feira de Santana. The protesters are focusing on Avenida  Sete, in the center, where there will be actions at 11 AM.
CEARÁ

People affected by the dams join the trade unions in Fortaleza
The MAB (Movement of People Affected the Dams)  and other organizations are in the streets fighting against privatization, for the end of the auction of oil fields and against the hydroelectric plants
The unions and social movements held demonstrations across the country on Thursday (July 11) and in Fortaleza there is happening  a great act of the working class unity in the Ferreira Square, in the city center.
Besides the people affected by the dams and the landless, the mobilization has also attended by metallurgical, chemical, commercial and rural, workers in the food industry, construction workers, seamstresses, sanitation and maintenance employees, bakers, couriers, household workers, among others.
The Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) and other organizations are in the streets fighting against privatization, the end of the auction of oil and hydroelectric plants, for lower rates on electricity, land reform and the rights of people affected by dams and for a plebiscite for political reform, among other issues.
Besides these, the agendas of workers demand the end of the security factor [used to calculate social security benefits, introduced during the presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 10% of GDP to health, 10% of GDP to education, reduction of working hours to 40 hours; valuation of pensions [to increase based on inflation and other factors]; quality public transportation, changes in the auctions of oil leases; rejection of PL 4330 [legislation on outsourcing], political reform, urban reform and democratization of the media.
 DISTRITO FEDERAL

In the Federal District, MST occupies national INCRA office and blockades highways
The movement will also attend the Unified March of the Working Class, which will take place at the esplanade of the Ministries

Pagina do MST
On Thursday (July 11), the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) held the national headquarters of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), in Brasília (DF). The purpose of mobilization is to require resumption of land reform by the national government.
According to Maria Lucimar da Silva, leader of the MST in the Federal District, land reform is completely paralyzed and INCRA has not fulfilled its role.
"The government has to reduce bureaucracy and throw out “policy of paper.” Dialogue only is not enough, we want to see the results in practice, with the settlement of 150,000 families in  encampments, with the implementation of new credit that benefits the settlers and settlements. And especially that INCRA work for the development of agrarian reform and not cut it short," he says.
Integrating with the agenda of the national mobilization, BR 020 (km 103) was blockaded from 6 o'clock in the morning. 400 people from the MST, Popular Peasant Movement (MCP) and Associations of Flores de Goiás participated in the action. The region has about 30 settlements and farmers are responsible for supplying the food production for the local population. BR 188, the perimeter of Unaí - Minas Gerais, is also blocked.
The actions are part of the day of mobilizations of labor unions, political organizations and movements of the working class to take to the streets of the country this July 11.
In Brasilia, the movement also attended the Unified March of the Working Class, which took place at the Esplanade of the Ministries.
ESPIRITO SANTO
At the bus station of Vitória, the buses were stopped, as well as passenger trains of the Railway Vitória a Minas (EFVM). Taxi drivers also joined the movement. Hospitals only met urgent and emergency cases. A group of protesters is concentrated at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, and will then marched up to the Legislature, which has been busy the last 2 days. In Old Town, the Military Police blocked the passage of vehicles at the Third Bridge, where a group of protesters gathered. They marched to Vitória.
GOIAS
Thousands of Goianese peasants participate in national strike
The fight is part of the national strike for reforms and economic and social change, articulated between popular movements, trade unions and the working class
About three thousand family farmers from the Popular Peasant Movement, mobilized, on Thursday (July 11), demonstrations Goiania, Catalan, Flores de Goiás and Itapaci with public events and road closures. The fight is part of the national strike for reforms and economic and social change, articulated between popular movements, trade unions and the working class. In Goiás, the National Day of Struggle counted more than 60,000 demonstrators. Throughout Brazil, thousands of workers, people living in rural area, by the water and forests participated in demonstrations. In Goiânia, the public act had concentrations at 10 am in the Plaza of the Bandeirante and the highways were closed in BR020 in the intersection of Flores in Goiás, in BR 153 in the intersection of Itapaci and BR 050 in Catalão at the intersection of mining roads.
The common agenda of demands, entitled Letter to the Workers of Brazil, covers ten items: national sovereignty over land, agrarian reform, structural policies for youth and women, agro-ecological food production, people's rights, banning pesticides and GMOs, deforestation control, cancellation of privatization of natural resources, rural schools and end the tax break to large exporters. The document is signed by the organizations: ABEEF, OPEN, JOINS, ANA, APIB, CIMI, CONAQ, CONTAG ENEBIO, FEAB, FETRAF, MAB, MAM, MCP, MMC, MPA, MPP, MST, PJR, SINPAF and Via Campesina.
In the countryside, there is a huge social debt and inequalities are increasing. About 8,300 large landowners, alone, own 83 million acres, while 4.3 million families of workers of peasant and family farming have 70 million hectares. However, peasant farming is responsible for producing 70% of food that goes to table the Brazilian people.
In Goiás, the situation is even more serious, by its location in the center of agribusiness. The structure of the land in the state, which has one of the highest concentration in Brazil, has been built by the forces that oppose democratization of land. Goias has 88,400 family farms that occupy 8,228,000 acres, with an average of 8.9 acres per farm. Family farmers are responsible for the production of staple foods that supply most products to the table of Goiás. Given this situation, the MCP also expresses its dissatisfaction and will go to the streets once again, the peasant agenda for discussion. Social struggles are legitimate and they can only improve the living conditions of the people.
Those affected by the Serra da Mesa hydroelectric dam protest in northern Goiás
The approximately 250 protesters demand a decrease in the price of electricity, improvements in health and education and a policy of rights for those affected by dams
On Thursday (July 11), people affected by the Serra da Mesa dam, in Goiás, returned to the streets of the city center in Uruaçu in order to demand from municipal, state and federal public authorities better living conditions for the population. The demonstrations reinforce protests throughout Brazil staged by Labor Unions and Social Movements in the countryside and the city.
The approximately 250 protesters, organized in the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), demanded decreases in the price of electricity, improvements in health and education and a policy to direct affected by dams.
According Agenor Costa e Silva, coordinator of the MAB in Goiás, "dams in the region have left serious negative consequences for families, many of them have not yet received compensation and families living by the river had to come and live in the city to survive." He further states that those affected want a rights policy not just on the paper so that the needs of the families can be met.
"The report of the National Council of Defense of Human Rights (CDDPH) recognizes that in the region there are serious human rights violations and then nothing was accomplished by the companies responsible for the works, much less by the Brazilian government. The creation of the policy is the least the government can do, "said the coordinator.
 MARANHAO
MST closes BR 222 in the region of Itapecuru in Maranhão
With more than 300 people, the protest is against the invasion of peasant and quilombo territory by and agri-businessess

Pagina do MST
As part of the demonstrations of the National Day of Struggle, on Thursday (July 11), organized by trade union centrals and social movements in Brazil, the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) in Maranhão, along with teacher organizations, students, rural labor unions, quilombo and local communities, occupied BR 222, at the entrance of the city of Vargem Grande.
With more than 300 people, the protest is against the invasion of peasant and quilombo territories by agribusiness companies, for better infrastructure in the settlements and schools, and for youth policies.
Protesters proceed to collect the city municipal demands.
MATO GROSSO DO SUL
About 12,000 people gathered in the square Rádio in Campo Grande (MS), to participate in a unified acts during the morning, according to the Military Police. Militants from the Federation of Education Workers of Mato Grosso do Sul (Fetems), from the Federation of Agricultural Workers of Mato Grosso do Sul (Fetagri) and from the Union of Workers in Construction and Furniture Campo Grande (Sintracom), plus agents of the Company Independent Policing Transit Capital (Ciptran), Municipal Transit Agency (Agetran) and farmers linked to the MST participated.
MINAS GERAIS
MST participates in mobilization in Triangulo Mineiro
The mobilization started at 2 PM, with a concentration in Tubal Vilela Square, in the city center. Then follow on protesters walk along Avenida João Naves to the town hall

Pagina do MST
On Thursday (July 11), about 100 families of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) participate in unified acts with trade union centrals and social movements, along with other social movements, trade unions and left parties in Uberlândia, in Triangulo Mineiro (MG)
The mobilization started at 2 PM, with a concentration in Tubal Vilela Square, in the city center. Then follow on protesters walk along Avenida João Naves to city hall, where they handed a list of demands to the mayor Gilmar Machado (PT).
In Uberlândia, protests demanded fare reduction and improved public transport, 10% of the national budget for public health, no privatization of university hospitals, reduction of working hours to 40 hours without loss of pay, shelving PL 4330 that implements the outsourcing of labor and ends with the guarantee of workers' rights, suspension of auctions of oil, against changing the Mineral Code and for the realization of the land reform program, among other demands.
The mobilization is part of the Unified National Labor Unions and Social Movements, performing demonstrations and strikes throughout the country on Thursday, to claim a political platform with the reduction of working hours, investment of 10% of GDP in health and education, free and quality public transport, media democratization and land reform, with the settlement of 150,000 families camped in the country.
 PARÁ
Residents of Novo Brasil demand improvements in municipal health
Among the guidelines is the change in municipal management, health care improvements, implementation of a public hospital, proper functioning of health centers and implementation where none exist

Around 300 residents of the municipality of Novo Brasil in Pará protested in front of the city hall to demand improvements in the health of the city. The protesters met at the airfield of the city and went on a march around town.
Among the guidelines is the change in municipal management, health care improvements, implementation of a public hospital, proper functioning of health centers (where they exist) and implementation where they don’t exist, in neighborhoods and rural communities, and ensuring water quality and in sufficient quantity for all the families of the rural villages and seats of the municipality.
"It's a shame a city like Novo Brasil, in the face of all the impacts caused by the Belo Monte dam, not having a public hospital, because health is a right of the people and not a commodity," said Claret Fernandes, activist of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) and the parish priest of the town.
After sharing several testimonials about how these health problems affect people's lives, including deaths from medical errors, the protesters decided to forward the complaints to the Pará Society for the Defense of Human Rights. In addition, the Mayor is committed to schedule a public hearing to submit solutions.
The actions were organized by the Commission for Justice and Peace (CJP), MAB, Acampamento Novo Horizonte, Levante Popular Youth and Youth Ministry. At the end of the activity, the protesters pasted posters on the door of the city hall and wrote messages of protest on the ground.
 PARANÁ
Social movements occupy 21 toll plazas in Paraná
Reducing the toll, land reform, public policies for peasant agriculture and popular plebiscite are the main points of demand

MST Paraná
From 9 o'clock this Thursday (July 11), members of social movements, organizations and unions organized around a common political platform freed the passage of vehicles at 21 toll plazas in Paraná, under national day of strike and working class struggle.
The mobilization aims to require the immediate reduction of tolls collected today by the dealers who administer the toll plazas, whose price is one of the highest in the country. Workers also demand from the government the implementation of land reform,  for the immediate settlement of thousands of families in encampments, since, in the state of Paraná alone there are about six thousand families in encampments.
Protesters also demand public policy support, incentives and credit for producing cheap, healthy food without poisons, with the strengthening of the peasantry and the adoption of structural programs for youth and rural women. In addition, they also support all popular demands and necessity for political reform and demand the immediate convocation of a popular plebiscite.
Opening the toll plazas were: Campo Mourão, Corbélia, Cascavel, Santa Terezinha do Itaipu, Céu Azul, Nova Laranjeiras, Candói, Guarapuava, Presidente Castelo Branco, Floresta, Mandaguari, Arapongas, Jataizinho, Sertaneja, Cambará, Mauá da Serra , Imbaú, Irati, Lapa, São Luiz do Purunã e Litoral.
PERNAMBUCO
In Recife, the protests of the National Day of Struggle concentrated in the industrial port of Suape where some federal roads were occupied by protesters. The BR-232 is locked at 143 km in front of an MST settlement. Other routes, such as the BR-116, BR-428, BR-194 and BR-101, are also occupied in some sections.
RIO DE JANEIRONational Day of Struggle
Protests block highways in the state of Rio de Janeiro
In addition to the national guidelines, the protesters in Macaé ask for a reduction of spending by the city hall and the city council and for basic sanitation throughout the municipality

Vitor Abdala, Agência Brasil
Protesters blocked in the early morning of Thursday (July 11) a bridge connecting the towns of River Oysters and Macaé, north of Rio de Janeiro. The protest, coordinated by the Union of Oil Workers of North Fluminense (Sindipetro-NF) and the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), and had the participation of other social movements.
About 5 am, they closed the highway connecting the two cities and set fire to tires in the front of the Parque dos Tubos in locality Imboassica in Macaé. In addition to the national guidelines, the protesters ask Macaé to reduce the spending of the city  and the city council and for basic sanitation throughout the county.
In the metropolitan area, protesters occupied lanes of BR-463, in the municipality of Itaguaí. They set fire to tires and sticks in front of the headquarters of Nuclebras Heavy Equipment (Nuclep), the state owned company that manufactures submarine hulls and equipment for oil rigs and nuclear plants. According to the Federal Highway Police, the protest was fast and the lanes  are already opened.
According to a spokesperson for the Nuclep, the Itaguaí factory is closed today because their employees have joined the national strike and participated in demonstrations outside the state.
 BlockadeRIO GRANDE DO SUL
Protesters blockade bus exits and the highway in Erechim (RS)
The protesters, who continue the occupation throughout the day, demanding 100% quality public transport  with free passes for students and low-income workers
In the early hours of Thursday (July 11), around 150 people occupied the front of the company Gaurama, single concessionaire responsible for public transportation in the city of Erechim for over 60 years, in Rio Grande do Sul, preventing the buses from leaving.
The protest was organized by the Bloc of Popular Struggles, a coalition that brings together students from the Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul (UFFS), Seção Sindical dos Docentes da UFFS (SINDUFFS), Associação dos Docentes da UFFS (ADUFFS), Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), Sindicato dos Comerciários, Sindicato da Alimentação, Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos, Kizomba, Marcha Mundial das Mulheres, Levante Popular da Juventude, A.D.R., Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB), Contraste Movimento LGBT.
Movements of Via Campesina, Fetraf and urban movements also blocked this morning BR 153, in two sections that give access Erechim. The nearly 800 militants claim the immediate release of the Program for Promotion, Enhancement and Sustainability of peasant agriculture, in addition to supporting the demand for the reduction of working hours to 40 hours.
SÃO PAULO

More than 15,000  metalurical workers demand government economic policy for workersmetalugical workers
Among the factories that had stopped their production are General Motors, Embraer, Avibras and TI Automotive
Sindimetal / SJC
More than 15,000 metallurgical workers from 20 plants participated in demonstrations for the  National Day of Demonstrations, Strikes and Shutdowns in São José dos Campos, Jacarei and Cacapava, in São Paulo, on Thursday (July 11). Among the factories that had stopped its production are General Motors, Embraer, Avibras and TI Automotive. There was still occupation of the Presidente Dutra highway in three spots in the region.
At GM, the metalworkers went on strike for 24 hours and stopped the Via Dutra, km 142, São José dos Campos, by 2:15 AM. There were also shutdowns of highway access to Embraer and Cacapava. At Embraer, the production was delayed by three hours. The demonstrations also caused delays in other factories in the sector and the Aerospace Technical Center (CTA).
With lines of marches, workers of all factories demanded from the Dilma government an economic policy in favor of workers, with measures such as the reduction of the working day, the end of the security factor, the adoption of national metalworkers' collective contract, the end of the outsourcing and other demands, such as an end to corruption and the confiscation of property of corrupt and corrupting.
 Avibras
The metallurgical workers from Avibras (unit IV) stopped 100% of production and will only return to work tomorrow. In addition to the demands of the class, they are also fighting against the delay in payment of wages, which have not paid to the workers since May 30. The Avibras factory has 1,200 employees and produces military equipment. It currently has a contract with the Brazilian Navy.

Cacapava
In the city of Cacapava, two companies stopped: Graúna, a provider of Embraer, and Blue Tech, a supplier of LG and formed mainly by women. Metallurgical workers from two plants teamed up and stopped the Via Dutra for two hours, between km 127 and 132.
Workers of the Graúna continue to rally in Cacapava Forum, where they will demand the release of payment of labor rights, as FGTS severance payment. The company has a debt accumulated labor in U.S. $ 3.5 million.
Jacareí
In Jacarei, workers of five factories attended the National Day of Strikes. In four of them (Parker Hannifin, Emerson, Schrader and DMT), the downtime is 24 hours. In Wirex Cable, the production was stopped for 2 hours.
"The National Day of Mobilizations, Strikes and Shutdowns already entered the history of workers' struggles in the country, and the metalworkers of our region had a very important role. After the victorious protests led by youth, came time  for workers to demand of President Dilma an economic policy that favors the country's workers. It's time the government meets our demands and takes action in favor of the working class," says the president of the Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos, Antonio Ferreira de Barros, Macapá.
The demonstrations are being called by all the unions in the country, with a unified agenda, which includes: reduction of working hours; end of pension factor and increase of pensions; against PL 4330 promoting outsourcing, reduction of  the price and improvement in the quality of public transport, more investment in public health and education, land reform, and the end of auction of oil reserves.
 TOCANTINS
In Tocantins, people affected by the dam block the Estreito hydroelectric plant
The demonstration demands the immediate resettlement of over 800 families who have been camped since the inauguration of the dam, which occurred on the 17th of October last year
This morning (July 11), approximately 900 of people affected blocked the entrance of the Estreito Power Plant in the state of Tocantins. The protest is organized by the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) and the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST).
The demonstration demands the immediate resettlement of over 800 families who set up a camp since the inauguration of the plant, which took place on October 17 last year.
Moreover, those affected require a water supply, both for families camped and for families settled, and a program of economic compensation for the fishermen, because of the dramatic decrease in fish due to the dam.
"We will not accept that a work that generates profit for private companies will  let more than 800 affected families without land, without water and without power. The Brazilian state can no longer be omitted and hope for the immediate adoption of a national policy of rights for those affected by dams," said national coordinator of the MAB, Cirineu da Rocha.
The Esterito Hydroelectric Plant, built by Energy Consortium (Ceste), formed by GDF Suez, Vale, Alcoa and Camargo Corrêa, is located on the Tocantins River, the border between the states of Maranhão and Tocantins, with total capacity of 1,087 MW, enough to meet the needs of a city with 4 million inhabitants.

MST:s Joao Pedro Stedile om upproret i Brasilien

The Meaning and Prospects of the Street Mobilizations: an Interview with João Pedro Stedile

By Nilton Viana in Brasil do Fato (Tuesday, June 25, 2013)

"It is time for the government to ally with the people or pay the bill in the future." This is one of the
 evaluations of João Pedro Stedile, from the national coordination of the MST on demonstrations across the 
country. According to him, there is an urban crisis installed in Brazilian cities, provoked by this stage of finance 
capitalism. "People are living a hell in the big cities, losing three, four hours a day in traffic when they could be 
with  family, studying or having cultural activities," he says.

For the MST leader, the reduction of transit fares mattered a lot to all the people and this was 
the appeal of the Free Pass Movement, who knew how to summon for the mobilization in the 
name of the interests of the people.

In this exclusive to Brazil de Fato, Stédile talks about the character of these mobilizations, and 
makes a call: we must be aware of the nature of these demonstrations and we must all go to the
streets to contest for the hearts and minds and to politicize this youth which has no experience 
of the class struggle. "The young are fed up with the methods of commercial bourgeois politics," he notes. 

And he warns: the most serious target was that the institutional left parties, all of which have 
been formed by these methods. They are aged and bureaucratized. Popular forces and leftist 
parties need to put all their energies to go to the street, as is happening, in every city, in every 
demonstration, an ongoing ideological debate on the struggle of class interests. 
"We need to explain to the people who are their main enemies." 

1. Brasil de Fato: What is your analysis of the recent protests which have been shaking
 Brazil in the last few weeks? What is the economic basis for them to happen? 

Joao Pedro Stedile: There are many assessments for the reasons that led to these 
demonstrations. I agree with the views of Professor Erminia Maricato, who is our greatest 
expert on urban issues and has acted in the Ministry of the Cities during Olivio Dutra's 
[Ed. a founder of the Workers Party, mayor of Porto Alegre, governor of Rio Grande de Sul 
and Minister of Cities] administration. She defends the thesis that there is an urban crisis in 
Brazilian cities caused by the current stage of financial capitalism. There has been enormous 
speculation on the property market which raised rents and the price of land by 150% in the last 
three years. Capital has financed car sales, without government control, in order to send money 
abroad, causing chaos in our traffic. In the last ten years, there was no investment in public 
transport. The housing program "My Home, My Life" pushed the poor into the outskirts of the city, 
without any infra-structure. All that has generated a structural crises in which people live in hell, 
in big cities, wasting three, four hours a day in traffic, when they could be with their family, studying 
or involved in cultural activities. Add to that the awful quality of public services in special health care, 
and even education, from elementary school, secondary school where students leave without being 
able to write a composition. And college education has been turned into shops selling diplomas in 
installments, which is where 70% of all college students are. 

2. What happened in political terms? 

JPS: The fifteen years of neoliberalism added to the last ten years of a class composition government 
rendered politics solely hostage of capital interests. Political parties have become old in their practices 
and became mere acronyms agglutinating, in its large majority, opportunists aspiring to rise up in 
public positions or fight over public resources or serve their own personal interests. The youth born 
after the "diretas ja" [direct presidential elections now], did not have the opportunity to participate in 
politics. Today, in order to dispute any position, for example, for councilor [city council], you need to 
have more than one million reais [approximately 2 reais to the dollar]; a deputy costs around ten million.
Capitalists pay and later politicians follow orders. Young people are fed up with this bourgeois way of 
doing politics, strictly commercial. But what is even more serious was the fact that political parties from 
the institutional left, all of them, adapted to those methods. And, therefore, provoked a sharp aversion 
to the way political parties act. The youth is not apolitical, quite the opposite, so much so that they took 
politics to the streets, even without being aware of its meaning. But they are saying that they can't take 
it anymore watching these political practices on TV, which kidnaped people's vote, based on lies and manipulation. 

3. And why did these demonstrations only break out now? 

JPS: Probably it was a sum of several factors of mass psychology nature, rather than a planned 
political decision. Added to that the climate mentioned above, plus accusations of over billing for 
the construction of the stadiums, which the people felt was an insult. Let's look at some facts. 
Globo TV received from the state government and the city of Rio, 20 million reais of public money, 
to organize a two hour "little show" for the draw of the games of the confederation cup. The stadium 
in Brasilia cost R$ 1.4 billion and there are no public buses in the city! It is an explicit dictatorship 
imposed by FIFA which all governments submitted to. The reopening of Maracanã [Rio de 
Janeiro’s main stadium] was a slap on the face of the Brazilian people. The pictures were clear, 
in the greatest temple of the world's football there was not a single black or mixed race person! 
And the rise of bus fares was the last drop. It was only a spark to ignite a generalized feeling of 
revolt, indignation. Just as well the youth woke up.

4. Why have the working class not taken to the streets yet? 

JPS: It is true the working class did not go to the streets yet. Those who are on the streets are the 
children from the middle classes, the low middle classes, and also some young people which 
Andre Singer would call sub-proletariat, who study and work at the service sector, who experienced 
an improvement in their consumption status, but want to be heard. 

The reduction of the bus fare was very important for people as whole and that is where the Free 
Fare Movement got it right, they were able to call for mobilizations according to the interests of the 
people. And the people supported the demonstrations and that was expressed by the popularity 
index of the youth, especially when they were repressed. 

The working class takes longer to move, but when they move, they affect capital directly. Something 
that has not happened yet. I think that the organizations that are mediating with the working classes 
have not yet understood the moment and are still a bit shy. But the class, as a class is prepared to 
struggle, I think. Look, the number of strikes for better salaries has already recovered to the patterns 
of the 80’s. I think it is just a matter of time, and if the mediations strike the right banners to motivate 
the class to move. In the last few days, one can see that in some smaller cities and in the outskirts 
of large cities demonstrations are already starting to have very clear demands. That is very important.

5. And what about you from the MST and peasants, who have not moved yet?

JPS: It is true. In the capitals where we have settlements and family farmers nearby, we are already participating. I am also witness that we were very well received with our red flag and our demand for Agrarian Reform and healthy and cheap foods for everyone. I think in the next few weeks there will be a greater accession, including demonstrations from peasants on roads and counties in the countryside. Our militancy is eager to join the fight and mobilize. I hope they also move soon.

6. What is your opinion about the source of the violence that is happening in some demonstrations? 

JPS: First of all let's relativize things. The bourgeoisie through its TV channels is using the tactics of scarring people, showing only images of troublemakers and riots. They are a minority and are insignificant compared to the thousands of people who have mobilized. The right is only interested in planting in the imaginary of the population that it is only a mess, and at the end if there is chaos, blame the government and demand the presence of the army. I hope the government will not make the mistake of calling the national guard and the army to repress the demonstrations. That is exactly what the right dreams about!

The way the military police intervenes is provoking those scenes of violence. There are organized right wing groups with instructions to provoke and loot. In São Paulo there are fascist groups acting. In Rio de Janeiro there are organized militias protecting the conservative politicians. And of course, there is also the lumpen that turn up in every popular mobilization, be it in stadiums, carnival, even in church celebrations, trying to take some personal benefits. 

7. Is there a class struggle on the streets then or is it only the youth manifesting their indignation? 

JPS: Of course there is class struggle on the streets. Even though it is still concentrated in ideological debate. What is even more serious, the actual mobilized youth, due to its class origins, is not aware that is participating in ideological struggle. Look they are doing politics in its best possible way, on the streets. And then, they write in their posters: we are against political parties and politics? That is why the messages in the posters have been so diffuse. It is happening in every city, each demonstration, a permanent ideological debate of class interests. Young people are being fought for by the ideas of the right and the left. By capitalists and by the working class.

8. What are the objectives of the right and its proposals? 

JPS: The dominant class, capitalists and their ideological spokespersons who show up on TV every day, have a major objective: to wear out as much as possible the government of Dilma, to weaken the organization of the working class, to weaken the proposals for structural changes in Brazilian society and to win the elections of 2014, in order to recompose a total hegemony in the command of the Brazilian state, which is now in dispute.

In order to reach those objectives they are still feeling their way, alternating tactics. Sometimes they provoke violence, to take the focus from the objectives of the youth. Other times they use the posters of the youth to carry their messages. For example, the demonstration on Saturday , however small, in São Paulo, was totally manipulated by right wing sectors who guided it only for the struggle against PEC 37[Ed. PEC 37 is a constitutional amendment to limit the ability to investigate corrupt officials, rejected by Congress on June 26, 2013], with the same posters ... same calls. Certainly the majority of young people don't even know what that is all about. And it is a secondary theme for the working class, but the right is trying to raise the flags of morality, as was done with UDN [Ed. União Democrática Nacional – National Democratic Union – political party formed to oppose Getúlio Vargas and generally supported the 1964 military coup] in the past.

I have seen in social networks controlled by the right that their flags, besides PEC 37 are: for Renan to leave the Senate; CPI [Parliamentary Commission of Investigation] or transparency of the expenditures of the CUP; to declare corruption as a heinous crime and the end of the special forum for politicians. Now, fascist groups rehearse “OUT DILMA” and petition for impeachment.

Luckily those banners have nothing to do with the living conditions of the masses, even if they can be manipulated by the media. Objectively speaking, they are a shot in the foot. After all, it is the Brazilian bourgeoisie, its entrepreneurs and politicians who are the greatest practitioners of corruption and the ones who corrupt. Who appropriated the enormous cost of the World Cup? Globo TV and construction companies!

9. What are the challenges for the working class, popular organizations and political parties? 

JPS: There are many challenges. First of all we must keep in mind the nature of those demonstrations, and we must all go to the streets, to fight for hearts and minds in order to politicize this youth who has no experience with class struggle. Second, the working class must move. Go to the streets, protest in the factories, fields and construction sites, as Gerald Vandré [Brazilian singer who opposed the military dictatorship and was exiled] would say. Raise their demands to solve concrete class problems, in economic and political terms. 

We need to take the initiative and guide the debate in society and demand the approval of the project to reduce the working hours per week to 40 hours; demand priority of public investments in health, education and agrarian reform. To do so the government must cut interest rates and transfer resources from the primary surplus, those R$ 200 billion that every year go to 20,000 rich, rentiers, creditors of an internal debt that never existed, and switch those resources for productive and social investments. 

We need to approve an urgent system to be in place in the next elections, a robust political reform, which at least institutes the exclusive public financing of campaigns. The right to revoke mandates and self-called popular referendums. 

We need a tax reform and the return of ICMs [tax over the circulation of commodities] for primary exports, penalizing the wealth of the rich, in order to ease taxes on the poor, who are the ones who pay more. We need the government to stop oil auctions and all privatizing concessions of minerals and other public areas. There is no point in applying the sum of oil royalties in education, if these royalties represent only 8% of the oil revenues, and the other 92% will go to transnational corporations that will have the oil in the auctions!

We need a structural urban reform, and a return to prioritizing zero tariff and quality public transport. It has been proven that it is not expensive, nor difficult to have free transport for the masses of the capitals. And control real estate speculation.

Finally, we need to use this opportunity and approve the project of the national conference of communication, broadly representative, for the democratization of the media. In order to end the monopoly of Globo, and for the people and their popular organizations to have broad access to communicate, creating their own media, with public resources. I have heard from several young people who are networking the marches, which perhaps is the only common call that unifies all of them: Down with the Globo monopoly! 

But for these calls to have resonance in society and pressure the government and politicians, it will only happen if the working class moves. 

10. You, from social movements, submitted a letter asking for a meeting with President Dilma [Rousseff] and she accepted and replied on TV, what are you taking to her? 

JPS: Hopefully this audience will actually happen. Then, certainly social movements will indicate their young representatives who took to the streets, and who will bring to her the platform that I have described, I hope she will be sensible enough to listen to the young people. 

11. What should the government do now? 

JPS: I hope the government will have the sensibility and intelligence to take advantage of this support, this call that comes from the streets, which is only a synthesis of a diffuse conscience in society, that it is time to change. And change in favor of the people. To do that the government needs to face the dominant class, in all aspects. To face the bourgeoisie rentier, transferring interest payments to investments in areas that will solve the problems of the people. To promote political and tax reforms immediately. To put forward the approval of the democratization project for the media. To create mechanisms for substantial investments in public transport, towards a zero fare. To accelerate the agrarian reform and a plan for the production of healthy foods for the internal market. 

To assure the immediate application of 10 % of the GDP in public resources for education in all levels, from kindergarten in large cities, to quality primary education and culminating in the universalization of the access of the youth to public university.

Without that, there will be disappointment and the government will hand over to the right the initiative of the calls, which will take over our demonstrations, aiming at wearing out the government until the 2014 elections. It is time for the government to ally to the people, or else it will pay the bill in the future.

Protest Sao Paulo

12. What perspectives those demonstrations can bring to the country in the next few months? 

JPS: Everything is an open question at the moment. Because the youth and the masses are in contention. That is why the popular forces must summon all their energies to take to the streets. Demonstrate, carry their flags of struggle for the reforms that really matter to people. Because the right will do the same and bring their flags, conservative, backward, criminalizing and stigmatizing the ideas of social change. We are right in the middle of an ideological battle, nobody knows what the result will be. In each city, each demonstration, we will have to dispute for hearts and minds. And those who are left out, will be out of history.  

Translation: Ana Amorim with assistance by Jeff Frank 

Öppet brev till Brasiliens President Dilma Roussef

Viktigt uttalande om vad som händer i Brasilien från MST, fackföreningsrörelsen CUT, studentrörelsen och de svartas rörelse, bland andra/Lennart

Open letter to President Dilma Rousseff from Brazil’s social movements

[NOTE: In the midst of the largest street demonstrations Brazil has seen in
decades, some of the the country’s most important social movements –
including the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), the Unified
Workers’ Central (CUT), and the National Union of Students (UNE) – sent the
following open letter to Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff on June 20.
Translation by me]

This week, Brazil has witness mobilisations across 15 capital cities and
100s of other cities. We are in agreement with the statements coming out of
these protests, which affirm the importance of these mobilisations for
Brazilian democracy, because we conscious of the fact that the changes we
need in this country will come through popular mobilization.

More than a conjectural phenomenon, the recent mobilisations are a sign of
the gradual renewal of the capacity for popular struggle. It was this
popular resistance that paved the way for the electoral results of 2002,
2006 and 2010. Our people, not satisfied by neoliberal measures, voted for
a different project. In order to implement this project, it was necessary
to confront great resistance, primarily from rentist capital and neoliberal
sectors that continue to have a lot of weight in society.

But it was also necessary to confront the limits imposed by last minute
allies, an internal bourgeoisie who in challenging government policies
impeded the realization of structural reforms, as is the case in the areas
of urban reform and public transport

The international crisis has blocked growth, and with it the continuity of
the project pushed by this broad front that, until now, has sustained the
government.

The recent mobilisations are being carried out by a diverse cross section
of the youth that for the first time is participating in mobilisations.
This process educates its participants, allowing them to understand the
necessity of confronting those that are holding back Brazil from moving
forward in this process of democratization of wealth, of access to health,
education, land, culture, political participation, and media.

Conservative sectors within society are trying to dispute the significance
of these mobilisations. The media is trying to portray the movement as
anti-Dilma, as against corrupt politicians, against the wasting of public
money and other demands that would impose the return of neoliberalism. We
believe that there are many demands, just as there are many opinions and
visions of the world present in society. We are dealing with a cry of
indignation from a people historically excluded from national political
life and accustomed to seeing politics as something that is damaging to
society.

Given all this, President, we write to you to express our position in
support of policies that guarantee the reduction of public transport fares
by reducing the profits of the big companies. We are against the policies
of tax exemptions for these companies/

Now is the time for the government to implement these democratic and
popular demands, and stimulate the participation and politicization of
society. We commit our to promoting all types of debates around these
issues and we place ourselves at your disposition to also debate them with
the government and its institutions.

We propose the urgent convening of a national meeting, involving the
participation of state governments, mayoral offices of the main capital
cities and representatives of all the social movements. For our part, we
are open to dialogue, and believe that this meeting is the only manner of
finding a way to confront the grave urban crisis that is affecting our big
cities.

The time is right. These are the largest mobilisations that the current
generation has seen and other major ones will follow. We hope that the
current government decided to government with the people and not against
the people.

Signed

Movimentos da Via Campesina Brasil, ADERE-MG, AP, Barão de Itararé, CIMI,
CMP-MMC/SP, CMS, Coletivo Intervozes, CONEN, Consulta Popular, CTB, CUT,
Fetraf, FNDC, FUP, Juventude Koinonia, Levante Popular da Juventude, MAB,
MAM, MCP, MMM, MPA, MST, SENGE/PR, Sindipetro – SP, SINPAF, UBES, UBM, UJS,
UNE, UNEGRO



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Nalva från MST i Espirito Santo talar om landgrabbing onsdag den 17 (böndernas internationella kampdag) kl 18

Ednalva Moreira Gomes från MST, de jordlösas rörelse i Brasilien, berättar om deras kamp mot företagen och hur de ockuperar mark för att bygga nya bosättningar samt bygger alternativa modeller för framtiden genom Agroekologi.
MST är del av det internationella Småbrukarnätverket Via Campesina som med flera uppmärksammar Småbrukarnas Internationella Kampdag den 17de April.

Arrangeras av: Via Campesina Stödgrupp, MST Stödgrupp samt Latinamerikagrupperna - Stockholms Lokalgrupp
--------------------------------------
Här följer manifestet från Naturbrukskonferensen på Kinnekulle där Nalva deltog

Naturbruksmanifestet 2013

Undertecknarna av detta manifest ska verka för en Rättvis Omställning
av Samhället och stödjer följande förslag och uppmaningar:

Öka intäkterna för dem som arbetar i ett naturbruk som ökar den biologiska mångfalden och som behövs för klimatomställningen – Höj grundavdraget till 100 000 kronor
Återställ full självförsörjningsgrad och arbeta för matsuveränitet
Återinför brukarkravet och kunskapskrav för jordbruk och skogsbruk
Demokratisera naturbruket genom främjande av lokal kooperativ förvaltning av gemensamägda skogar och odlingsbar mark.
Avskaffa industrimaten i verksamhet som drivs med offentliga medel
Öka vidareförädlingen av jordbrukets och skogsbrukets produkter på landsbygden.
Stöd satsningar på kontinuitetsskogsbruk och andra varierade former för hållbart skogsbruk
Riv upp minerallagen från 1992 och förstärk miljölagstiftningen mot gruvindustrin
Nej till uranbrytning och uranprospektering
Låt vinsterna från utvinningen av naturresurser tillfalla befolkningen, till att börja med genom ökad beskattning likväl som lokal beskattning
Höj gruvskatten till minst 30% (som i Australien)
Avveckla fossilberoendet inom naturbruket
Bygg relationer och samarbete mellan låginkomsttagare i städerna med landsbygden
Skapa allianser mot storskaligt industrijordbruk, plantageskogsbruk och gruvbrytning som skadar småbrukare och miljön i Syd
Verka för flexibilitet – nationell anpassning, och ökat miljöstöd inom EU:s jordbrukspolitik
Ge folkhögskolorna ett nationellt uppdrag att utveckla utbildningar av nya tidens naturbrukare
Återskapa fiskevägarna i våra vattendrag
Gör inte naturen till handelsvara
Stoppa privatiseringen av miljö och välfärd

MST ledare till Kinnekulle

Ednalva Moreira Gomes arbetar med MST och är expert på Landgrabbing frågan kommer till Naturbrukskonferensen på Kinnekulle 5-7 april http://www.naturbrukskonferensen.se/

Denna intressanta och viktiga konferens, som faktiskt initierades genom ett MST besök till Värmland, tar upp mycket av de frågor som MST initierat i den globala debatten, men med en svensk utgångspunkt. Kom gärna dit och få en unik inblick i utvecklingen av svensk landsbygd och på köpet en bild av vad som händer i Brasilien

Right Livelihood Award (Ibland kallat alternativa Nobelpriset) ordnar en solidaritetsresa till MST efter alla mord på ledare

The RLA is organizing an international delegation to visit Brazil from April 1st to
5th. We are coming in solidarity with Brazilian human rights and social justice
activists who have experienced a horrifying increase in threats, murders and
property attacks in recent years.
Brazilian Right Livelihood Laureates are at the forefront of the struggle for
equitable control of land and resources, have suffered considerably. In 2013 alone,
the office of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT, RLA 1991) in Acre, Brazil was
attacked three times, and CPT leaders working on land redistribution issues in
conflict zones have received death threats. On January 25th, C�cero Guedes, leader
of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), which was awarded the Right Livelihood Award
jointly with CPT in 1991, was shot dead by gunmen. This violence and intimidation,
together with inadequate police investigation and frequent delays in judicial
proceedings, contribute to the sense of impunity prevailing in Brazil today.
To show our solidarity and support for MST, the 4 member delegation will be visiting
MST to participate in a public debate in Maraba, Para on April 2nd. On April 3rd -
4th we will take part in a camp in Maraba and a people�s tribunal with a popular
jury who will examine the cases of two leaders, Marisa and Jos� Claudio, who were
brutally murdered in 2011. Members of human rights organisations and government
agencies have been invited.
The RLA delegation will also take part in field visits to areas where conflict over
land and resources is ongoing in Para, so that the delegation has a better
understanding of the scope of the threats faced by rural workers.
The international delegation will comprise:
Marianne Andersson, former Member of Parliament, Sweden and Board Member, Right
Livelihood Award Foundation
Helen Mack, Right Livelihood Award Laureate 1992, Guatemala
Raul Montenegro, Right Livelihood Laureate 2004, Argentina
Angie Zelter, representing Trident Ploughshares, Right Livelihood Laureate 2001,

United Kingdom