Landless Peasants Head to Brazil's Capital

[chlamor]

Landless Peasants Head to Brazil's Capital


Tuesday May 17, 2005 3:01 AM

AP Photo BSB104

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - More than 12,000 landless peasants arrived in Brazil's capital Monday after a 17-day march to demand agrarian reform, saying the president has failed to keep his promises to provide jobs and land to the country's poor.

The march, the largest ever sponsored by the Landless Rural Workers Movement, was also intended to protest the economic policies of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government.

``We are going to have a big demonstration, not just for agrarian reform, but also for housing and jobs. And we're going to hold the Lula government to its campaign promises of 10 million jobs and to settle 430,000 families,'' the movement's coordinator Kledson Mendes told the government news agency Radiobras.

<snip>

He has since alienated many former supporters by adopting market-friendly policies and the tough fiscal discipline demanded by international investors - including an annual benchmark lending rate of 19.25 percent. The movement said Brazil's high interest rates discourage production and reduce the government's capacity to invest in social programs and agrarian reform.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5010797,00.html

[struggle4progress]

1. More than 12,000 land reformists march on Brazilian capital

May 17, 2005, 23:45 GMT

BRASILIA, Brazil (UPI) -- More than 12,000 of Brazil`s land reform activists marched on the capital Tuesday calling for a more speedy land distribution process.

Members of the Landless Workers Movement, or MST, demonstrated in front of government offices and the U.S. embassy, calling for less U.S. "meddling" in Brazilian affairs.

MST leaders also met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to present him with a 16-point list of demands, including an acceleration of the land reform initiative, a sharp increase in the minimum wage and the withdrawal of Brazilian troops from Haiti, where they lead a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

One of the largest land-reform advocacy groups in the world, the MST invades private or unused tracks to bring attention to their quest for greater equality of land distribution in Brazil. The activists usually arrive on private lands carrying tents and cooking materials for sometimes weeks- or months-long squats. <snip>

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southamerica/article_1000827.php/More_than_12000_land_reformists_march_on_Brazilian_capital

[Robbien]

2. Lula has been toeing the WTO and IMF line

These protesters have a long road ahead of them.