Dear News from Brazil readers,

Those who have been following the Carandiru massacre over the years (for background, go to our website and search "Carandiru"), will be interested in this recent news.  The coronel who was responsible for the action, Ubiratan Guimaraes, was murdered in his home last weekend.  Currently, the police are saying that the murder was the result of a lover's quarrel.  

In this week´s edition of News from Brazil:

A Cry Against Injustices

On September 7, Brazilian Independence Day, the Brazilian people will gather to cry against injustices and also, the indifference and negligence of the country´s elites. The theme of the Cry of the Excluded March this year is "Brazil, Seeds of Transformation in the Strength of our Indignation". Thousands of people in hundreds of cities will be involved in the celebrations, symbolic rituals, and official marches. Following the example of Brazil, the Cry of the Excluded will take place in more than 20 countries in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean. On October 12, manifestations, walks and celebrations will also take place with the theme of "Work, Justice and Life".

The Cry of the Excluded is the principal manifestation against the process of social exclusion which has been perpetuated in the history of Brazil and aggravated in the past and current governments. "We do not want alms, we want work", said an unemployed woman to Patur Ananias, the Minister of Social Development who was recently visiting a slum in Belo Horizonte (MG). Ananias was speaking to a group of people who live on the street about a government program called Bolsa-Familia (monthly donation to families). This reaction clearly shows that compensatory, assistance programs need to be connected to structural changes. One structural change that is necessary is in the country´s economic policies that prioritize financial capital and agribusiness, in detriment to necessary social policies.

Agrarian and urban reforms are the changes that are of interest to millions of excluded in the country. In spite of 20 years of promises by the government, these changes have not and are not taking place. Quite the opposite!

The actions of the government have benefited agribusiness that each year receives $20 billion dollars of investment in comparison to $10 billion dollars for family farming. Even knowing that agrarian reform will generate jobs in the rural areas, the government continues to give privileges to agribusiness that expels 11 rural workers from the land for one worker in agribusiness, according to statistics from the Pastoral Land Commission.

The Cry of the Excluded is a cry against corruption. Corrupt monthly payments for congressional votes and diversion of public funds are only a few examples of this evil rooted in the country. Here corruption is almost considered normal and does not raise much indignation of the population – at least, not in an organized form that would lead to social change. The marches will call for punishment of those politicians involved in the various financial scandals over these past years.

"We want to let the society know that we cannot be paralyzed by these political scandals. We cannot close our eyes but need to join forces in this struggle", stated Angelina Aparecida dos Reis, who works with the unemployed at the Solidarity House in São Paulo. This election year is an important one for the themes of the protests, some of which include a call for policies against unemployment, a campaign to reduce energy tariffs, and a demand for ethics in politics. Leonardo Maggi, member of the Movement of People Affected by Dams, indicates that, "This year perhaps is the most important year for the Cry of the Excluded, because we are close to the elections, when there are political debates. We have a great opportunity to discuss with our communities, not just problems, but alternatives to break with our social and economic exclusion".

The great plea of the Cry of the Excluded on September 7 is to recuperate our capacity of indignation. Indignation in the face of hunger, misery, the death of workers. Indignation in the face of all of the corruption, the violence, the wars in our world, and our own wars that, in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, kill more than in Iraq or Lebanon.

The Cry of the Excluded is against the form of representative government that does not respond to the needs or demands of the population – that is not legitimate any more. The Brazilian people want a direct democracy that is participative. It is necessary to create referendums, popular councils, plebiscites or whatever structure that will effectively guarantee the participation of the population and oblige the politicians to do what favors the common good.

The Cry of the Excluded is a cry for an alternative popular project that will help to construct the Brazil that we want. We invite all to unite forces to construct a better world.

Source Brasil de Fato, August 30, 2006

Without Agrarian Reform, More Assassinations and Repression

Police and the judicial system unite and try to criminalize the struggle of social movements, especially the Landless Movement, in Pernambuco.

On August 20, two leaders of the Landless Movement were assassinated (shot in the back) in Pernambuco. Josias de Barros Ferreira, 28 years old, and Samuel Matias Barbosa, 33 years old were killed at the Balança encampment in the city of Moreno. The two criminals (Melo and Nanai) who assassinated Barbosa and Ferreira lived at the encampment and were viewed as infiltrators of local politicians by the inhabitants of the area. They tried to convince the families to leave the land.

Fifty-nine landless families have lived in Balança since 2000. In January of this year, Copergás business initiated negotiations for the families to leave so that they could build a gas pipeline. The landless movement said that the families would leave if they were settled in another encampment. "We understand that Copergas wants to build this pipeline and we are willing to leave the land, but we cannot accept money. It is against the principles of our movement", explained Joba Alves, the Pernambuco state coordinator of the Landless Movement.

Ferreira and Barbosa were directing an assembly at the encampment. Melo was pressuring people to receive the indemnity money without a guarantee of a place to live or agrarian reform. A majority of the inhabitants voted to remain on the land and not accept the money. On August 20, according to witnesses, Melo and Nanai ordered that the Landless Movement flag be removed from the encampment. Ferreira was then shot in the back and when Barbosa came to his aid, he, too, was assassinated. Even after shooting the victims, Melo and Nanai kicked, chopped, and mutilated the body of Barbosa before he died.

While the assassins who killed Barbosa and Ferreira are free, the police arrested Jaime Amorim, one of the national coordinators of the Landless Movement, when he was returning from the funeral of Barbosa in Itaquitanga, Pernambuco. He was arrested for "bad behavior" at an anti-war march that took place in 2005. The mandate for his imprisonment was expedited by Judge Pereira Lafayette Neto with the allegation that Amorim does not have a fixed residence and his liberty represents a threat to public order. Amorim does have a fixed residence in the city of Caruaru where he has lived for years with his family. (He was subsequently freed from prison on August 29).

According to Bishop Thomas Balduino, these sad episodes illustrate the criminalization of social movements by the Judicial System. The unequal distribution of land and wealth in the country is the principal cause of these conflicts.

Landless Movement web-site, September 3, 2006