The League of Poor Peasants (LCP) calls on rural people, peasants, and indigenous to resist and respond in kind to the reactionary war in the countryside being imposed by the agents of the big landlords, as the only way to guarantee their right to land.
Mass indigenous demonstrations are taking place in various cities amid increases in indigenous struggles and the struggle for land.
Students at the University of Brasilia held a presentation on the Agrarian Revolution and the current struggle for land in Brazil, where it was expressed that the indigenous, quilombola and peasant struggles are linked by a common enemy—the latifundium that serves imperialism—which can only be resolved with its destruction through the Agrarian Revolution.
In the municipality of Senador Canedo, high school students protested for the rights of their teachers, facing down military police. The students were confronting a bill which increases their teachers’ work day and attacks the right to be absent for health or family illness.
Revolutionaries, democratic people, and the masses marked the ten year anniversary of the death of comrade Cleomar Rodrigues. Comrade Cleomar was a leader of the LCP who dedicated his life to the struggle for land, who gave his life to the people and the revolution when he was struck down by the gunmen in service to the big landlords. The justice system of the old state has done nothing to punish those really behind his murder. Comrade Cleomar’s work is more alive than ever in the struggle for land and in the seizure of lands by the poor peasants. He was commemorated in the new culture with the song “Cleomar Lives!” which includes the lyrics “Your example, like the sun, has risen, has risen and continues to win Comrade Cleomar, continues to fight, long live the LCP!” The song can be found here.
On October 22, the peasants of Messais were brutally attacked by the big land holding estates resulting in the eviction of over 700 families who lost everything. Crops were looted and the market on which the peasants rely was burned. An elderly man died, falling from a moving truck when trying to save his belongings when his home was destroyed by the reactionaries. The local Support Committee of A Nova Democracia (AND) reports that the criminal action was retaliation against the League of Poor Peasants for their victory in the battle of Barro Branco. The LCP has been in Messias for 15 years where the revolutionary area Renato Nathan was founded.
The LCP wasted no time in delivering food to the evicted peasants of Messias, filling a role neglected by the old-state. On November 2, peasants who were affected by the evictions assembled together and carried out a powerful demonstration. The League of Poor Peasants (LCP) and People’s Women’s Movement (MFP), as well as the National Front of Struggle – Countryside and City (FNL) and others participated in the protest. The demonstration showed clearly that the active struggle has united together the different settlements and movements among the people, running foul of the plans of reaction to divide and conquer the masses.
Brazil’s ultra-reactionary former president Jair Bolsonaro has been inspired by president-elect Donald Trump’s promised return to office, telling Brazilian media that he hoped to accomplish similar. The ongoing political and institutional crisis in Brazil is aggravated by this, and it is sure to mobilize Bolsonarism more.
The false “Left” government of Luiz Inacia promised not to put up a fight and struck a conciliatory tone, congratulating Donald Trump. This follows the pattern of his conciliation to the center, which is largely aligned with Bolsonaro and the far right.
AND points to the progressives, democrats, and revolutionaries, writing that they can “raise the propaganda of a real fight against the extreme right, instead of continuing to trust the false left and reactionary institutions to fulfill this role. The popular masses are already mobilizing in this sense, as expressed by the acute struggle of the Brazilian peasantry with the paramilitary groups of Bolsonaro supporters in several parts of the country’s interior.”
The Worker will continue summarizing the developments of the class struggle in Brazil in unwavering solidarity with the masses, the democratic peoples, and the revolutionaries fighting hard for a New Brazil. Brazil is of special importance to us, not only because it is the largest country in South America, but because US imperialism relies on maintaining the oppression it carries out in its “back yard,” and most importantly because the ideology leading the struggle toward its ultimate expression is the most developed in this country. We are excited to develop and continue our coverage.
image: Defenders mobilize in the Battle of Barro Branco, the banner translates to “The risk the stick runs, runs the axe”, i.e. if you think of attacking, think of being attacked too
