New Brazil Bulletin #10

The Struggle for Land

On February 26, indigenous people blocked a highway in protest of the State’s privatization of the highway, stating it will cause them to face further deforestation, invasions, and environmental degradation.

April in the struggle for land is celebrated as “Red April,” by the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) where the peasant movement makes advances in land seizure to pressure the government. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recognizes this and has made an effort throughout March to save face and weaken the coming advance, giving out land to families in rural areas. The government’s land allotments and agrarian reform budget have been denounced by the MST as inadequate.

In early March, the Rondônia judiciary convicted a people’s lawyer and 4 peasants organized with the League of Poor Peasants (LCP) of forming a “criminal organization” to divide and sell land. The judiciary has been waging a campaign to persecute the struggle for land for the past four years. An important activity of the LCP is the “people’s cut”, whereby land is divided up and deeds produced for peasant families, giving land to those who work it. The people’s cut comes into sharp conflict with the big landlords and the old Brazilian state which supports them.

On March 7, State-hired gunmen invaded and attacked a quilombola(African residents of settlements originally established by slaves) community, destroying their settlement and threatening them. This continues the reactionary violence of the latifundium (big landlords) against the peasantry as the Agrarian Revolution develops in Brazil.

On March 11, in a simultaneous attack, latifundium-hired paramilitaries attacked Monte Dourado, Comexatibá, and Barra Velha, murdering one indigenous Pataxó youth, shooting another and lighting the village chief’s house on fire. The attack occurred one day before 300 indigenous people from the broader area would meet to demand immediate land demarcation from the State. A Nova Democracia (AND), Brazil’s leading people’s democratic newspaper, noted how the Civil Police had previously visited Pataxó land, not to protect them from the gunmen, but instead to disarm them.

On March 13, the MST held demonstrations against environmental destruction carried out by the latifundium and in favor of re-evaluating a law which removes forestry from the list of potentially polluting activities.

Workers’ and Peoples’ Struggle

On February 26, mothers of children with autism protested against the city of Recife’s lack of education provided for autistic children, as well as long queue times for autism diagnosis.

On March 4, residents of Florianópolis protested against a 10-day-long water shortage, calling for further development of the area such as health institutions, doctors, and transportation.

On March 5, artisanal fishermen protested against the State’s newly-instated ordinance that limits the amount of mullet they can catch, saying that it lowers the income of fishermen.

On March 9, women of Londrina celebrated International Working Women’s Day, talking about police killings in the neighborhood and fighting against female oppression.

On March 10, the People’s Women’s Movement and the Class-Conscious Movement of Education Workers held an educational event regarding the history of International Working Women’s Day and the importance of the struggle of working women.

On the same day, Londrina protesters blocked a highway in protest of a police killing of two young men in February, holding a banner that reads: “Down with fascist police violence in the slums and favelas against poor, black, and working people!”

On March 11, Florianópolis residents protested against a 15% price increase in public transportation fares and abolition of free fares for low-income students, calling for free bus fares.

On March 12, protesters blocked a highway in protest of bad road conditions, demanding the highway be entirely repaired.

Later that day, health workers protested in Brasília in favor of PEC 19/24, a constitutional amendment that would establish a minimum salary for nurses and reduce the work week to 30 hours. On the same day, nurses of Rio de Janeiro protested against the lack of wage re-compensation and salary adjustment that the State is not providing.

On March 13, hundreds of teachers and students from Recife protested against the closing of a local school, which originally occurred due to safety concerns, but the state has done nothing about resolving them. For over a year, they have been having to use a rented building that does not have the proper capacity for teaching.

Student Struggle

On March 8, the Children of the People Student Collective initiated their participation in the National Campaign in Defense of the Agrarian Revolution jointly announced by the Dawn of the People and the People’s Revolutionary Student Union, distributing leaflets about International Working Women’s Day and the Agrarian Revolution.

On March 12, the People’s Revolutionary Student Movement published a statement in commemoration of Comrade Professor Fausto Arruda, the founder and general director of A Nova Democracia, the popular and democratic newspaper of Brazil.

Widespread student protests took place in early-to-mid March, mobilizing against wage theft against cafeteria workers, lack of salary adjustment for educational workers after air conditioning was removed, and a lack of air conditioning in many schools.

On March 13, dentistry students at the Federal University of Paraíba protested against the university’s disregard for the dentistry course, exemplified in the poor equipment quality and condition.

Brazil’s National Situation

Inflation continues to worsen. The price of necessities rose by up to 4.4% over February, with meat, coffee, and eggs inflating the worst among them. A Nova Democracia says that this is due to the latifundium selling their produce to other countries, as it is more profitable than selling domestically. February 2025 saw the highest monthly inflation in Brazil since 2003.

Activists have continued to commemorate Comrade Professor Fausto Arruda, putting up hundreds of posters in honor of him in several locations throughout March.

On March 12, a leaflet bomb signed by the Communist Party of Brazil exploded at a bus terminal with the slogans “Down with the coup of the Generals! Death to fascists! Long live Maoism! Long live the People’s War! Long live the Democratic Revolution!” Brazil’s far-right has been outspoken in sensationalizing it as a terrorist attack despite nobody being injured by the small explosion.

On March 20, the government approved billions of dollars of budget cuts to education, science, social assistance, and welfare programs, and further allocation of money to parliament amendments.

Image: Posters of Comrade Professor Fausto Arruda. Credit: A Nova Democracia

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