Brazil: The Role of the Women in the Fierce Struggle of Barro Branco
We share an unofficial translation of an article by Movimento Feminino Popular – Brazil.
On September 28, the squatters from Barro Branco, Jaqueira (Pernambuco), faced the invasion of 50 armed goons who, together with 3 backhoes, entered the peasants’ lands trying to destroy their homes and the headquarters of the Engenho Barro Branco Association to continue the land grabbing process initiated 9 years ago by the big landlord, thief of land, Guilherme Maranhão. The bold resistance of squatters with students and peasants from neighbor areas allied with their struggle forced the criminals to retreat, who fled out ashamed of their excruciating defeat in the face of the peasants’ ferocity.
The victory of peasant resistance is secured by the role played by the women of the people, who formed the front line in the confrontation and organization of the peasant struggle, leading working committees and carrying out the arduous tasks to defeat the latifundium. The full expression of the defense of the people’ just right to the land on which they live and work, which is shown daily by the peasant women of Barro Branco, reveals the essential role of rural women to advance the Agrarian Revolution in our country.
Engenho Barro Branco
In the municipality of Jaqueira, Pernambuco, the Usina Frei Caneca, owned by the Jardim family, worked until the end of the 1990s and brought back the slavery era. After its bankruptcy, the agrarian oligarchy of the Jardim family had already accumulated millions of reais in debt to the State of Pernambuco, to the Union and to hundreds of workers of the plant, who lived in a system of servitude during the working days of the Usina. The million-dollar debts were never paid and the families who lived in the area remained on the land, becoming land owners of Barro Branco. In 2019, the Jardim family leased more than 5 thousand hectares of land to the company Agropecuária Mata Sul S/A, belonging to the big landlord Guilherme Maranhão, when these lands were already occupied by hundreds of squatter families. In an attempt to expel them from the land to expand cattle breeding for export, Maranhão carries out several attacks against the peasants. The big landlord frequently sends goons to threaten them with death, pours poison into the water sources, which not only supply Barro Branco, but the entire municipality of Jaqueira, releases the cattle to defecate in these water sources, destroys the squatters’ plantations, repeatedly tries to evict families illegally, among many other coward actions committed against peasants.
In this context, the squatters began to organize themselves more than a decade ago to guarantee their just permanence on the land where they have lived for generations, and today, under the direction of the LCP (League of Poor Peasants), they have been raising higher the glorious flag of the Agrarian Revolution for the conquest of all land and the end of the latifundium, which usurps the people’s lands. The peasants use numerous struggle tactics, organize events, distribute leaflets, hold popular assemblies, demand that the responsible authorities provide the legal registration of the ownership of their lands and spread the fierce spirit of resistance among our people. The limitations arising due to the persecution of the corrupt local police and the latifundium paramilitary groups, who try to criminalize their revolutionary struggle, stand out.
The valuable role of peasant women in defending the lands of Barro Branco.
The struggle of the squatters of Barro Branco also belongs to the peasant women of these lands and to organize rural women is more than necessary so that they can take on tasks for the Agrarian Revolution and the revolutionary movements of the entire people. The MFP has assumed this duty since immediately after the arrival of the LCP in the Engenho as an allied movement, and, since then, it has held valuable meetings with the squatter women and has worked in the organization of tasks in order to further boost the development of these peasant women.
It is common for peasant women to be the most present in the region throughout the day, forming an opportune scenario so that, historically, they have been at the front of the confrontation with goons and the indecent local police for the resolute defense of Barro Branco lands. Because of this, it is evident that the daughters of these lands already embody the revolutionary fury of the woman and have always thrown themselves into the fierce struggle against latifundium.
Clara*, born and raised in these lands, reported on the frequent attacks she suffers, such as when her house was arbitrarily invaded by the police at the behest of the latifundium, who harassed her and broke some of her belongings. In all these moments of conflict, the peasant woman made a bold defense of her home, her family and her dignity. Clara’s notable combativeness and perseverance manifest themselves in all her sisters in struggle, as stated by a comrade in a MFP meeting: “none of us should give up our struggle, we are like a chain, one giving strength to the other”.
[Video 1: Clara denounces the persecution of peasants and forces the latifundium henchmen to retreat]
This aspect is expressed in the active participation of the women comrades in all areas of the Barro Branco peasant movement. It is essential to perform daily tasks well in order to develop the necessary ideological and material preparation for the moments of greatest intensification of the struggle against the latifundium. These tasks are carried out by the women comrades, occupying a leadership position in health, food, agitation and propaganda committees, in building fences, in the fortnightly preparation of pé de moleque to raise funds for the Engenho Barro Branco Association — used for expenses for assemblies, travel, food, etc., putting into practice the second principle of the MFP of “maintaining our independence in the struggle, always relying on our own forces” —, in the daily combat against the local police and goons and, mainly, ideologically elevating the struggle of Barro Branco.
Women were at the forefront of raising the Palestinian flag by understanding the internationalism of the class struggle and the similarities between the heroic resistance of the people in different places under the violence of imperialism. As Elizabete states — outstanding peasant leadership, who always strives to advance the struggle of all the people of Barro Branco and even more of her women comrades — by remembering the process to achieve this great feat: “Before raising it, firstly we learned how the procedure was like and how to raise both the flag of the League as the flag of Palestine. So an assembly was held, there was a lot of voting, more than 130 people raised their hands in support of the flags. That was a turning point in which the history of Barro Branco changed, the people, together with the League, and today it is no longer that backward Barro Branco it was before”.
The Fierce Battle of Barro Branco
On September 28, 50 armed goons in 14 pickup trucks, together with three backhoes, invaded the squatters’ lands in a clear attempt to illegally evict the families, with the support of military police from different cities in the region. The goons, hired by Agropecuária Mata Sul S/A, destroyed two peasant sites and installed an electric fence on one of the lands.
The squatters prepared their self-defense quickly, resisting firmly with sickles, hoes, sticks and stones against the cowardly henchmen of the latifundium. Barricades were improvised to corner the goons and prevent the advance of the attack. The arrival of students, activists and peasants from neighboring lands, who were on a Solidarity Mission in support of the squatters, strengthened the ranks of the resistance against the mercenaries, raising the red flags and echoing revolutionary songs and slogans to frighten the enemies of the people.
The revolutionary faith of the women comrades pushed them to the front line of the battle. Mrs. Sandra did not think twice before putting herself in the trenches of the struggle for land and mixing with the crowd of peasants and students. When recounting her trip to the battlefield, Sandra said: “I went, alone with the sickle in my hand, I went alone and with God. Then my man said ‘you go there alone among these people? For the love of God, come back!’, and I said ‘I’m not going, I’m not going to come back at all’, I put the sickle on my back and left”, and she continues the story with when she joins her comrades and she sees the cowardly police: “They [military police] were running into the banana plantations and behind the church, one told me to put away the sickle and go in, I told him ‘do you thinking I’m like you, huh? Who is hiding, fearing of being shot. I’m going to stay with the youth and the people, and tell them if I die, I die very satisfied. I’m going to shed my blood in the struggle!”
Around 2pm, the goons sneaked out the back, terrified of the fearless resistance of the peasants and students. Among the cowards was the president of the movement Invasão Zero in Pernambuco, José Antônio Fonseca de Mello, who was shot in the belly during the confrontation. One of his henchmen was also shot and ten were injured. This was the first armed action by the paramilitary group in the State of Pernambuco and the bravery of the peasants has already been victorious against its enemies, revealing the importance of organizing the people in an independent, classist, combative and revolutionary way to conquer all their rights. During the battle, two peasants and a pedagogy student from UFPE (Federal University of Pernambuco) were also shot, but they are well.
The peasant woman who was shot lived in a neighboring area, but was close to the scene after visiting a friend when she was hit in the shoulder. “Even before I arrived, I was shot. They didn’t even wanted to know, whoever was in front was supposed to die, and the police did nothing, they are in favor of them [the goons]”, said the peasant woman to the Committee to Support the Struggle of the Squatters of Barro Branco. Despite her injury, after treatment at the Jaqueira hospital, she drove home, one common stance among the peasants, who do not get depressed by the struggle and remain proud in face of the worst attacks.
The relationship between students and peasants has been close since long before the battle. Recife’s most combative youth understand their class duty in this union of the people for revolution and not only affirms its support for the struggle of the squatters of Barro Branco, but is also willing actively to carry out the tasks necessary for its advance. The peasant women smile as she talk about this bond, like Sandra when she says that “the first time you [students] came here, you brought that atmosphere, that strength, it gave courage to everyone, we became attached to you in a way that now there is no one to take us away from here.” Established on this union, the pedagogy student, Ana Cecília, joins the ranks of the fierce battle without fear. After being shot in the right foot, Cecília was taken to the hospital to receive medical care and, when asked about her return to Recife, where she currently lives, the student insisted on returning to Barro Branco and staying until the end of the mission with her colleagues and peasants. This heroic act by Cecília inspires all combative youth to dedicate themselves to serving the people wholeheartedly and remaining firm in the trenches of the class struggle even in the more tortuous paths, because our victory against the enemy is certain, and the unity of the people its greatest shield.
Comrade Elizabete shared her accurate perception on the confrontation on the 28th: “It was a great battle, because we won! With the organization that people had, with the comrades who were there only with machetes, sickles and sticks, we won! They had heavy weapons, more than fifty men, all armed, and they were unable to retreat the way they entered, they returned somewhere else, all left in fear.” She also realized the gains from this victory: “That battle that we faced helped us to become firmer, stronger, more prepared, to not bow our head! Not only me, but all my comrades, whenever we are together, people say ‘let’s move forward, let’s get together, let’s be more united!’” After the battle, police persecution continued, sending surveillance drones, intimidating residents during patrols and even with the military police camping at the Municipal School within the farm area, using this approach to frequently intimidate children and harass their families. The peasants vehemently reject the presence of the police, especially mothers and grandmothers in the community who constantly discuss and denounce the cowardice practiced against the children of the people who were even looking forward to a pajama night organized by the teacher at that school that didn’t take place because the police slept in the classrooms.
Police officers were also caught walking around the school in underwear. Regarding this incident, Comrade Rosa, outraged by the frustration caused to her children, complained: “Children can’t spend the night in their pajamas and police officers can spend the day in their underwear?!” The struggle against this ordered harassment extends to a variety of situations, which has enlightened the few people who still believed in the protection of the police, that this is an apparatus of reaction and must be defeated inseparable to the latifundium, as demonstrated in the banners painted by peasant women and hung up around the area with slogans such as “Police are for thieves, battalion get out!”
The Agrarian Revolution deeply planted its roots in Barro Branco and proved itself as the true solution to the problems within the people. The bright future of the inevitable victory of classes of the people is perceived and radiated in the effervescent spirit of peasant women and students, sisters involved in this struggle. With all the faith she has, Elizabete ended the interview by describing the destiny of the squatters of Barro Branco: “I see my future, not only mine, but that of my women comrades, with my land, producing, harvesting and living from it. All of us here with our lands, which we are thirsty for, anxious to have.” This is the destiny of all the oppressed people of the countryside who, by organizing themselves and using revolutionary violence, will conquer all the land so that they serve those who live and work there!
* fictitious names to protect the identity of the squatters
