LCP Calls for Boycott of the Electoral Farce and to Organize the Agrarian Revolution in Brazil
Featured image: Peasants and supporters raise their hands during the victorious People’s Assembly of the Zé Ricardo Area, on April 26, in Lagoa dos Gatos (Pernambuco). Source: AND
In a recent call from the League of the Poor Peasants (LCP) in the Northeast – published after the victory of the resistance of the 70 families of the old sugarcane mill Fervedouro, in the Mata Sul region of Pernambuco – the rural and urban poor are called to abandon their illusions in the old big landlord-bourgeois State and to boycott the electoral farce while organizing the Agrarian Revolution, A Nova Democracia (AND) reports.
The victory of the peasant families came as a court order reinstating their land into the possession of the big landlord Eduardo Jorge Vieira Leite de Lima – and the consequent expulsion of the peasant families – was suspended in a preliminary injunction after a struggle waged by the families of the Fervedouro.
We recently covered the struggle of the families of Fervedouro in a report on the latest news in the struggle for land in Brazil:
You can also read the full report in the Week 33 New Brazil Bulletin of AND:
In the LCP statement, titled “Abandon the illusions!”, they affirm that the victory led by the peasant families was “the result of pressure” exerted by the families and various sectors of society. They also warn that the land dispute is far from over, and that the LCP will not give up until the families fully achieve the right to the lands where they have lived and worked for decades.
Read the full LCP statement here:
A local source interviewed by AND links the suspension of the eviction order to the electoral farce, stating that “largely due to the election period, there was a lot of pressure regarding this eviction order, because it wouldn’t look good for the mayor or the ‘opposition’ representatives.” Highlighting again how the suspension of the eviction order did not originate in the “benevolence” of the old justice system, but from the exerted pressure of the families and the solidarity of the people.
The declaration calls upon the occupants, residents, peasants, and former workers of the sugar mill to strengthen the Committee for the Struggle of Those Affected by the Frei Caneca Sugar Mill and Agropecuária Mata Sul (COLUATI), defeat the eviction, and fight for labor rights, land distribution, and respect the long-held lands of the peasants, stating: “We will not accept any eviction, whatever the cost!”
LCP states that the victories in Fervedouro, Barro Branco, and Lagoa dos Gatos demonstrates how the path to achieving rights “does not pass through this old and rotten big landlord-bourgeois State and its decaying institutions.” Denouncing the attempted purchase of support from the masses with “crumbs and promises” every four years by the candidates of the different Parties.
The statement calls on the masses to organize themselves in struggle and to “NOT VOTE!”, “because voting is to legitimize this electoral farce.” In conclusion, the LCP states that “only a GREAT REVOLUTION can change the history of our country” and defines the Agrarian Revolution as the only path and the first step to building a New Democracy. The declaration ends with the slogans: “No to elections! Yes to revolution! Land for those who live and work on it! Long live the Agrarian Revolution! Death to the Latifundium!”
