[Marxism] Follow the example of Brazil's MST

[Fred Fuentes <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

Landless protests spread across Brazil
The Associated Press
Published: March 9, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO: Female landless workers occupied Brazil's agriculture
ministry, a vital port, a farm owned by a paper company and other
property on Monday to demand faster agrarian reform and a turn away
from pro-business policies.

The Landless Rural Workers Movement and the Via Campesina activist
group issued a statement saying the women's demonstrations were a call
for Brazil to stimulate its domestic market instead of relying on
exports.

"Agrarian reform and the small farmer are the solutions for the
economic crisis because they would create jobs and increase food
production," they said.

In the capital Brasilia, hundreds of women peacefully occupied the
lobby of the agriculture ministry, but did not halt work there and
they left by noon. The Movement said 800 women occupied the building.
Local media said the figure was closer to 300.

In Espirito Santo state, just north of Rio, women occupied briefly
stopped work at a port that yearly handles 7.5 million tons of
cellulose, the raw material for paper. But a spokeswoman for paper
company Aracruz Celulose SA said the port was fully operating by noon.
The Movement said 1,300 women participated in that protest; Aracruz
put the number at 450.

The company spokeswoman said the protesters damaged some 2,000 tons of
cellulose, throwing kerosene and termites on the wood pulp. The
Aracruz official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing company
policy.

MST said 700 women also occupied a farm in southern Brazil owned by
the paper-producing unit of Brazilian conglomerate Grupo Votorantim,
and 600 women in Sao Paulo state occupied land owned by Cosan SA
Industria e Comercio, Brazil's largest sugar and ethanol producer.

The landless activists frequently occupy property they consider
unproductive to pressure the government to speed up land reform.

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