Number 401, May 24, 2000.
Visit our home page: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/
In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Workers evicted in Pernambuco
- Workers Party fears OAS will be used as instrument for U.S. intervention
- Unemployment figures continue to be abysmal
- Workers exploited in Piaui
- Church organizes meeting to deal with violence in shanty towns
- Coronel to be tried in the case of the massacre at Carandiru
>URGENT ACTION REQUESTS
- More violence in Para
- Police besiege city in Parana
>AN INVITATION TO THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
in Porto Alegre, Brazil January 25-30, 2001
NEWS BRIEFS
- Workers evicted in Pernambuco
Nearly 200 rural families who were occupying land in Jaqueira, Pernambuco, were evicted by 30 military police. According to Contag (National Confederation of Agricultural workers), the families were especially upset because the military troops were transported by the owner of the land himself, Jose Ademir Rodrigues, who also happens to be the ex-mayor of a nearby town.
In Belem do Sao Francisco, 80 families were also evicted in the early morning. It is against Brazilian to do an eviction in the early morning hours, and yet this law continues to be broken in various states with no repercussions.
Source: Linha Aberta
May 24, 2000
- Workers Party fears OAS will be used as instrument for U.S. intervention
The (PT) Workers Party released a statement that they are radically opposed to a U.S. proposal to the OAS (Organization of American States) to provide forces for intervention in Latin American countries in crises. The proposal will be presented by the U.S. at the next OAS meeting, June 4th, in Canada. The proposal would give the OAS, under U.S. leadership, the power to intervene in much the same way as that the U.S. and its European allies intervened in Kosovo. Currently, it seems that the U.S. is principally worried about the situations in Columbia and Bolivia were leftist guerillas are vying for power. But the U.S. also has an eye out on Brazil and the conflicts between the Brazilian government and landless workers. "We are very much against this proposal because the OAS always acts in the interests of the U.S.," said the leader of the PT, Jose Dirceu. Dirceu pointed out that in the past, the OAS aligned themselves with Washington’s foreign policy in dealing with Latin American military regimes. The problems in Latin America will only be resolved when the economic difficulties and foreign dependency are overcome.
Source: Linha Aberta
May 24, 2000
- Unemployment figures continue to be abysmal
In Brazil, as in the rest of the world, unemployment is a major problem. Although the economy shows some signs of revitalization, the number of unemployed remains the same. The market hasn't managed to reabsorb those who lost their jobs or is it able to create new jobs for the 1.5 million young people who every year look for their first job. Brazil’s position in world unemployment figures has been getting worse in the last few years: in the beginning of the 1990's, Brazil was 8th in the world; in 1997 it became 5th; and last year Brazil was 3rd in the world with 8 million jobless workers. Experts are predicting that it will remain at the present rate, for even the estimated official growth of 2.5% to 4% of the GNP will not be sufficient to revert this position. For women the unemployment scene is even worse. The unemployment rate for female workers has jumped from 31.8% in 1980 to 48.3% in 1998. In an attempt to create new jobs, the Brazilian Union Organization proposes putting an end to overtime and a reduction in the workday.
Source: Problemas Brasileiros
May/June 2000
- Workers exploited in Piaui
The national park of Serra da Capivara in the state of Piaui is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. The park is invaluable for the disclosure of prehistoric habitation in the continent. This patrimony- where the cave paintings are possibly as old as 40 thousand years--is being threatened by the lime producers, who dynamite the rocks. The workers are used almost as slaves, whose workday extends up to 24 hours. Many of the workers neither eat or drink while working and at times the temperature rises to 150o C near the lime kilns. While there are deaths and mutilations by the dozen, the authorities do nothing as they are being controlled by the local politicians who are involved in the lime production.
Source: Problemas Brasileiros
May/June 2000
- Church organizes meeting to deal with violence in shanty towns
The "Pastoral das Favelas" (Ministry to people living in shanty towns) of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro is organizing a meeting with leaders of the favelas of Rio. The meeting is in response to the most recent wave of violence happening in the favelas between alleged drug traffickers and the military police. In April, nine people were shot by the police in three different favelas. Yesterday, the police took the life of a 17 year-old allegedly involved in drugs, provoking protests from the residents of the favela who tried to shut down the main road leading to the international airport. The meeting of the Pastoral das Favelas hopes to come up with concrete solutions to present to the city government.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
May 24, 2000
- Coronel to be tried in the case of the massacre at Carandiru
Coronel Ubiratan Guimaraes will face charges for his role in the slaughter of 111 inmates that happened in 1992 at Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo. (See past issues of News from Brazil on our web site for more information on the story.) Guimaraes was the commander of the Metropolitan Police at the time who gave his approval for the military police to enter the compound after a fight broke out among prisoners. Guimaraes claimed that prisoners were attempting to escape. However, the evidence shows that the prisoners were shot at close range while lying on the floor. Guimaraes, who recently left his seat in the Legislative Assembly of Sao Paulo, will be tried by citizens (instead of a military court) beginning June 18th.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
May 23, 2000
URGENT ACTION REQUEST
- More violence in Para
A Message from Rio Maria Committee:
We have received information from the Pastoral Land Commission about a new wave of violence in the South of Pará. It appears to be related to the trial of Jerônimo Alves de Amorim.
The following is the information that we received:
Earlier this month five people were assassinated in Xinguara (a town near Rio Maria where the Rio Maria Committee now has its headquarters) because of land conflicts. The men murdered on May 4 were Reginaldo Barbosa dos Santos, Aparecido Modesto da Silva and Dario Marques dos Santos. Those killed on May 5 were Josafá Rocha do Nascimento and Sidney Vieira da Silva. They were found tossed by the side of the road with their ears cut off.
In addition, there is a list of ten people who marked to die, including Father Henri des Roziers, a Dominican priest who works as a lawyer for the Pastoral Land Commission and for the Rio Maria Committee; Davi Passos, a teacher and candidate for Mayor of Xinguara, and Sebastião Ataides, president of the Union of Rural Workers.
The sudden resurgence of threats and violence in Xinguara is closely timed with the trial of Jerônimo Alves de Amorim, the rancher accused of having ordered the assassination of Expedito Ribeiro de Souza. This is the first time in the history of the South of Pará that a rancher will be tried by jury.
The ranchers are not tolerating the trial of one of their own. This trial will represent an end to the impunity that they count on to maintain the status quo. They also have the support of the police authorities, people with economic power, and the politicians of the state of Pará.
What to do:
a) get the word out about this situation and construct networks of support and solidarity. Messages can sent to: Comissao Pastoral da Terra, Caixa Postal 57, CEP 68.555-000, Xinguara, Para, Brazil. Email: cptxga@realonline.com.br
b) Send messages to: Dr. Cláudio Montalvão das Neves, DD Juíz da Primeira Vara Criminal, Tribunal de Justiça do Pará, Praça Filipe Patroni, s/n., CEP: 66.015-260 - Belém, PA. Dr. Claudio is the judge who will be presiding over the trial of Jeronimo Alves de Amorim on June 6th.
- Police besiege city in Parana
Hundreds of policemen are besieging the municipal district of Quedas do Iguaçu at this time. No citizen can enter or to leave the small municipal district of the Center-west area of Paraná. Since the beginning of the week the climate is tense in the whole area with the policemen's presence who accomplished the spilling of 36 families in the Assentamento Solidor, where the peoples have been living since 1986.
The press today announced the departure of the Commandant-general of the military police Guaraci Moraes Barros to accompany the manifestation that was being drifted for today afternoon, with the presence of 3 thousand workers landless. The policemen's contingent was enlarged and we are afraid that will happen serious conflicts next hours. According to information of the area, the leader of MST Jaime Callegari is being "hunted" for the Police.
We are afraid that the PM is preparing the spilling in Fazenda Giacomet, of property of the company Araupel, where 1300 families are camped from may 1999. Without having to go where, the families are prepared to resist in the area and any action of the Police can end in a great tragedy.
We continued asking the authorities and the national and international society that press the government Lerner so that he suspends the furious and violent mega-operation against the landless people of Paraná.
PEACE IN THE FIELD WITH AGRARIAN REFORM!
Curitiba-Paraná-Brazil, May 19, 2000. Pastoral Land Commission of Paraná
Contacts:
Presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso Praça dos Três Poderes Palácio do Planalto, 3° andar 70.150-900 Brasília DF, Brasil e-mail: pr@planalto.gov.br Fax: 61 322 - 2314 fone: 61 - 411 - 1169
Ministro Dr. José Grégori Esplanada dos Ministérios, bloco T, 4° andar 70.064-900 Brasília DF, Brasil e-mail: acs@mj.gov.br pedro.rodrigues@mj.gov.br (e-mail do chefe de gabinete) fax: 61 - 321 - 1565 fone: 61 - 226 - 2291 e 226 - 2296
Governador Jaime Lerner Palácio Iguaçu, Pça. N. Sra. da Sallete, 3º andar 80530-909, Curitiba-PR Fone 41 - 350 28 00 Fax 41 - 254 7345 e 253 08 26 Email scgg@pr.gov.br Secretário de Segurança José Tavares sesp@pr.gov.br
Land Pastoral Commission of Parana
cptpr@softone.com.br
AN INVITATION TO THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
in Porto Alegre, Brazil January 25-30, 2001
fsm2001@uol.com.br
The World Social Forum will be a new international arena for organizing against neoliberal policies and for building economic alternatives that prioritize social justice. It will take place every year in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, during the same period as the World Economic Forum, which happens in Davos, Switzerland, at the end of January. Since 1971, The World Economic Forum has played a key role in formulating neoliberal policies throughout the world. It's sponsored by a Swiss organization that serves as a consultant to the United Nations and it's financed by more than one thousand corporations.
The World Social Forum will provide a space for building economic alternatives, for exchanging experiences and for strengthening South-North alliances between NGOs, unions and social movements. It will also be an opportunity for developing concrete actions, to educate the public, and to mobilize civil society internationally.
The World Social Forum developed as a consequence of a growing international movement that has gained greater visibility since the mobilizations against the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI), which happened in Europe in 1998, the demonstrations in Seattle, during the WTO meeting in 1999, and the recent protests against the IMF and the World Bank in Washington, DC, among others.
For decades, these international financial institutions have been making decisions that affect the lives of people all over the world, without being subject to any sort of democratic control. People in Third World countries, as well as the poor and excluded sectors of industrialized countries suffer the devastating effects of economic globalization and the dictatorship of international institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO and the governments that serve their interests.
We need to continue pressuring these institutions to be accountable to our societies. Similarly, our governments must be made aware that this oversight will be exercised with increasing intensity over their actions. Many of us have struggled in our own countries, regions, or cities, thinking that we were isolated. Recently, we have begun to realize that together we can constitute a planetary archipelago of resistance. The World Social Forum represents a new opportunity toward the construction of an international counter-power.
Brazil is one the countries that has been greatly affected by neoliberal policies. At the same time, different sectors of Brazilian society are resisting these policies, in rural and urban areas, in shanty towns, factories, political parties, churches, schools, etc. The richness of Brazilian grassroots organizations represents a source of inspiration for the development of the World Social Forum.
The Brazilian Organizing Committee invites international networks of NGOs, unions and social movements to help us build the World Social Forum. We hope to receive support from organizations in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe with a commitment to contribute with this organizing process and to send delegations to Porto Alegre in January. We are asking for a special commitment from organizations in the First World to help funding delegations from their partner organizations in Third World countries, in order to guarantee diversity within the World Social Forum.
The World Social Forum will represent a historic moment for organizing and social change. Let's build it together!
Brazilian Organizing Committee:
The Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (Associação Brasileira de Organizações Não Governamentais, ABONG)
Action for the Taxation of International Financial Transaction in Support of Citizens (Ação pela Tributação das Transações Financeiras em Apoio aos Cidadãos, ATTAC-BR)
The Brazilian Commission of Justice and Peace (Comissão Brasileira de Justiça e Paz)
CIVES - Brazilian Association of Businesses for Citizenry
The Central Union Federation (Central Única dos Trabalhadores, CUT)
IBASE - Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis
Global Justice Center (Centro de Justiça Global)
The Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST)
- Organizational Issues Regarding the World Social Forum
1) The World Social Forum (WSF) will take place in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, from January 25-30, 2001, the same period in which the World Economic Forum occurs in Davos, Switzerland.
2) It will take place in the Events Center of the Catholic University of Porto Alegre (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Porto Alegre, PUC), with the capacity for 2,500 people in a single auditorium. The PUC Events Center is a modern facility with up-to-date technological resources. The Center also has several smaller auditoriums.
3) The WSF will consist of three types of activities: a) A series of daily plenary sessions with several invited speakers; b) presentations of current initiatives and exchange of experiences; c) strategy meetings to develop networks and to strengthen ties among groups that engage in similar forms of organization.
The plenary sessions will be scheduled by the organizers of the WSF in accordance with suggestions by participants. The other meetings will be organized based on the interests and requests of the participants.
4) The Events Center also has a large space for information tables and art exhibits.
5) The Rio Grande do Sul state government and the Porto Alegre city government (both are Workers Party administrations) officially support the World Social Forum.
6) The International Committee of the World Social Forum will organize its first meeting on June 24, 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland at the same time as the Social Summit of the United Nations' Copenhagen + 5, which will bring together organizations and activists from all over the world.
7) Our priorities until then will be: - To invite networks of NGOs, unions and social movements to form the International Committee of the World Social Forum, with the responsibility of organizing the event at the international level;
- to establish topics for speeches and presentations to be given during the WSF, in common agreement with the International Committee;
- to invite speakers to the WSF;
- to prepare the first meeting of the International Committee in Geneva, Switzerland.
- to invite Brazilian organizations for the National Support Committee of the WSF;
- to organize logistical issues, such as the communications systems, in conjunction with the support committee in Porto Alegre,
7) We expect to attract 2,500 representatives of NGOs, unions and social movements, as well as elected representatives. Participants must be registered by their organizations. We will establish quotas for different sectors and geographic areas.
8) The Brazilian Committee and the International Committee will be responsible for guaranteeing the presence of Third World organizations, in particular from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
9) Parallel events involving the WSF speakers can be organized in coordination with the Brazilian Committee.
10) The World Social Forum is not a decision-making body. Participants, however, can disseminate proposals and positions resulted from organizing meetings.
11) At the Forum's closure, we will organize a large public event. We will also evaluate our organizing process and make decisions for the following year.
To get involved or to request further information, please write to:
fsm2001@uol.com.br
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cited.
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