New Brazil Bulletin #9

The Struggle for Land

Six robbers were executed in the Tiago Campin dos Santos Area in Rondônia state after a People’s Assembly of the peasants decided on taking justice March 2. The robbers were warned multiple times to cease their thefts, according to a peasant woman interviewed by A Nova Democracia (AND). The police are investigating the killings as a “massacre” and part of the “land dispute” in the area, but the peasants say it was an act of people’s justice. The peasants there, organized under the League of Poor Peasants, have repelled multiple attacks by the latifundium (big landlords) and the old-state in recent years.

On February 23 and 24, acting on behalf of the latifundium, gunmen and military police attacked peasant camps and indigenous lands in multiple places in Brazil. The first documented attack was an eviction carried out on February 23 without a court order against the peasant families of Camp Santa Maria, who had initiated their occupation of the area the day before and had been displaced to a camp facing it for 11 years. 16 occupying rural workers were detained as a result of the attack. Later that day, an attack was carried out against the indigenous retaking of Pakurity in the municipality of Dourados. An attack was also carried out by three masked gunmen against the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST)’s Egidio Bruneto Camp, shooting at peasants and lighting a shack on fire.

On February 27, several entities of the old State carried out a plan to open a road over the Aldeia Areme Village, which is inhabited by 15 families. The indigenous inhabitants claim that their village was invaded by Military Police, and that the indigenous Boe Bororo people were assaulted and pepper-sprayed.

The people of the Areme Eia Village have faced harassment from Military Police and Terracap, a real estate speculation company, dubbed “the biggest land grabber in the Federal District” by an indigenous person in the area. On February 25, drones were spotted flying around the area. On February 27, a Military Police battalion and tractors showed up to the village, but were repelled by the occupants. They came back the next day, with one of the machines pushing down a tree outside the working perimeter agreed upon, almost hitting villagers. The justification for the destruction of trees and forestry is to open up a road, which was agreed upon not by the indigenous but rather state agents.

On March 1, peasants of Barro Branco expelled a gunman from their land, throwing sticks and stones at his SUV after he threatened them, successfully causing him to retreat. The peasants of Barro Branco have, for months repelled attacks by dozens of gunmen. Similarly, on February 26, a gunman with a shotgun threatened the peasants and said he would come back if the peasants continued their struggle. They refused to abide by his demand and have continued their occupation.

On March 3, workers camped outside of the Guarulhos City Hall building in protest of the planned state land-grab of the Promised Land occupation, demanding that the mayor fulfill their demands of restoring the land to those who work it. The land-grabbing is planned due to DERSA and Eletropaulo—state-owned companies—buying out portions of the land without the input of its residents. This demonstration comes after several demonstrations throughout February against this eviction plan, during which stones were thrown at police and street barricades were set up. Slogans like “No to invaders! Fight for housing!” and “Residents demand review of the process” were displayed at the demonstrations.

Workers’ and Peoples’ Struggle

From January 13 to 16, Ava-Guarani indigenous leaders held a meeting to discuss their issues and win demands. As a result of this meeting, the old State agreed to a partial agreement where they purchased 3000 hectares (~7413 acres) of land to give to indigenous communities. Afterwards, Ava-Guarani indigenous people of Western Paraná issued a public statement denouncing this partial agreement, saying that it does not fully resolve the losses the indigenous communities have suffered due to flooding, evictions, and displacement, and that the proposed land amount is too small for the amount of people that would live there. They concluded that the only solution to get full repayment would be to retake the entire Ava-Guarani territory through struggle.

On February 25, a protest was held at the state of Goiás Legislative Assembly against the privatization of water and sewage services, which the sewage management company, Saneago, argues would allow full sewage service coverage for Goiás. Protestors denounced that, with Marcos Montenegro, coordinator of the National Observatory for the Right to Water and Sanitation, stating that they would be able to achieve full coverage without privatization.

On the same day, health workers protested against privatization of healthcare in the city of Brasília and the appointment of Juracy Lacerda as the president of the Federal District Institute of Strategic Health Management, who has played a significant role in the drive to privatize health services in the area.

On February 25, a demonstration was held against the 6×1 scale—a constitutionally-set work week of 44 hours within 6 days—in João Paulo. In the same day, teachers of Northern Rio Grande initiated a strike.

Student Struggle

On February 28, public school students across Rio de Janeiro held a protest outside the Rio City Hall and then the Department of Education building, protesting against the lack of air conditioning and lack of cold water from drinking fountains, among other issues.

On March 7, the organizations The Dawn of the People, Sons of the People Student Collective, and the People’s Revolutionary Student Movement collectively announced their national campaign to support the Agrarian Revolution. They initiate this campaign due to the increasing intensity of the struggle for land, and vow to “tear down the university walls,” breaking the divide between students and peasants/workers.

Brazil’s National Situation

On February 19, Professor Fausto Arruda, director general and founder of A Nova Democracia passed away. A Nova Democracia has managed, over the past 20 years of its existence, to be the defining and leading people’s and democratic newspaper of the revolutionary movement in Brazil.

On February 27, AND published an editorial analyzing Brazil’s attorney general charging Brazil’s last president, the ultra-reactionary Jair Bolsonaro, and 33 others, with attempting a coup against the old State on February 18. They say that this demonstrates that the main trend is Bolsonaro’s arrest, and that the second is “handing over rings to not lose fingers,” meaning that the reactionary Armed Forces are handing over Bolsonaro so as to not face persecution and save face. Their conclusion reads:

“The current situation, in particular the decapitation of the extreme right [referring to Bolsonaro’s arrest], and the immediate demoralization of the reactionary Armed Forces in terms of their bourgeois-landlord and pro-imperialist class character, provides great possibilities for advancing, in the countryside, the seizure of land for those who live and work on it and for striking a decisive blow against the paramilitary hordes…”

According to AND’s calculations on February 27, this yearly quarter’s data indicated that 35% of the Brazilian population is not working. Of these 73.9 million people, 7.2 million qualify as unemployed but looking for work, and 66.7 million qualify as unemployed but not looking for work. They note that the survey classification of “employed” is misleading, as it considers anyone who did one hour of work at a paid job in the surveyed week to be an employee.

Image: A banner at a demonstration against the 6×1 scale, reading “For an end to the 6×1 scale! Leisure and study for workers-it is right to rebel!” February 25. A Nova Democracia.

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