[WSF-Discuss] International call of action: Sign a protest and Support the MST and the WSF in Brazil on March 9 and April 17 2009 !
Jai Sen
jai.sen at cacim.net
Wed Mar 4 10:18:29 UCT 2009
International call of action:
Sign a protest and Support the MST and the WSF in Brazil on March 9
and April 17 2009 !
On the 3rd of March 2009 the authorities in Rio Grande do Sul in
Brazil closed all the schools for the landless in encampments set up
by the Movimento Sem Terra (MST), and landless workers’ movement.
Since early 2009, the local authorities in Rio Grande do Sul have
also opened an attack against the WSF.
Join the international protests! Sign the petition and take action!
Stop closing schools for the landless and the official attacks in
Brazil against the World Social Forum:
We, the undersigned,
1. Strongly protest the closure of schools for the landless and the
attack on World Social Forum alliances by politicians and authorities
in Rio Grande do Sul, the birth place of both the landless movement
MST’s schools and the World Social Forum (WSF), which are bringing
hope to rural education and to the democratisation of the world.
2. Demand that the schools in MST encampments and settlements on the
countryside be enabled to continue with public funds and support.
3. Demand that the authorities in Rio Grande del Sul withdraw the
description made by its superior public ministry council member Thums
of the World Social Forum as a gathering place for “terrorists and
marginals”. Thums is also among the responsible for the closing of
the schools and attempts to make MST illegal. To use a public office
for making such an offence against WSF is not in the interests of the
state of Rio Grande do Sul or the integrity of any public service.
4. Protest against the interference by transnational corporations
such as Stora Enso in domestic politics, since this gives those who
are rich means to undemocratically influence politics.
We also support the MST’s statement as follows :
Ever since the start of the struggle for the land, the care for good
education for children and teenagers in MST/RS has been very
important for the movement. There has been a lot of fight to make the
right for a formal education in the encampments reality. Because of
that we express our total support to the schools of the encampments
of MST, which are under attack of the government of Rio Grande do Sul
and sectors of the Ministério Público, which in the beginning of 2009
declared them closed.
MST is a social and legitimate movement and therefore has the right
to an education of quality that takes in consideration the conditions
of the struggle and education at the countryside, where the children
and teenagers live together with their families and their community
We demand that the schools of the encampments of MST shall have the
rights to continue
Signatures (name of individual, name of organisation if any, country) :
Send your protests to the following Public Authorities:
Yeda Crusius
Governadora do Estado do RS
E.mail agenda at gg.rs.gov.br
Ivar Pavan
Presidente da Assembléia Legislativa do Estado do RS
E.mail ivar.pavan at al.rs.gov.br
Mariza Abreu
Secretaria de Estado da Educação
E.mail gabinetese at seduc.rs.gov.br
Mauro Renner
Procurador Geral de Justiça do Estado do RS (via website only)
http://www.mp.rs.gov.br/diversos/correio.pt
Also send copies to MST and support groups :
MST General Secretariat: sgeral at mst.org.br
MST Rio Grande do Sul; Elizabete Witcel: betieduc at yahoo.com.br
Friends of the Earth Sweden: MSTsupport at mjv.se
Sign the petition and contact others :
We call upon educational, environmental, human rights, peace,
peasant, rural, social welfare, trade unions, UN associations,
women’s and any other organisation concerned about social justice,
social forums, environmental and rural concerns to sign the statement
and send your protests to the email addresses above.
We also urge you to contact other organisations and inform them about
the signature campaign. When possible we also hope you can translate
the protest and spread it among other organisations in your
countries. In Sweden a national petition will be set up on a website
which can be done also in other countries.
Go to the Brazilian embassy March 9 and April 17 !
We also appeal for joint action in two steps. First to react quickly
in countries were it is possible on such a short notice. We propose
you to hand over in as creative way as possible your protest already
on Monday 9th of March to the Brazilian embassy and take photos or
video and share with others via Flickr and You tube. We also call
for a joint day of protest on the International Peasant Struggles Day
established in memory of 19 murdered MST activists 17th of April at
Brazilian embassies.
Attac Hungary
CACIM India
Friends of the Earth Brazil
Friends of the Earth Finland
Friends of the Earth Sweden
Friends of MST Sweden
You can follow updates on the action to support MST at
www.aktivism.info/socialforumjourney
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Stop closing schools for the landless and the official attacks in
Brazil against World Social Forum:
Authorities controlled by politicians in the state of Rio Grande do
Sul in Brazil that have received support from the Finnish-Swedish
transnational company Stora Enso are now closing schools for landless
claiming they must do this according to federal law. The sudden
decision to close the schools that have been started in encampments
by the MST has come after a growing conflict between Stora Enso and
the MST, a movement that defends biological diversity against the
monoculture plantations promoted by the transnational cellulose
corporation.
A representative of the same authorities that are now closing the
schools have simultaneously attacked the World Social Forum (WSF)
that started in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, and
for many years have been held there. The WSF is widely respected in
Brazil and globally as a strong inspiration for global democracy,
including showing how the South can democratise the world. But it is
now accused by officials in Rio Grande do Sul of being a gathering
place for terrorists and forces of no interest to the majority.
In early 2009, Gilberto Thums, a member of the Superior Council at
the ministry in the state of Rio Grande do Sul responsible for
education simultaneously attacked both the WSF and the landless
movement MST. In a statement in the journal Expansão, he described
the WSF as a meeting place for ”terrorists and marginals”. A year or
so earlier, in December 2007, Thums was behind a plan where a group
of prosecutors would put MST on trial with the aim to “dissolve MST
and declare it as illegal”. That plan was unveiled but the
authorities are now making new attempts to attack the movement. In
February 2009, Thums and the governor of the state Yeda Crusius were
behind the closure of seven schools in MST encampments. A five-year-
old article in the magazine Veja is cited in a report that has now
been used as argument for the closure. The article accused schools in
MST encampments and settlements for “defending socialism”,
”developing a revolutionary ideology”, and “supporting intolerance”.
The “aggressive ideology” of the MST is now being used as an official
argument for closing the schools.
The MST in Rio Grande do Sul was a pioneer twelve years ago in
implementing a Brazilian law that supported schools in the
countryside, and has become a model for the rest of the country.
UNICEF Brazil has awarded the educational work that has developed due
to MST as a model for education among children in vulnerable socio-
economic conditions. The teacher’s union in Rio Grande do Sul has
also awarded a prize to these schools. Almost 200,000 pupils attend
the schools in the MST encampments and settlements. Slightly more
than half of the schools are run on public money, and the rest
voluntarily by MST.
MST is not only struggling for implementing agrarian reform and
education in the countryside but is also engaged in work of
importance to the survival of the planet. The 1.5 million
participants in the movement are aiming at ecological agriculture.
This work of theirs is a direct threat to transnational companies who
wish to make profit from gene-manipulated plants and monoculture
plantations for the cellulose and agrofuel industries. One of the
main opponents of MST is Stora Enso. To strengthen its political
influence, Stora Enso has given financial support in the election to
those political forces that are now trying to stop the landless
movement and to make it impossible for MST to continue its struggle
for agrarian reform. Governor Yeda, who has been directly supported
by Stora Enso, has now declared - immediately after closing the
schools of the landless - that everything should be done to help
Stora Enso forest industry to get established in the state – ”that is
the road to development and we will not abdicate from that”.
We oppose this politics in the interest of Northern transnational
corporations and the accusation that the WSF is an illegitimate,
undemocratic force.
The undersigned organisations thus request that all who want to
defend both the WSF and schools for landless in Brazil support –
The four demands above
The statement issued by the MST in Rio Grande do Sul against the
closure of schools in MST encampments in the state
Sources, for firther reference:
Expansão: http://www.revistaexpansao.com.br (only latest issue)
Expansão, quotes from January 2009 issue: http://www.mst.org.br/mst/
pagina.php?cd=6312
Material on the attempts at criminalising MST:
In English: http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article10938
In French: http://www.cgas.ch/SPIP/spip.php?article923
In Portuguese: http://www.mst.org.br/mst/especiais.php?ed=71
Information about the documents on the attempt at dissolving MST:
http://www.mst.org.br/mst/pagina.php?cd=5588
Official ministerial Rio Grande do Sul web page with a clipping from
a newspaper stating the role of Thums in attempting at dissolving
MST: http://www.mp.rs.gov.br/imprensa/clipping/id68513.htm
Manifestations against criminalisation of MST 20 minutes video:
http://br.truveo.com/Criminaliza%C3%A7%C3%A3o-do-MST-no-RS-junho-
de-2008/id/1739375251
Material on closing schools at all MST encampments in Rio Grande do Sul:
Fundamentalismo d direita fecha escolas inierantes do MST e deixa 310
criancas sem educacao, Leandro Scalabrin, membro da comissão de
direitos humanos OAB - Passo Fundo – RS, Longer text with quotes from
official documents and reference to Veja article: http://
www.mst.org.br/mst/pagina.php?cd=6308
Madraçais do MST: http://veja.abril.com.br/080904/p_046.html
Comissão Pastoral da Terra; Terrorismo cultural no Rio Grande do Sul:
fechamento de escolas em Acampamentos
http://www.mst.org.br/mst/pagina.php?cd=6309
Escolas itinerantes do MST. Um crime é fechá-las. Entrevista especial
com Altair Morback e Isabela Braga, Do Instituto Humanitas Unisinos:
http://www.mst.org.br/mst/pagina.php?cd=6311
Opinion: Por que Yeda acabou com a Escola Itinerante? http://
www.correiodobrasil.com.br/noticia.asp?c=149947
Câmara dos Deputados manifesta repúdio ao fechamento de escolas no
RS; Comissão de Direitos Humanos e Minorias Brasília, 19 de fevereiro
de 2009, http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2009/02/19/materia.
2009-02-19.1741729769/view
Material on Stora Enso support of Yeda:
Official report on contributions in elections at: http://www.tse.gov.br
Material on corruption accusations against Yeda:
Ex-assessor de Yeda Crusius é encontrado morto no lago Paranoá, em
Brasília, Folha de S. Paulo, http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/
brasil/ult96u505227.shtml
General on MST:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landless_Workers%27_Movement
Branford, Sue and Rocha, Jan. Cutting the Wire: The story of the
landless movement in Brazil. 2002. Latin American Bureau, London.
Harnecker, Marta; Landless people: building a social movement,
Editora Expressão Popular
Kjörling, Lennart, Så länge det finns hunger, Ordfront, review of
book: http://dagensbok.com/index.php?s=
+&mf_key=dbc_legacy_id&mf_value=1037
Linton, Magnus, Americanos, Atlas, review of book: http://
dagensbok.com/2006/01/09/magnus-linton-americanos/
Review of video: “Cutting the Wire” http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
rough/2005/12/brazil_cutting.html#
Review of Video in spanish/portuguese with english subtitles:
Landless Workers’ Movement: History did not end. http://
www.visualab.org/index.php/history
MST: Los Sin Tierra por los caminos de America, video by
AbyaYalaUnida: http://www.youtube.com/profile?
user=AbyaYalaUnida&view=videos&start=340
Landreform i Brasilien och Movimento dos Sem Terra – MST, Sveriges
ambassad Brasilien, PM, 2007-07-03, 1(10) Brasilia, Karin
Wallensteen (Report on MST by Swedish embassy in Brasilia)
Friends of MST, US with English material: http://www.mstbrazil.org/
Official MST web site: http://www.mst.org.br
Official UDR web site, opponent to MST: http://www.udr.org.br
Information on Stora Enso and plantations (in Spanish):
“Dossier Stora Enso” en REDES – Amigos de la Tierra Uruguay:
www.redes.org.uy
Information on MST mobilisation against Stora Enso (in Portuguese):
Agencia de Noticias Chasque: www.agenciachasque.com.br
Jornal Brasil de Fato: www.brasildefato.com.br
Radio Mundo Real (RMR): www.radiomundoreal.fm
______________________________
Jai Sen
jai.sen at cacim.net
CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
www.cacim.net
Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325 - PLEASE NOTE NEW SECOND NUMBER !
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