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[A-List] PITTSBURGH HAITI VIRGINIA BRAZIL MST

(Here's Haiti Looking at You)
 
Tom Baker here with a mural of news.
 
- PITTSBURGH G20 seems like Miami
over the FTAA or New York over the
RNC or Seattle 1999. Funny how the
goonie repression gets the news,
becomes the event. You notice
the goons cannot smile, if anyone
does, he gets fired. The coverage is
so redundant, the stupid smiley faces
on the evening news, the smuggy
portrayal. Damn, they ain't got no heart.
 
- HAITI. Guess who wants the UN to stay
 
- VIRGINIA Slave History and Developers
Utter Disregard   (they don't know what honor is) 
 
- BRAZIL    MST Manifesto on Democracy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--- Begin Message --- 
Manifesto in Defense of Democracy and of the MST
http://www.mstbrazil.org/?q=node/627

Just the fact that we carried out another campaign—demanding the
fulfillment of a list of demands presented to the Lula government in
2005 including the demand that the productivity indexes be brought up
to date as the Federal Constitution requires— was enough to generate a
reaction.
The most conservative sectors of Congress and of society, led by
Senator Kátia Abreu (DEM/TO) and the Federal Deputies Ronaldo Caiado
(DEM-GO) and Onyx Lorenzoni (DEM-RS), began to orchestrate a new
offensive against the MST.

In the past week, the right wing Congressmen from the rural areas
asked for another Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) about the
MST – the third in less than five years. It was nothing more than a
reprisal for our daring to request that the productivity indexes be
brought up to date, which can benefit the rural landowners in our
country who actually produce.
Those who do not produce, once the new indices are approved, will have
more difficulty accessing the public coffers. So the “modern”
defenders of agribusiness not only defend a backwards agriculture, in
their own defense, but also once again express their character as
anti-social parasites of public resources.

To justify the CPI, the right-wing rural members of Congress allege
that public funds have been embezzled for Agrarian Reform. It’s their
right to make this inquiry and we praise their willingness to look
after public funds.

Even knowing that the National Agricultural Confederation, over which
Senator Kátia Abreu presides, financed her election campaign and until
now, this has not been investigated. But if there are problems with
these public resources, what is the purpose of the Tribunal of Federal
Accounts, subordinated to the National Congress, or the Federal
Revenue Agency?

Is there a need to create a new CPI or is the objective only to
mobilize a social movement and take up space in the media to hide the
banner of Agrarian Reform? There is no lack of Congressmen who can
identify with these goals.

But if we are not lacking in enemies of Agrarian Reform, politically
and economically strengthened for five centuries by the existence of
the latifundio, there is also no lack of solidarity and support from
the tireless and valiant fighters for Agrarian Reform.

And through the initiative of comrades who never let us down,
especially in the most difficult hours, we have a Manifesto in Defense
of Democracy and of the MST. Our very great thanks to these comrades
for this initiative.

We thank the initiative of our comrades Plínio de Arruda Sampaio,
Osvaldo Russo, Hamilton Pereira, Alípio Freire and Heloisa Fernandes
for writing the manifesto and organizing the petition drive.

We are proud to receive the support and kind words of Antônio Cândido,
Leandro Konder, Fábio Konder Comparato, Fernando Morais, Jacques
Alfonsin and Nilo Batista. From abroad, we have received solidarity
from Eduardo Galeano (Uruguay), István Mészáros (Hungary), Miguel
Urbano (Portugal) and Vandana Shiva (Índia).

>From the Church, we received the prayers of Dom Ladislau Biernaski
(President of the CPT), Dom Pedro Casaldáliga (emeritus bishop of the
São Félix do Araguaia), Reverend Carlos Alberto Tomé da Silva
(Anglican, Military Chaplain), Dom Tomás Balduino, Frei Betto and
Leonardo Boff.

The organizations of the working class in our country are also on our
side against this offensive. The parties on the left showed their
solidarity against the maneuvers of the extreme rightists in Congress.

Besides these comrades, we thank the more than 400 people who already
signed our manifesto. But more than the content expressed in the
manifesto, the company of all of you, and of all who sign, attests
that we are in the struggle and on the right path.

There may be a delay because of the backward “latifundist” mentality
of the Brazilian elite, but we will achieve a Brazil that is socially
just and democratic, with equality for all.

Following is the text of the Manifesto. Please sign it and get more
signatures. To sign, go to:
http://www.petitiononline.com/manifmst/petition.html.

MST National Secretariat

Manifesto in defense of the MST

“...They become legitimate not through their property but through
their work, in this world in which work is becoming extinct. They
become legitimate because they make History, in a world that has
already proclaimed the end of History. These men and women are an
absurdity because they bring back to life a feeling that was lost...”
(“News of the survivors”, Eldorado dos Carajás, 1996).

For 30 years, the rebuilding of democracy in Brazil has demanded
enormous sacrifices from the workers. They had to rebuild their
organizations that were destroyed by two decades of repression by the
military dictatorship and invent new forms of movements and struggles
that could meet the challenge of confronting one of the most unequal
societies in the world. This also involved presenting the heirs of the
five-century-old slave culture, the workers of the city and of the
countryside, as citizens and as legitimate participants, not only in
the production of the country’s wealth (as has always been the case)
but equally as beneficiaries of sharing the wealth that was produced.

The hatred of the rural and urban oligarchy does not stop focusing for
one day on one of the new instruments created by the Brazilian workers
in 1984 to organize and struggle: the Movement of the Landless Rural
Workers, the MST. And this Movement pays daily with sweat and blood—as
recently occurred in Rio Grande do Sul, by daring to question one of
the pillars of social inequality in Brazil: the monopolization of
land. The gesture of raising their banner in an occupation is
translated into an expression that is simple to understand, and for
this reason, is intolerable to the ears of the lords of land and of
agribusiness. A country where 1% of the population owns 46% of the
land, protected by fences, by agents of the State, and by hired
killers cannot be considered a Republic, much less a democracy.

The Constitution of 1988 specifies that the unproductive estates, as
well as lands used for planting the raw materials for the production
of drugs, must be targeted for Agrarian Reform. But since the signing
of the new Charter, successive governments have neglected to comply
with this requirement. The fact that the MST dares to struggle to
ensure these rights that were won in the Constitution, to pressure the
authorities through peaceful occupations, is compounded by its other
bold move, equally intolerable to the capitalist lords of the
countryside and the cities: the legitimate and legal dispute over the
Public Budget.

In 40 years, since the creation of INCRA in 1970, around one million
rural families have been settled on the land, more than half of them
between 2003 and 2008. To make it possible for these families to take
part in economic activity, to integrate them into the productive
process for food and shares in the new cycle of development, we need
to put an end to the daily fight over public resources. This is the
reason for the hatred of the rural right wingers and other sectors of
big capital, accustomed as they have always been to exclusive access
to credit, subsidies, and to periodic forgiveness of their debts.

The government’s commitment to review the criteria for productivity
for Brazilian agriculture responds to a four-decade-old demand raised
by the movements of rural workers. To demand that these indices be
brought up to date, the rural workers are asking for nothing more than
compliance with the Federal Constitution and that the scientific and
technological advances that have been made in the last four decades be
incorporated into the methods for measuring agricultural productivity
in our country.

It is against this demand that the rural right-wingers in the National
Congress are reacting and attacking the MST. As a reprisal, they are
trying once again to request the formation of a Parliamentary
Commission of Inquiry against the MST. It would be the third in five
years. If Brazilian agriculture is so modern and productive—as
agribusiness boasts—why do they fear bringing the indices up to date?
And, why not create a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to analyze
the public funds that go to the organizations of the rural ruling
class? A Commission that takes charge of answering questions as simple
as: what happened for the past 40 years in the Brazilian countryside
in terms of a rise in productivity? How much did Brazil invest in a
true revolution in new technology, which would have made Brazilian
agriculture capable of feeding our people and affirming itself as one
of the largest exporters of food? How many loans given out of the
public coffers to the large landowners were forgiven in this time
period?
The attack on the MST goes beyond the struggle for Agrarian Reform.
It’s an attack against the democratic advances won in the 1988
Constitution—such as that which establishes the social function of
agricultural property—and against the essential rights for the
democratic rebuilding of our country. And it is therefore against this
democratic rebuilding that the agribusiness leaders and their allies
in the countryside and in the cities have risen up. This is serious.
This is a threat not only against the movements of rural and urban
workers but also against all of society. And it is the very democratic
rebuilding of Brazil, which cost the efforts and even the lives of
many Brazilians that is being opposed. It is the very democratic
rebuilding of Brazil that is being violated.

For this reason, today the most conservative sectors in society are
mounting a new offensive against the MST, in the National Congress, in
the media, in the pressure lobbies in all spheres of power. It’s a
matter of once more criminalizing a movement that has consistently
raised the banner, disturbing the democratic conscience of the
country—our democracy will only be worthy of the name when it
incorporates all Brazilians and grants them as citizens the right to
share in the wealth that they produce throughout their lives with
their hands, their skills, and their love for the country that belongs
to all of us.

AGAINST THE CRIMINALIZATION OF THE LANDLESS MOVEMENT.
FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL RULES THAT DEFINE THE LANDS
THAT ARE TARGETED FOR AGRARIAN REFORM.
FOR THE IMMEDIATE ADOPTION OF THE NEW PRODUCTION CRITERIA FOR THE
PURPOSES OF AGRARIAN REFORM.
Brasília, September 11, 2009.
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--- Begin Message ---


First-Hand Report: Demanding Jobs at theÂG20

Posted by carldavidson on September 21, 2009

g20-jobsmarch

Pittsburgh Diaries: Day One
March for Jobs in âThe Hillâ

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

The âG20â is a big deal in Pittsburgh, with multiple stories in the local press and TV, even though many everyday citizens are wondering what itâs really all about and whether itâs worth all the fuss and expense.

âI know all the big shots from around the world are coming, I see that on the newsâ my dad told me last week. âBut what do they actually do behind all those guards and closed doors?â

Itâs a good question. The âbig shots,â of course, are all the top political and economic leaders of the worldâs nineteen largest economies, with the European Union added to make twenty. And lots of people would love to be a fly on the wall when they start wrangling over whoâs really to blame for the latest financial meltdown and how to recover from it.

I told my dad, for starters, that theyâre cooking up schemes to have the rest of us pay off the gambling debts of Wall Street speculators while they ship more jobs overseas. Thatâs why the unions are going to be in streets, along with the environmental people, the antiwar movement, and everyone else. Heâs dubious that it will do any good, but I told him Iâll be in the thick of it, and Iâd let him know what happens.

So today I headed for one of the first actions, a mass march for jobs, sponsored by the âBail Out the People Movement.â Itâs a coalition pulled together by a number of left and community groups, with an assist from the Western Pennsylvania United Steel Workers and the United Electrical Workers. The organizers have picked Pittsburghâs low-income African American âHill Districtâ as the launch site, and it couldnât be a better one, since this is the heart of the neighborhoods that need jobs the most. The route is a little under a mile, and ends at the edge of downtown, in an open space behind the Civic Arena.

Coming into town on the parkway, the first things that hit you are the giant âPittsburgh Welcomes the World!â banners on the large corporate lawns lining the highway. Next is a higher density of police cars. Finally, thereâs a blizzard of orange detour signs re-routing traffic so the sports arenas and casinos can function while the security zones go up around select areas downtown. I maneuvered through it all, and made my way through bleak blocks with boarded-up storefronts to the âTent Cityâ on the grounds of the Monumental Baptist Church near the top of âThe Hill.â I find a tenuous place to park on a rise that gives me an excellent view for photos.

Itâs immediately clear this is going to be a spirited and colorful march, but of a militant minority. The weather is good, but on the hot and humid side. Nearly 500 people are there, and perhaps half of these are from out of town. There are a number of preachers around, some ladies from churches in their Sunday finery, a number of people with UE T-shirts and Steelworker ball caps, and dozens of young people putting together picket signs and adjusting sound systems. In brief, all the components of the coalition are there, but this is going to be a relatively small kickoff march rather than a massive outpouring.

I started to survey the crowd and right away run into Scott Marshall from the âPeopleâs Weekly World.â Heâs been in town for a week covering the AFL-CIO convention, which just ended.

âWhaddya think?â Scott asked. âMultiply by 100, and it would be terrific,â I answered. I added that I thought the media overkill on the supposed threats of violence and the cityâs dragging out the permit process until the least minute had taken a toll. âTheyâre getting very clever on dealing with us, and we have to find ways to counter it.â

Next I ran into some friends from the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism from New York City and Los Angeles, who traveled from both coasts in vans. The tables of the main sponsoring left groups with the âPeopleâs Bailoutâ coalition are prominent. From Pittsburgh, thereâs a sizable group from the Thomas Merton Center and its Pittsburgh Antiwar Committee, as well as Paul LeBlanc, a local leftist professor and antiwar leader. He reported favorably on the large educational sessions held over the weekend.

A Pickup truck with a decent sound system got positioned in the middle of the line of marchers. Itâs playing âAinât No Stopping Us Now!â and as the line moved, the chants begin: âWe want a J-O-B, so we can E-A-T! is a popular one, as is âWeâre fired up, wonât take no more!â Since itâs all downhill, itâs an easy hike. I describe a few historic sites we passed to some out-of-towners, like the Crawford Grill, center of the Pittsburgh jazz scene for decades, as well as the home of the famous Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Negro Baseball Leagues of which it was an important part.

Waiting for us at the rally site at the other end were Pennsylvania State Senator Jim Ferlo and his assistant Mikhail Pappas. Ferlo has long used his Harrisburg Senate position to advocate for labor, civil rights and antiwar causes, and today is no exception.

Weâre welcomed to the rally by Rev. Thomas Smith of the Monumental Baptist Church. He started off by answering my dadâs question: âThese G20 people are here to make deals that benefit the corporations; theyâre not here helping the workers, or the rest of us in the communities.â Our efforts today are only the beginning, he reminds us, thereâs much more to come, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere.

Senator Ferlo was next. âWeâre here to speak out to right our countries wrongs, not only here but around the globe. Capitalism is in deep crisis. Some here may say capitalism IS the crisis. In any case, we have to press for a sustainable economy that works for us, the majority of the working people.â

Ferlo then took up a topic that had everyone buzzing all day. The morningâs Post Gazette including an article based on an interview with Obama, where the President said, in relation to the G20 protests: âI was always a big believer in â when I was doing organizing before I went to law school â that focusing on concrete, local, immediate issues that have an impact on peopleâs lives is what really makes a difference; and that having protests about abstractions [such] as global capitalism or something, generally is not really going to make much of a difference.

The Senator was furious with Obama. âThis is worse than misguided and a major miscalculation; itâs intellectually dishonest. It was people in the streets that put him there. It was mass protests that built the unions, that got rid of Jim Crow, that won rights for women. This is the problem with the whole top layer of the Democratic Party in dealing with these attacks from the far right. Theyâre acquiescing to it; they should hang their heads in shame-and Iâm telling you this as an active and registered Democrat. We have got to rise up and turn this around.â

âIf we had a hundred more elected Democrats like him,â said one protester standing next to me in reference to Ferlo. âIt would be a whole different ball game.â

Brenda Stokley followed up. She was with the Katrina and Rita Hurricane Survivors Committee, and delivered a blistering indictment of the governmentâs ongoing failures to deal with these crises. âThereâs no reason for people to be homeless, no reason for people to be without jobs. We need these for survival.â

One speaker stood out in his ability to command the attention of almost everyone. Fred Richmond, a vice president of the United Steelworkers and an African American, started off by asserting that âthe issue of poverty is central to laborâs agenda, and not just in this country, but globally.â He went on to describe in some detail exactly what the AFL-CIO would be pressing on the G20-fair trade, green jobs, a âTobin Taxâ worldwide on financial speculation, a âsecond stimulusâ on a global scale to spur job growth and the transition to clean energy and a green economy.

Richmond also put the earlier critique of Obama in a larger perspective. âThis president is under a heavy and fierce attack from the far right. What heâs going through is unprecedented, unless you go back to Roosevelt. We have to back him up, but we also have to make sure all of them act in our interests.â Some were dubious on this point, but most of the crowd took him very seriously.

I missed a few of the final speakers, since I was making a point of connecting with some of the Progressive Democrats of America activists there. Western PAâs 4th CD was represented, as well as a group in from Akron, Ohio, who was passing out PDAâs âHealthcare, Not Warfareâ placards to use for the rest of the week. We exchanged stories of our dealings with the rightwing âTea Baggerâ rallies in various places, plus the days to come.

Two important events are up soon for the remaining days of the G20. One is a union-sponsored rally in Point Park on Wednesday, Oct 23. The negotiations for the permit there have been contentious, because the police and Secret Service wanted the same spot as a staging area. On Thursday, Pittsburghâs anarchist youth will be heard from in one way or another-no one is quite sure what they will do. And Friday, Oct. 25, there will be âthe big march,â with the areaâs peace and justice movements at the heart of it. Stay tuned!

[Carl Davidson writes for Beaver County Blue, the online voice of the 4th CD Progressive Democrats of America. He is also a national co-chair of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. If you like this article, make use of the PayPal button at Keep On Keepin' On]



--
===============
Keep On Keepin' On

'If we do not change direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.'
- Chinese proverb

'If you don't have a strategy, you're part of someone else's strategy.'
- Alvin Toffler


Carl Davidson


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