[03/06/2007] Via Campesina-Brazil Occupies Large Green Desert Land Holdings in Rio Grande do Sul
Porto Alegre, March 6th 2007
Via Campesina Brazil occupy large green desert land holdings in Rio Grande do Sul
Approximately 1,300 women from Via Campesina, who are mostly organized by the Landless Movement - MST, held four land occupations in Rio Grande do Sul this morning. Those actions are part of a series of National Struggles of Via Campesina Women held during the whole week of March 8th. The slogan of the mobilizations is “Peasant Women Struggling for Food Sovereignty against Agribusiness?.
In Rio Grande do Sul, women occupied various areas belonging to the corporations on tree monoculture, to denounce that green desert is stopping the agrarian reform and making peasant agriculture unfeasible. The occupations were held in Santana do Livramento, an area controlled by Aracruz; Candiota, controlled by Votorantim, São Francisco de Assis (in the border with Manoel Viana) controlled by Stora Enzo and in Eldorado do Sul, Porto Alegre metropolitan area, controlled by Boise.
Together these four companies own more than 200 thousand hectares of land in Rio Grande do Sul, an area which would allow the settlement of 8 thousand families generating work, income and dignity in the countryside.
The movements which are part of Via Campesina denounce that green desert is taking over the “gaucho�? land assuring profits only for the companies involved. For society the consequences are the increase of droughts, environmental loses, unemployment and poverty in the countryside. Studies prove that wherever green deserts have advanced, peasant agriculture was destroyed, and women are the first ones to be excluded from agriculture since they work mainly in food production and breeding of small animals for family consumption or to supply local markets. Strengthening Agribusiness will increase the social exclusion of women.
As an alternative for Agribusiness Via Campesina women defend the agrarian reform, peasant agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
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See Also:
Brazilian farm workers invade paper and pulp plantations
The Associated Press
Published: March 6, 2007
SAO PAULO, Brazil: About 500 farm workers protesting environmental damage by Brazilian and Finnish paper companies on Tuesday invaded plantations they said were creating a "green desert" in southern Brazil, police said.
The protesters, mostly women from the Brazilian branch of the Via Campesina farm workers rights group, occupied two plantations owned by Finland's Stora Enso Oyj and another owned by Brazil's Votorantim Celulose e Papel SA, said Rio Grande do Sul state police Col. Paulo Roberto Mendes.
Another plantation owned by an independent producer who is negotiating a partnership with Aracruz Celulose SA also was invaded in the pre-dawn raids Tuesday in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southern most state.
Via Campesina said in a statement that some 1,300 women participated in Tuesday's invasions, aimed at denouncing the social and environmental impact of the growing "green desert" created by the paper companies in Latin America's largest country. Via Campesina also wanted to promote agrarian reform.
Cellulose companies tend to cut down native forest and replant trees like eucalyptus and pine which are easy to harvest, but environmentalists say monocultures reduce biodiversity and harm the environment.
Police evicted the protesters from the Stora Enso plantations and were awaiting court orders to evict the protesters from the other lands, Mendes said.
The invasions were peaceful and apparently did not damage the plantations, located about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Sao Paulo, Mendes said. The companies said they were still evaluating whether any damage was done.
About a year ago, Via Campesina protesters went on a multimillion-dollar (euro) rampage at installations owned by Aracruz. They overpowered security guards before destroying a million saplings and trashing a laboratory at the site 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Sao Paulo.
Tuesday's raid was timed to coincide with International Women's Day on Thursday, Via Campesina said.
Available online @ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/06/america/LA-GEN-Brazil-Plantati...