The Struggle of the Brazilian people in various aspects
Featured image: Drought in the countryside; Source: A Nova Democracia
The struggle in the countryside and the cities of Brazil is fierce as we have previously reported and it has several different aspects, as the following article shows.
The Struggle for Water in Pernambuco
The Curralinho dos Angicos settlement, located in the municipality of Floresta, in the hinterlands of Pernambuco, faces serious problems related to water supply, even though it is close to the São Francisco River transposition canal. With around 50 houses, the settlement depends on wells for water supply, but their flow is insufficient, and residents often have to resort to tank-trucks to ensure water supply or even carry cans of water from the canal.
The old Brazilian State aims to ruin peasant life and economy there in order to expel the local population, so that the latifundium can take over the fertile lands of the settlement, after which, certainly, the water will be released for the production of the so-called agribusiness.
The difficulties are aggravated by the region’s recurring droughts, characteristics of the local climate that further affect water availability, which brings even greater losses to human supply and to the practice of agriculture, the community’s main economic activity. The land is fertile, but there is no water for planting.
The settlement is close to the eastern axis of the São Francisco River transposition canal, a project that was said to solve the problem of ensuring water for the region’s population. However, contradictorily, the settlement is not supplied by these waters. There is also no alternative for the community of Curralinho dos Angicos other than to combat this situation and struggle for their rights.
Rage in São Benedito against Executions by the Military Police
A support committee for the newspaper A Nova Democracia (AND) on the 10th of September was present in the community of São Benedito and received reports by victims, which denounced an extrajudicial execution action by the military police. These reports reveal that the day before two deaths were caused by the MP in the neighborhood.
One of the victims was cowardly murdered inside his own home. It was also reported that, since the beginning of the year, at least ten such executions have been carried out by the Military Police in the neighborhood.
Another heinous incident occurred on that Tuesday. Police entered homes without a warrant and carried out an illegal search. They found nothing, but returned and claimed that there was a grenade on the upper floor of the house, which they detonated inside the house itself. An act of intimidation against the community population, who also reported of brutality, insults and swearing of the police against the residents.
Land Grabbers devastate more than 2,000 Hectares in Southern Pará
A few months after invaders were removed from the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous Lands (TIs), in southern Pará, land grabbers have once again invaded these two territories for a series of criminal fires that have already devastated 2,000 hectares.
The fires are concentrated in pasture areas and along illegal roads within the two indigenous territories. The fires are a tactic used by the invaders to prepare the land for cattle ranching, the main economic activity carried out illegally within the protected areas before the invaders were removed, in addition to logging. This way semi-feudality enforces its interest no matter what the presidents babbles in front of international cameras.
Brazil is Ranked the 2nd Country in the World of Murders of Rural Activists
Brazil is the second country in the world where nature activists are murdered the most, according to a survey carried out by the NGO Global Witness. In 2023, at least 25 activists were killed in the country. Brazil is only behind Colombia, which leads the ranking with 79 murders.
According to the CPT report, there were a total of 2,203 rural conflicts in Brazil in 2023, of which 1,588 corresponded to conflicts over land, 251 due to rural slave labor and 225 related to the struggle for water. Three conflicts were for other reasons. According to the CPT, the concentration of land in the hands of big landlords and the lack of land owned by those who work it are the main drivers of the deaths.
The main trend over the last ten years has been an increase in the occurrence of conflicts in the countryside, which corresponds to a greater intensification of the struggle for land in the country. According to the report almost half of the murdered are indigenous peasants and one third are landless peasants. The conclusion from AND on this report is as follows: “This data reinforces the scenario of rural civil war that is prevailing in Latin American countries, such as Brazil.”
