Motion in support of the occupation of the old Ariadnópolis quilombo plant in Campo Grande

Urgent Action is needed to support 450 families threatened with eviction after 20 years of occupation. This is just the beginning of the soon-to-be Bolsanaro regime's attack on the social movements, in general, and the MST in particular. This article describes the situation in the state of Minas Gerais and includes a sample of an email you can send to the judge in charge of the eviction proceedings. From the Friends of the MST (U.S.).

Since the first occupation there have been five evictions over 20 years and only resistance and popular organization have made possible achievements

The conflicts in the areas of the old Ariadnópolis Plant extend over 20 years. The area of ​​the Plant has about 4,000 hectares, where all its production was destined to monoculture of sugar cane, and production of alcohol.

The Landless Rural Workers Movement arrived in the south of Minas Gerais, in the municipality of Campo do Meio, in 1997, in the face of labor conflicts involving the former Ariadnópolis Plant, Companhia Agropecuária Irmãos Azevedo (CAPIA), which have not yet been fully resolved to date , there are still workers who have not received their rights. We organized ourselves through these processes of struggle and resistance that later, in 1999, resulted in the occupation of the unproductive lands of the old Mill after its bankruptcy.

Since the first occupation there have been five evictions over 20 years and only resistance and popular organization have made possible achievements. In 2017-2018, landless families produced more than 8,500,000 bags of coffee, 55,000 bags of corn and 500 tons of beans. In addition to a diverse horticultural production of vegetables, beans,  chickens, cattle and milk. Throughout these years, partnerships have also been established with organizations and institutions in the region that have encouraged production, the promotion of popular education and the improvement of infrastructure for families.

In September of 2015 the movement had at hand the State Decree 365 that expropriated 3,195 hectares of the bankrupt Ariadnópolis Plant. The State Decree had as its proposal to expropriate the area by paying R $66 million [US $17.7 million] to the company. However, CAPIA shareholders did not accept the agreement and brought the case to justice against the Minas Gerais government, requesting annulment of the decree.

Two months ago, we reached an agreement in which the state pledged to pay the sum in five installments, but with the advance of the fascist wave along the electoral process, through a legal collusion between the agribusiness, the ruralist group and the landowners. region, made a political maneuver judging and annulling the decree, being that the same had already passed through two judgments that validated the important action of the Minas Gerais government.

Through a dubious legal operation they resumed a 2011 eviction action, with false and  lying statements, and intend to remove the families who have been living in the area for more than 20 years. These are the first steps of the fascist actions of the State, of the criminalization of the struggle for land and Agrarian Reform.

The entities and partners that sign below, hereby declare the total support for the permanence of these families in the area and request the definitive resolution of one of the oldest conflicts in Brazil.

We are and will be the Resistance!

Struggle! Build People’s Agrarian Reform!

The families of Quilombo Campo Grande encampment, in the south of Minas Gerais, have issued a call for solidarity for the threat of eviction they suffer, even though they have lived for more than 20 years in the area. Check the statement and participate in the pressure campaign, sending email to the address indicated in the note:

We, MST families from the south of MG, from Quilombo Campo Grande, in Adrianópolis, want to denounce fascist action against our 20-year struggle. Here, families, after so many years, already have electrical energy infrastructure, masonry houses and produce a great diversity of agroecological production, such as coffee, many varieties of corn, beans, vegetables, fruits, organic seeds, livestock, chickens, and pigs. These families generate, with their work, food sovereignty, not only for those who produce and live on the earth, but for thousands of people who have access to a healthy food, without poison and with quality.

Camps also generate income distribution. The land, which was only of one owner, now brings dignity to nearly 450 families, more than 2,000 people, who were almost having their dream of having possession of the land carried out with a state decree.

But now, through a legal conspiracy between the big farmers, deputies [congress people] of the ruralist group [the congressional coalition of large landowners and agribusiness] and agribusiness companies in the region, they are organizing an eviction process for the families that live and resist throughout these 20 years of struggle. 

The Situation is Unacceptable!

Two months ago the families had almost settled [i.e. gained land rights], and now they can lose everything they have built over the years.

This is one of the country's oldest agrarian conflicts.

 We ask all organizations, supporters to send the email below to the addresses:

bhe.vagraria@tjmg.jus.br (agrarian staff)
contato@crdhsulmg.com.br (entity that is following the case)

Template of the email in Portuguese:

Aos cuidados do Dr. Sr. Juiz Walter Ziwicker Esbaille Junior,

Escrevo sobre a ação de reintegração de posse N° 0024.11.188.917-6 ajuizada em 17.06/2011 e para expresser meu apoio ao pedido de indeferimento de ação de reintegração de posse, que estão de acordo com os artigos 22 a 20 da DUDH consubstancia os direitos sociais, o direito ao trabalho, à escolha do trabalho, pois as 450 famílias, mais de 2000 pessoas, já estão em posse velha da área a mais de 20 anos. Eles tem suas casas e o seu sustento neste local.

Pela resolução do conflito, peço respeitosamente pela permeância das famílias, fazemos esse apelo

Sem mais a declarar.

{Add your name, name of your organization (optional), state and country, and date}

English translation:

To: Judge Mr. Walter Ziwicker Esbaille Junior:

I am writing about the repossession action No. 0024.11.188.917-6 filed on 06/17/2011 and to express my support for the denial of the repossession action, which are in accordance with articles 22 to 20 of the UDHR embodies social rights, the right to work, the choice of work, and because 450 families, more than 2000 people, are already in the area for more than 20 years. They have established their homes and livelihood in this place.

For the resolution of this conflict, I respectfully ask you to maintain the rights of the 450 families.

No more to declare.

Name / Organization, State, country, date
**********************************************************************************

We are the resistance!
The fight for Adrianople is the Fight for Democracy

Organizations that have signed:

CUT – Central Única dos Trabalhadores
CTB - Central dos Trabalhadores do Brasil
SindUTE/MG – Sindicato Único dos Trabalhadores em Educação de Minas Gerais
Marcha Mundial das Mulheres
SINPRO/MG – Sindicato dos Professores do Estado de Minas Gerais
Levante Popular da Juventude
Movimento dos Trabalhadores por Direitos