Bay Area Delegation to Brazilian MST Congress Reports Back

From DaveID with IndyBay [Including all photos and sound clip]

The presentation was opened with a mistica.

On April 17, International Day of Peasant Resistance, and to mark the 30th anniversary Movimento Sem Terra (or Landless Workers Movement) in Brazil, Bay Area delegates from the 6th MST Congress presented a thorough report back on what they had experienced and learned during their trip.

The presentation at La Peña in Berkeley took an honest look at many aspects of the MST and the difficult and sometimes deadly struggle for poverty reduction and agrarian reform in Brazil — from the history, people, programs, and structures of the movement to its internal contradictions and philosophical differences with anti-state activists. (Audio, PDF, and photos from presentation below.)

Thousands of Brazilians attended the 6th Movimento Sem Terra Congress, as well as a couple of hundreds internationals, including delegates from the San Francisco Bay Area. While the primary events were held at a large stadium in Brasília, actions during the Congress included a huge march, a student occupation of the Ministry of Education building, and tear gas attacks by greatly outnumbered police at the Presidential Palace.

[Brazil] Homeless In The Name Of FIFA’s World Cup

This text has been written by people in Rio de Janeiro who fight for the working poor terrorized by the state of Brazil in the name of FIFA‘s World Cup. They are witnesses of this aggression and they help the voices of the people, who came under the military threat of tanks and guns, be heard. This is the real World Cup.

“Pacifying” Rio de Janeiro and the exodus of the favela-dwellers

“A procession of children, with their parents, carrying the remnants of abandoned homes, mattresses, blankets and bags on a nocturnal odyssey through Rio’s city centre like refugees crossing borders, are heading for refuge in the Cathedral of the city which will be host to the next World Cup.

Thousands were evicted from the long-abandoned Telerj building in Engenho Novo. From six different favelas of the region, they sought a living space in this city where prices have spiraled and had, in the space of a week, invested their resources to build wooden huts. The shock troops of Rio state’s military police which have violently repressed all political protests since June 2013, were unleashed against families with many small children and old people. They threw bombs from low-flying aircraft, torched huts with flame-throwers and sprayed torrents of chemicals at adults and children alike. Four children were reported dead, but this could not be verified.

(VIDEO) Machete Attack on Police Station – Uyghur Autonomous Region

Video and Excerpts from Sina July 8

Autnomous Uyghur Region, Turkestan

“Surveillance video showing rioters with machetes attacking a local police station on June 26 in Shanshan county of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was released Saturday.

Reports stated that 24 people, of which 16 were ethnic Uyghurs and eight were Han, were killed. The attacks also left 21 others injured.”

June 26th, Uyghur Autonomous region

watch video here

[BAI Note] The clashes in “Turkestan” have been going on for decades as the Muslim Uyghur population has been in a decolonial struggle against the Chinese state and the Han Chinese. The Hans have been flooding and settling the region which is often called “Xinjiang,” which means “New Frontier” or “New Colony,” by the Chinese state and global mainstream media. The security forces in the region are Han Chinese as well and any act against the settlers is considered an act against the state. Since 9/11, the Chinese government has taken to calling the Uyghur rebels “insurgents” and the uprisings acts of “terror.”  The Muslim Uyghur community, now an ethnic minority group in the region, has also been banned by the Chinese state from observing Ramadan. Other Muslim activities such as visits to the masjid (mosques) have also been curbed.

“My name is turmoil, and it is written in stone” (Graphic Video)

Rio De Janeiro. Posted on A Nova Democracia on 17 June 2013.

Rough Translation:

r R. Miner

We can see the streets, the greatest legacy of the Confederations Cup. Thanks Fifa.

The ministers and communication monopolies, astonished, say they understand the meaning of such revolt. Isolated in his artificial paradises are scared to face the country. There are at least ten years, I hope that things like this happen. The day dawned, “Every night – has auroras, rays – all the darkness.” “Brazil woke up”, this phrase could be read on posters of many manifestations. Waking to dream.

In a historic night, lucky those who could not sleep. Insomnia of that attack is much more pleasurable than the defenders of the old fort.

The reactionary ruling classes and, amidst the nightmare of the streets, outlining its strategy to empty the demonstrations. Last week saw the venomous attacks of its spokesmen. Arnaldo Jabor said that the youth was not worth a penny, Luiz Datena called us vandals and troublemakers. After it became clear that repression only increased the rebellion, the discourse changed. Yesterday, Jabor spoke of a generation that finds ideas; Datena told the CQC, which despite being in the journalism police, his specialty was human rights.