Niemeyer was a sage, a comrade, and a communist!By Luiz Felipe Albuquerque
Agriculture has undergone a major transformation in Brazil over the past 10 years, with the advancement of the agribusiness model. This model is based on: the production of monocultures on large estates; in an alliance of capitalist farmers, transnational corporations and financial capital; a mechanization that promotes expelling families from the countryside; and in an excessive use poisons, the agro-toxins.
by Gerson Teixeira
Groups representing rural workers are negotiating measures with the government which would ease rural-credit debts owed by settled and family farmers.
La Via Campesina (a sister organization of MST) presents a political platform to the federal government of Brazil which includes emergency measures, medium term measures, and strategies for the development and strengthening of family-based and peasant agriculture. The proposals are listed below.
Emergency Measures
The report amending the Forest Code, presented by congressman Aldo Rebelo (Communist Party of Brazil [PCdoB]) and approved by the House of Representatives Special Commission benefits the large landholders of Agribusiness.
By Rafael Soriano
Agroextractivist José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espírito Santo were murdered on May 23 in Nova Ipixuna in the southeast of Pará. The couple had been threatened by loggers in the region. The information was confirmed by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) of Maraba. Both were leaving the Praia Alta Piranheira Agroextractivist Settlement Project where they lived en route to the town center when they were trapped on a bridge and shot.
By Fátima Lessa
The Kaiowá Guarani indigenous group retook part of their traditional lands last Friday (13). They occupied a small section of the Laranjeira Nhanderu area in Rio Brilhante (Mato Grosso do Sul), from where they have been expelled for almost two years
