People’s Tribunal Judges the Crimes of the Latifundium in Pernambuco, Brazil
Featured image: Hundreds attend the people’s tribunal in Pernambuco.
On October 5, peasants, together with intellectuals and student and worker organizations held a People’s Tribunal against the crimes of the latifundium in the lands of the Frei Caneca latifundium, as reported by A Nova Democracia. This event is a big judicial defense to the peasants and its organizations, such as the League of the Poor Peasants (LCP).
A history of oppression and repression
The People’s Tribunal Jorge Moreno, presided by the popular lawyers and jury, started with more than 250 peasants and supporters who, after greetings, sang the Agrarian Revolution’s hymn Conquistar a Terra.
Afterwards, a member of the community presented the history of struggles and demands of Barro Branco. A peasant woman spoke about moments were the police attacked the people to protect the latifundium interests. Another peasant spoke about the demolition of his father’s house and the destruction of their crops by the latifundium. Some of those events took place decades ago, showing that the repression is longstanding.
Return to the area of the struggle
After the witnesses’ accounts, the People’s Tribunal went to the place where the fierce resistance of Barro Branco took place on September 28, 2024. The peasants and supporters held a demonstration in the exact location of the Battle. Slogans for Palestine, Comrade Basavaraj and international songs such as Bella Ciao or A Jovem Guarda were chanted, showing the spirit of proletarian internationalism.
A representative of the LCP payed tribute to the comrades martyred during the struggle, and explained the foundation of the peasant organization: “We stand with a flag which was raised 500 years ago by the resistance of the indigenous and the black people, the peasants and their struggles, the Peasant Leagues. We want to uphold and advance with this flag.”
The representative then explained that the peasant struggle in Brazil is a low-intensity war with peaks, such as the Barro Branco struggle against the latifundium, as well as against opportunism, which tries to deceive the people to stop the struggle. “The armed self-defense must be upheld everywhere”, comparing Barro Branco with Palestine and the two years of armed resistance. Highlighting the joint international anti-imperialist struggle as a necessity.
A historic peasant leader and president of COMSOLUTE also made a speech on the class struggle and the division of the world between oppressors and oppressed. “It is necessary to politicize the workers to make them communists! That is why we must prepare the forces of our classes, of the oppressed!” quoted the peasant leader.
At the conclusion of the event, a Popular Lawyer from OPA in Piracicaba, SP, made some remarks about the proceedings: “We are facing a trial that is not symbolic; it is a popular trial that carries the weight of centuries of exploitation by big landlords in the Zona da Mata. For the first time, they will be subjected to the judgment of the people!”
The lawyer concluded by asserting that, as representatives empowered by the peasants, “we acknowledge that the bourgeois law we must learn—crafted to protect latifundia—still recognizes intimidation, fraud, and dispossession as crimes. More importantly, we say no court of this old State will free the land or the peasants. Only the struggle for land and organization can achieve that.”
Among the crimes against the Frei Caneca latifundium fraud, ideological falsehood, criminal association, frustration of labor rights and tax evasion can be found. This adds up to 22 years of maximum security imprisonment.
For the big landlord company Agropecuária Mata Sul, the following crimes were found: Threats, unlawful constraint, bodily harm, attempted murder, constitution of a private militia, armed criminal association, criminal organization, illegal possession of firearms and environmental crimes, which adds up to 103 years and 6 months of maximum security imprisonment.
Police Threats and Press Media disinformation after the People’s Tribunal
The people who attended the People’s Tribunal was met in the city of Jaqueira by a large police deployment at the entry of the Barro Branco Latifundium. Press monopoly reported that the police was deployed on the demand of Agropecuária Mata Sul.
This same press monopoly reported false information on the event, only reporting the company’s version of events, and claimed that possible peasant invasions against the big landlords might take place, stating also that there was risk to the property and the physical integrity of the workers.
As such, the media once again tries to criminalize the struggle for land of the poor peasants organized under the LCP, while protecting latifundium.
A Nova Democracia is the source of all the pictures used in this article.
