Brazilian Politics Society and Economy

During the campaign of struggle, women from the countryside and the city unite against the violence and setbacks of the Bolsonaro government.

by Maura Silva

The strength of women is kicking off the year of major mobilizations in the country. Under the motto: "For the sake of women’s lives, we are all Marielle!" Thousands of rural and urban women will unite in the fight against violence, against Bolsonaro and the setbacks imposed by his government.

by Vijay Prashad

On January 25, 2019, a dam burst in the town of Brumadinho, north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The dam was built by the iron-ore company Vale to store residue after the iron ore had been extracted. Once the dam began to crumble, it did not take long for its 13 million cubic meters of iron waste to sweep down onto the workers and into their town.

The clear waters of the Paraopeba River in São Joaquim de Bicas (MG), metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte (MG), were filled with mud and changed their color. What once was crystalline now has texture and coloring similar to an oil paint: dense, viscous, brownish. The desolate scenery is aggravated by the odor of decaying fish.

In an interview, Kelli Mafort from the MST national leadership, speaks about the year that ended and analyzes what the next period will bring.

On November 4, 2016, the police invaded Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes (ENFF), the MST’s national school, firing live ammunition into the air. The police arrived without any warrants terrorizing classes in session. After retreating outside the school’s gates, ostensibly waiting for warrants, the police withdrew.

Over a hundred thousand people attended the protest against the Temer government on Sunday, September 4 on Paulista Avenue. The demonstration, organized as a united action by the Brazil Popular Front and People Without Fear, criticized the process of institutional breakdown in the country and the agenda to curtail rights announced by the PMDB.

The final trial, which will be carried out in the last days of August, will define the destiny of the Brazilian democracy.

By 59 votes against 21, the Senate approved last Tuesday (August 10, 2016) the rapporteur of Senator Antonio Anastasia (PSDB-MG), which validates the denounce against President Dilma Rousseff for a liability crime. Now Dilma is going to final trial by the plenary of the Senate.

“The sugar cane, beef and soy of Mato Grosso are stained with the blood of the indigenous”, declares one passage of the statement.

Last Friday the MST released a statement vehemently condemning the massacre committed against the Guarani and Kaiowa community in the interior of South Mato Grosso in which 20 people suffered gunshot wounds and an indigenous man, Clodiodi Aquileu Rodrigues, was brutally murdered.

Statement from the Pastoral Commission on Land and other organizations: Struggling for land is an exercise in citizenship

On the afternoon of May 31, one of the national leaders of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), operating in Goias, Jose Valdir Misnerovicz, was arrested in Rio Grande do Sul, in a joint operation of the Civil Police of the states of Goiás and Rio Grande do Sul. Two vehicles of Goiás Civil Police were in Rio Grande do Sul and were transferring Valdir to Goiás.

The recent historical trajectory of Latin America has been marked by the dominance of the neoliberal project in the '90s. Then there were uprisings in several countries and the people elected progressive governments that dominated the 2000 scenario (with the victory of Chavez) until 2013. In this last period there were three political-economic projects on the continent.

The first was the neoliberal project that represented the interests of big local capital and transnational companies and especially U.S.banks