Number 407, July 7, 2000.
Visit our home page: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/
In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Campaign against cancer leaves 18% of patients untreated
- First indigenous university to open
- President’s announcement of funding for land reform falls short of expectations
- Guarani-Kaiova child dies during attack against indigenous camp
>A MESSAGE FROM WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
>URGENT ACTION
- Death Threats in Paraná state
NEWS BRIEFS
- Campaign against cancer leaves 18% of patients untreated
In 1998, Brazil conducted a national campaign against cancer, examining 3.2 million persons for cancer. The tests revealed that 12,457 women had pre-cancerous lesions or had uterine cancer. To date, 706 of these women have not been located because of problems with addresses, and another 1,509 have not been treated. Part of the problem is that some of the women upon receiving the results did not follow up due to fear or lack of confidence in the tests. The other problem is the ineptitude of public health care in giving the women proper direction or treatment. "I went two times to the health post to get the results, but they said I had to get it from the gynecologist. The gynecologist was never there, so I gave up," said Maria do Socorro Campos, who received notice that she tested positive for cancer. She said that one year later a health agent came to her house when she was pregnant with her second child. The worker said she would come back after the birth of the child to follow up. Two years later, the worker still has not returned. This story is typical of the other women who tested positive. Jacob Kligerman, the director of Incra (National Institute of Cancer), said that the agency is trying to pressure local governments to perform better in locating and following up on these cases.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
July 2, 2000
- First indigenous university to open
The state of Mato Grosso will open the doors of the first all-indigenous university later this month. The state plans on spending about US$1.7 million on the school. Initially, there will be room for 200 students, the majority of whom will come from Mato Grosso. The school will offer language studies, arts, literature, social science, and science. All the courses will be offered free of charge. Already the school is receiving criticism. "In Brazil, there are 200 distinct indigenous groups. Each one has its way of living, thinking and acting. How will they bring together all of them into one university system if they do not speak the same language," commented historian Antonio Brant who works with the Guarani-Caiovas.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
July 5, 2000
- President’s announcement of funding for land reform falls short of expectations
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced that he would release US$1.1 billion to attend to the demands of the MST (Movement of rural workers Without Land). This amount is much less than the US$3.2 billion that the MST requested. The President and the MST also could not agree on the number of families to be settled this year: the government wants to settle 45,000 and the MST 100,000. Those in the MST do not trust the President’s promises: "The big problem is that the government only announces and does not act," said MST leader Jose Rainha Junior. The MST sees that the President’s announcement was timed so as to try to derail MST protests planned for the 25th of this month.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
July 5, 2000
- Guarani-Kaiova child dies during attack against indigenous camp
On June 25, the Guarani-Kaoivá Edileuso Modesto, aged only 11 months, died during an attack against a camp of the Guyra Roca indigenous community in Porto Cambira, located in the municipality of Caarapó, state of Mato Grosso do Sul. His death certificate indicates that he died of unknown causes, but in a letter to the president of Funai, Glênio Alvarez, the indigenous community reported that the indigenous child fell from his mother’s arms, Gilma Modesto, as she ran to try to protect herself from shots fired by gunmen. The indigenous community has been camping next to a farm owned by state deputy José Teixeira (Liberal Front Party) waiting for Funai to begin to carry out a land survey that could confirm that the farm is located inside their traditional territory. The Guarani tried to bury the child inside the farm, where they say there is an indigenous cemetery, but were prevented from doing so by armed bodyguards of the deputy. The boy was finally buried in the camp, next to the highway. The Guarani tried to occupy the farm on two occasions, in January and April, but were persuaded by Funai and the South Land Institute (Terrasul) to leave the place with promises to solve the problem and the distribution of basic sets of food products. The Guarani report that every day gunmen at the service of state deputy José Teixeira shoot their guns into the air and against the camp to intimidate them and force them to leave the area. They are always around and have been scaring indigenous communities in the region. The death of the Kaiová child can unleash a conflict between the indigenous people and the gunmen.
Source: Cimi
June 29, 2000
A MESSAGE FROM WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
Dear friends,
We are writing to give you an update about the World Social Forum. We
had a great response from the international organizations that
participated in the Alternative Summit, from June 22-25, in Geneva. We
are including a list of organizations that have signed up to help us
organize the World Social Forum. You can also join us by writing to
fsm2001@uol.com.br, or by checking our web site at:
http://www.worldsocialforum.org (this website has information in Portuguese,
Spanish, English, and French).
You can do one or more of the following:
- Send representatives of your organization to the WSF, from January
25-30, 2001, in Porto Alegre, Brazil;
- Distribute this information within your networks;
- Give us permission to include your organization's name in our
promotional materials;
- Help us promote the WSF internationally;
- Help us design the WSF by suggesting topics for discussions;
- Give us suggestions and contacts of potential speakers;
- Help cover travel expenses of your partner organizations in Third
World countries, so they can come to the WSF;
- Support our office in Brazil (any donation size will be very much
appreciated).
Thanks a lot for your participation.
Best regards,
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)
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
Porto Alegre, Brazil
January 25-30
fsm2001@uol.com.br
http://www.worldsocialforum.org
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (as of June 30):
1) ATTAC - France
2) Global Exchange - EUA
3) Public Citzen - EUA
4) 50 Years is Enough - EUA
5) Food First (Institute for Food and Development Policy) - EUA
6) Center for Economic and Policy Research- EUA
7) Dawn (International Women's Network)
8) RIAD
9) Social Watch - Uruguai
10) FORJA - Environmental Federation - Venezuela
11) Bread For the World
12) Women's March
13) Central Operária Boliviana
14) Central Trabalhista Argentina (CTA)
15) Observatório Social de America Latina
16) Rede Mexicana de Acción Frente a el Libre Comércio (RMALC)
17) Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) - Argentina
18) Association des Femmes Educatives (AFEM) - Mali
19) Association Femme Africanne Recherche Development (AAWORD) -Tunisie
20) Jubileu 2000 - Mali
21) CONGAD - Senegal
22) Forum Mondial des Alternatives - Belgique
23) Preamble Center - EUA
25) Movimiento Pachakutik - Ecuador
26) Friends of the MST - United Kingdom
27) Enviro Protect - Cameron
28) FOVAD (Forum de Organizações Voluntárias Africanas de
Desenvolvimento) - Benin
29) Community Development Association - Bangladesh
30) GRABS (Groupe de Recherche et Action pour el Bien Social) - Benin
31) Association Guineene des Femmes Chercheurs (AGFC) - Guinee Conakry
32) Terre d'Avenir - Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger e Togo
33) Alianza Chilena por un Comercio Justo y Responsible
34) AHDIS (Action Humaine pour Development Integré ou Senegal)
35) SSISS - EDP - Pakistan
36) One World - Italy
37) BOCONGO - Botswana
38) RADDHO - Senegal
39) ATTAC - Marrocos
40) Les Amis de la Terre - Togo
41) Third World Network - Malasia
42) Comité Suisse de l'Appel de Bangkok - Switzerland
43) SUD - PTT - France
44) Centre Europe Tiers Monde (CETIM) - Switzerland
45) Syndicat National de l'Enseignement Superieur (SNESUP) - France
46) ATTAC - Portugal
47) Federation Internacionale Syndicale de l'Enseignement (FISE/WFTU)
48) Observatório da Globalização - France
49) Centro de Estudos Políticos & Sociais (CEPS) - Spain
50) FSU - France
51) Mauchak - Bangladesh
52) ATTAC - Italy
53) European March against Unemployment, Poverty, and Social
Exclusion-Germany
54) ATTAC - Geneva
55) Rete di Lilliput - Italy
56) Women Legal Aid Center - Tanzania
57) Nayakrishi Andolon - Bangladesh
58) UBINIG - Bangladesh
59) CADTM - Belgique
60) International Youth and Students Movements for the United Nations
-Nigeria
61) Metarch Center for Sustainable Future (MCSF) - Nigeria
62) ACSUR - Las Segovids - Spain
63) DRISTI - India
64) National Council of Churches in India
65) Centro Nueva Tierra - Argentina
66) Red Latino America - Peru
67) Centre d'Etudes pratiques de la Négotiation Internationale (CASIN) -
Switzerland
68) AC! Agir Ensemble Centre - France
69) Alternative Information Center - Israel/Palestine
70) Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Workers Federation
71) The All-Russian Confederation of Labor - Russia
72) ATTAC 07/26 - France
73) Jubilee 2000 - Japan
74) FIAN - Brazil (Food First International Action Network)
URGENT ACTION
- Death Threats in Paraná state
At about 4:30 p.m., on June 28, 2000, Paula Broeder, a member of the CPT
(Pastoral Land Commission) staff in Paraná, answered a collect telephone
call from the southern part of the state. Ms. Broeder indicated that the
person calling did not say anything at first; after some time, she said,
"hello" to which a man's voice responded, "Desta vez te pegamos! Você é
um filho da puta" ("This time we'll get you! You're a son of a bitch."
) The use of the term "filho" (masculine), rather than filha (feminine),
indicates that the target of the threat was male and not female. The
presumed target of the threat is CPT regional coordinator Dionísio
Vendresen, age 50, who has received threats in the past. A few minutes
after the first call, the CPT received another telephone call, but this
time the person said nothing.
The form of the phone call is nearly identical to one received on April
26, 2000. That call was also collect and involved a similar threat to
Dionísio Vendresen. In this prior call, the voice said that Vandresen
was "se metendo em tudo" ("getting involved in everything").
These are not the first incidents of threats against Vandresen. In
1997, Vandresen was the subject of an incident in which his car was cut
off by a white pick-up, F-1000, at a distance of about 100 meters from
the Pinhão river, in what is now the municipality of Espigão Alto do
Iguaçu. That incident occurred on July 7, 1997 when Vandresen returned
from a visit to a settlement of former share croppers of the Fundão
estate. Since June of this year, Vandresen has been followed repeatedly
by a white Fiat Fiorino.
The CPT filed an official complaint with the public prosecutor's office
(Ministério Público) in Guarapuava, which ordered an investigation, as
well as the tapping of Vandresen's telephone line. The prosecutor also
ordered that an investigation be opened to determine why the documents
pertaining to the complaint registered in 1997 had disappeared from
official records.
Another attorney with the CPT in Paraná, Darci Frigo who lives and
works in the state capital Paraná, has also received death threats in
the past several months.
Please write to Governor Jaime Lerner, asking him to stop this violence
against human rights activists in Parana:
tel: 011-55-41-350-2400
fax: 011-55-41-254-7345
email: scgg@pr.gov.pr
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cited.
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