New Brazil Bulletin #6

The Struggle for Land

In order to stifle and criminalize the struggle for land of the indigenous Ava-guarani people, the Federal Justice of Brazil issued a decision on December 11 prohibiting the occupation of land in Iguacu National Park, the punishment for which is R$ 1000 ($163.42) per day. The Avá-Guarani people repudiated this decision and called it a manifestation of prejudice against the indigenous population of Brazil. They were expelled from their land due to the construction of the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, and are fighting to take it back. Later in December, two Avá-Guarani children and two adults were shot by latifundium (big feudal landlords) gunmen.

From December 29 to 31, the Guasu Guavirá Indigenous Land, inhabited by Avá-Guarani people, was attacked by criminal groups with guns, bombs, and fire, with buildings as well as food and water being destroyed. Several indigenous people were injured. The police chose not to protect the indigenous community, instead taking photos and leaving. An Avá-Guarani man in the Terra Roxa region was arbitrarily arrested on charges of supposed “theft” after taking an unused tarp from a landfill.

As a result of these attacks, the indigenous territory’s demarcation process—which has been ongoing for 16 years—was halted by court order. The demarcation of indigenous territory would allow the indigenous people living there to have increased autonomy from the old Brazilian state, which it has been notoriously unwilling to carry out.

A protest by the indigenous people of Satere-Mawe was carried out on January 7 against the new commander of the Extraordinary Municipal Secretariat for Indigenous Affairs of the People of Satere-Mawe, Onaildo Gomes Conceição. They protested his appointment as commander because the decision was made without consulting the indigenous community.

As part of the intensifying contradiction between the struggle for land and the latifundium, big feudal landlords, three peasants were killed across January 10 and 11 in an attack at first apparently carried out by Bolsonarist—in reference to the ultra-reactionary ex-president of Brazil—paramilitary forces against a settlement in the city of Tremembé. The settlement was under the control of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), a reformist organization that takes part in the struggle for land. A Nova Democracia (AND) wrote that this proves the necessity of peasant self-defense. Later, AND reported that the killings were actually a case of “masses against masses”, of peasants revolting against the prohibition of the sale of lots of land; the MST was expelling the peasants for attempting to sell their land, which AND argues in an editorial is a tragic result of the MST applying incorrect policies against the democratic rights of the people.

On January 18, peasants organized with the Peasant Front of Struggle [Frente Camponesa de Luta] and indigenous Guarani-Kaiowa people took land from the São Fernando Plant, which has been infringing on Guarani-Kaiowa land for over a decade. In response to this land seizure, over 100 military police unsuccessfully attacked the peasant camp, and gunmen threatened to burn the indigenous people’s shacks.

Workers’ Struggle

On January 1, the Workers’ League released a statement calling for the preparation of a general strike of national resistance. The statement featured an analysis of the old-State’s deception in regards to not sufficiently increasing minimum wage in the face of inflation and crisis, and opposition to labor rights through so-called “labor reform”.

The “labor reform” is a set of reactionary measures that allow for the further exploitation of workers and the strengthening of bureaucrat-capitalism in Brazil. The struggle against the “6×1 scale”—a constitutionally-set work week of 44 hours within 6 days—is the practical struggle of resistance against the “labor reform”, as AND put it.

On January 6, students and workers blocked off Antonio Carlos Magalhaes Avenue in the city of Salvador in protest of the city’s January 4 bus fare increase. This reflects the general increase of transportation cost throughout Brazil as part of the general crisis of bureaucrat capitalism attempting to pass its burden onto the people, with six capital cities having bus fare prices raised above the rate of inflation within the first week of January.

On January 16, teachers protested not being paid their end-of-year bonus (known as the thirteenth salary). The demonstration was used as an opportunity for teachers to speak out about issues that the city of São Gonçalo has not fixed, like lack of air conditioning and the non-establishment of the 1/3 workday law, which is a constitutionally-established law that states that teachers can spend at most 2/3 of their workday interacting with students, with the remaining 1/3 to be used for prep and other activities.

On December 30, 500 pamphlets calling for the general strike of national resistance and an end to the “6×1 scale” were distributed to mall workers in the city of Recife, the capital of the Northern state of Pernambuco.

Activists with AND have continued to propagate the Agrarian Revolution. On January 8, activists in Porto Velho, the capital of Rondônia, handed out over 150 pamphlets in support of the Nova Esperança [New Hope] Camp and the peasant struggle in Rondônia to workers.

Brazil’s National Situation

On January 9, AND published an editorial about the Bolsonarist Right attempting to isolate the fake Left headed by the so-called Workers’ Party, currently Brazil’s ruling party with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The grouping that represents this Right-wing effort is known as “centrão” [“big center”].

AND says that the fake-Left, as it has done for years, will present itself as the solution to the crisis that Brazil faces. AND outlines the main political contradiction in Brazil: the revolutionary struggle for land on the one hand, and the counter-revolutionary forces, composed of latifundium-Bolsonarism funded paramilitary groups, the military police, and anti-communist individuals, on the other. They write that the Agrarian Revolution is the basis for the pending Democratic Revolution, which is what will eliminate the latifundium and give land to the peasants who live and work on it.

On January 10, AND published an editorial covering the high inflation rates in Brazil, reaching 4.62% at the end of 2024. They highlighted the high food inflation rate (7.69%), saying that the main reason is the export of latifundium-produced commodities. The latifundium does not have to pay export tax, nor do they face export regulations for goods planted on national soil. As a result, the quantity of food in Brazil’s domestic market decreased, and the landlord and billionaire owners of the food cartels were able to increase food prices, justified by claiming that there is “low supply and high demand” for food.

AND also covered the increase in gasoline prices, which rose 9.71% over 2024. They say that this increase was not due to the supposed end of the International Price Parity policy, which aimed to ensure that the gasoline price in Brazil is equal to the gasoline price on the international market. Despite the end of this policy, the gasoline price in Brazil is still linked to the international market’s price. The true cause of this increase is that Brazilian oil is traded in U.S. dollars, which means that the cartel bosses of the fuel industry raise the Brazilian gas prices as the U.S. dollar inflates. AND pointed out that in the face of this country-wide inflation, billionaires had rising profits throughout 2024.

Photo: Demonstration against the 6×1 scale in Manaus, Brazil. Credit: Caio Mota / Coletivo Protege

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