MST Informas

[8/26/05] MST Update #97 Our Struggle for Land Reform

Dear friends of the MST,

The topic of corruption, which involves the current government and some of the political parties that support it, has seized the headlines. The media does not speak of anything else except “state corruption‿ as if it were an invention of the Workers Party government. This government is guilty precisely of continuing the bourgeois way of playing politics.

[8/09/05] MST Update #96 The MST's Political Position on the Current Situation

Dear friends of the MST,

We think it is important that you who are friends of the MST know what we are really thinking. Last month in a meeting of the national leadership of the Movement, with more than 250 comrades from every state and sector, we analyzed the current political situation and our position in relation to it. We are presenting here in a concise format the main political deliberations of our Movement, which orient our practical actions.

[7/25/05] MST Update #95 The Crisis of the Republic: Manifesto of Economists for a New Economic Policy

Everyone agrees that the Republic is in crisis. We also believe that the crisis is deep. But what crisis are we talking about? We believe that the New Republic, born over the ashes of the dictatorship in 1985 promising a better country, finally succumbed before the interests of the country’s ruling classes and died. The current crisis – political, economic, social, and ethical -- can only be resolved if the pillars of the agreement that sustained the transition of the dictatorship to democracy and which were protected and nourished by all the following governments up to now, were substituted by a program that meets the most deeply-felt demands of the people and restores the national and popular sovereignty that every Republic worthy of the name must possess.

[6/18/05]: MST Update #92 An Option for the Brazilian People

Dear friends of the MST,

In 2002, we elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as President of Brazil. It was the first time that a representative of the people, a leader of the working class, assumed command of the nation. During the electoral campaign, however, the release of his “Letter to the Brazilians‿, proved Lula’s intentions to guarantee to international creditors and the Brazilian market a continuation of many of the same measures that marked Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s administration.

Even though the Brazilian people noticed these signs, they remained full of hope and high expectations and voted for Lula in hopes of changing the political economy. As months passed, ideals of making change for the benefit of social justice diminished as quickly as interest rates rose. It became clear that a clearly neoliberal policy was necessary, one based around containing rising interest rates – the basic SELIC rate (similar to the US Fed Funds Rate) remains at 19.75% and is considered the highest in the world – to stimulate exports and guarantee a primary surplus, one which is expected to reach 83 Billion Reais (approximately 35 Billion US Dollars) in 2005. The country’s use of resources for improving Agrarian Reform, education, public health, sanitation and infrastructure fell by the wayside.

On the other hand, a foreign policy of dialogue with Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and popular movements in Equador and Bolivia left the transnational capital and George W. Bush’s United States government restless.

In order to calm them down and guarantee the government’s smooth functioning, alliances were made with conservative sectors of politics and society, including the press. The base of this government no longer consisted only of popular movements and civil society, even though history shows that the National Congress has never failed to approve a bill for which it could obtain public support.

With the allegations of corruption that have spread over the last two weeks, the perimeter has been armed. The elite used the declarations of Roberto Jefferson (PTB), from within the pro-government base, to create a smoke screen and weaken Lula’s government, even raising the possibility of impeachment.

The MST encourages investigation of all allegations, whatever the consequences may be. It is, however, clear that the right has used this situation to its advantage in anticipation of upcoming elections. They will either invest themselves in the weakening of the government and resort to consolidating themselves behind one candidate, or they will make a new pact with the establishment of more right-wing politics and without a change in the economy. A clear example of this type of policy is the proposal to privatize the Postal Service as a way of avoiding corruption, as such following the rules of neoliberal change.

We stand against corruption, but we are also opposed to this kind of underhandedness. As such, we advocate for the investigation of all allegations of corruption against the Lula administration as well as against all previous administrations and particularly that of FHC.

This is a moment of decision. We are dealing with conflicting plans. The government can amplify the policies it has employed from its beginning until now, or it can come to the side of the people and take up again its campaign promises to the 53 million Brazilians who elected Lula. We must take to the streets to show our support for making decisions that prioritize changing the political economy and fulfilling social rights. We will insist that the government prove that it stands with the people in relation to democratization and the defense of nationalized business and social rights, in favor of democratic political reform and Agrarian Reform!

With a warm embrace,

The National Secretary of the MST

NEWS BRIEFS:

Mobilization in Goiâna

On July 1st, during the Congress of the National Students’ Union, the Coordinator of Social Movements (CMS) with carry out a protest march against misrepresentation and corruption within the government and in favor of changing economic policy.

Pará Justice upholds verdict that will leave 10,000 families homeless

The Pará Judiciary decided to uphold the verdict of reintegration of possession in the southeast of the state. This is a significant move against workers and rural workers: over 20,000 people will find themselves without shelter. Among the chosen farms are areas of expropriation, already established as unproductive, and some that use slave labor.

Translated by Friends of the MST volunteer E. Brennan Dorn

[6/4/05] MST Update #91: CPMI of Land--ideological platform of the fight for Agrarian Reform

Dear friends of the MST,

The week in Brasília we followed two more sessions of the Congressional Commission of Inquiry of Land (CPMI). Established in the beginning of 2004, the objectives of the CPMI were to analyze the progress of Agrarian Reform, the social movements of workers and landowners, and to investigate the causes of rural conflicts and violence in order to identify concrete solutions to the Agrarian Reform problems in Brazil.

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