[03/27/09] MST Informa #164: We Are Not Going to Pay for the Crisis!

The MST is participating in the demonstrations in defense of the working class and against the worldwide economic crisis alongside the most representative groups of the union, student, and people’s movements on Monday (March 30). The protests against the crisis, which were discussed in the Assembly of Social Movements in the World Social Forum will take place in all the capital cities in the country. These demonstrations are planned to take place between March 28 and April 4 throughout the world. One of the demands of the people’s, union, and student movements is to enact Agrarian Reform as an alternative to the economic crisis, to ensure the production of food and to support small agro-industries, strengthening the internal market and promoting social justice. Agrarian Reform is the most effective policy for creating jobs in the countryside. For this reason we demand the settlement of all the families who are in encampments in Brazil, besides those who lost their jobs because of agribusiness. The government should not bail out the businesses that are failing but rather invest in a special line of credit for the settlement families, ensuring the creation of jobs and the production of food. The coalition of grassroots forces should continue organizing struggles in the coming days and weeks to confront unemployment and prevent setbacks for the workers. We are going to continue the struggle for Agrarian Reform and for a new agrarian model that guarantees improved living conditions for the population in the countryside. We also have to retake the original meaning of workers’ struggles on May 1. The mobilizations on the 30th represent the beginning of a campaign of struggles. The Brazilian people are not going passively accept the effects of the crisis of capital. We hope that the unity of the popular forces encourages the social struggles in defense of the men and women workers, for the building of a grassroots project of development for Brazil. Read below the manifesto of the demonstration on March 30, put together by more than 20 organizations working together. The workers will not pay for the crisis! No to layoffs! Yes to interest rate cuts, for public investments and in defense of workers’ rights and social rights! Brazil is taking to the streets on Monday, March 30. Men and women workers in the countryside and in the cities will be unted against the crisis and against layoffs, for employment and wages, for the maintenance and broadening of rights, for the reduction of interest rates and of the work day without a reduction in wages, for Agrarian Reform and in defense of investments in social policies. The crisis of speculation and of the monopolies erupted in the center of the capitalist system, the United States, and reaches the least developed economies. Over there – and also in Brazil – trillions of dollars are being burned up to cover the gap of the multinational corporations, but unemployment continues to spread, possibly reaching more than 50 million people. In Brazil, the ominous and opportunist actions of the auto companies and corporations such as Vale do Rio Doce, CSN, and Embraer, are leading to the layoffs of more than 800 thousand workers in the last five months. The people are not responsible for the crisis. It is the result of a system that periodically goes into crisis and has been transforming the planet into an immense financial casino with rules dictated by the “market god”. Faced with the failure of this logic, they want the working class to pay the bill through layoffs, cuts in wages and in rights, an injection of funds from the National Development Bank into the businesses that are laying off and by criminalizing the social movements. We’ve had enough! The wage freeze and unemployment weaken the internal market, leaving the country vulnerable to the mercy of the crisis, fundamentally harming the poorest people in the slums and on the outskirts of big cities. What’s needed is to drastically cut interest rates, reduce the work day without cutting wages, speed up agrarian reform, and increase public policies in housing, sanitation, education, and health, and for the government to take concrete measures to prevent layoffs, to ensure employment and income for the workers. We will demonstrate our support for all who are going through layoffs, in particular the 4270 workers of Embraer, stressing that we are struggling to get them rehired. March 30 is a symbolic date since on this day we commemorate the defense of Palestine, solidarity against the terrorist policy of the State of Israel, for the sovereignty and self-determination of all peoples. With this spirit of unity and struggle, we are going to put together large mobilizations throughout the country. March 30 will be the first step in the campaign. Join us! NO TO LAYOFFS! CUT INTEREST RATES! SHORTER WORK DAY WITH NO CUT IN PAY! AGRARIAN REFORM NOW! FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND HOUSING! IN DEFENSE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES! SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF PALESTINE! Organizers: ASSEMBLÉIA POPULAR, CEBRAPAZ, CGTB, CMB, CMS, CONAM, CONLUTAS, CONLUTE, CTB, CUT, FORÇA SINDICAL, INTERSINDICAL, MARCHA MUNDIAL DE MULHERES, MST, MTL, MTST, NCST, OCLAE, UBES, UBM-FDIM, UGT, UNE, UNEGRO, VIA CAMPESINA