Landless and indigenous women against hydro-business in a demonstration between Tocantins and Maranhão. Photo: MST
National Day of Struggle of Landless Women: mass acts in all regions of Brazil
The National Day of Struggle for Landless Women 2022 began this Monday (7), occupying all the main regions of the country, with activities scheduled until March 14, calling for mobilizations and events in the countryside and in the city, with the motto: “Land, Work, Right to Exist. Women in Struggle will not succumb!” The mobilizations take place in denunciation of the structural violence of the capitalist system that directly affects women, through the institution of patriarchy, machismo, racism and LGBTQI+phobia.
In addition to protesting against a series of other violations promoted by the current government, generated by the worsening of social inequalities, such as hunger and poverty, created from the commodification of life, common goods and nature. As an alternative, the fight for Women’s Landless Day raises voices for “Land, Work and the Right to Exist”, against the concentration of land, against evictions, against agribusiness, mining, the poison package, among other evils. that directly affect the population. reality of peasant workers; who continue to resist, building food sovereignty and agroecology through peasant family farming and the struggle for rights through the Popular Agrarian Reform.
“The cry for the Fora Bolsonaro is also the cry against hunger, against violence, against black and indigenous genocide, in defense of life and for the right to exist,” said Lucineia Freitas, national leader of the Gender Sector of the MST.
Programming
In the early hours of Monday, March 7, the planned symbolic, educational and organizational activities began in the main regions of the country in the MST camps and settlements, with the participation of women and families without land, stimulating the debate on gender and the construction of their contributions in the struggle for land and for the rights of the working class.
On the 7th, “D”, with actions raised by the Women Without Land, was marked by the denunciation against agribusiness and Bill 6,229/2002, known as the “poison package”, defended by the government of Bolsonaro and the parliamentarians. the ruralista bench, and approved in the National Congress. The peasant women also carried out acts against agrochemical multinationals in the Southeast region, in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
In the Northeast region, other actions to denounce hunger and investment in family farming occurred in Bahia, Sergipe and Rio Grande do Norte. In the north of the country, the Women Without Land joined the indigenous people to denounce the impacts of hydrobusiness in the Tocantins and Maranhão region. In the Midwest, there were actions in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and the Federal District.
In the South, solidarity actions in Paraná marked the first day of the event. During this year’s Day, the Landless Women also join the choir and share the demands with the women of the cities, with acts organized by the feminist fronts of the National Articulation of Women of Fora Bolsonaro, which call for demonstrations throughout the country «For the Life of Women – Bolsonaro never again! For a Brazil without sexism, racism and hunger”, in a program integrated to the popular feminist field this March 8.
This Tuesday (8), solidarity actions are also planned together with rural and urban women in the fight against hunger, with solidarity actions, such as the donation of food and blood, aimed mainly at women and mothers in a situation of abandonment. social and food. vulnerability in the country.
On the 9th, the organizational and training activities are concentrated, in which Landless Women also make a presence in front of the National Congress (DF), in a demonstration in the “Ato Pela Terra: Against the Destructive Package”, together with other social movements. groups, entities and personalities in defense of common goods and human rights.
As part of the internationalist struggles, on the 10th, the Women Without Land also participate in network mobilizations against imperialism, together with the struggles of peasant women linked to the Via Campesina, with the slogan: “Women against imperialism! They will not shut us up!” .
As a synthesis of the mobilizations of the 2022 Day, on the 11th, a manifest letter from the Women Without Land will be released. There will also be a call for women to write letters on the occasion. of the MST to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) against evictions, which can be resumed as of April, when the term of the provisional measure of the STF that suspended the expropriations of real estate in rural and urban areas due to the pandemic expires.
In addition to the choir for Fora Bolsonaro and against evictions, on the 14th, the closing date of the Conference, tree planting events and joint efforts are planned in honor of Marielle Franco, and in memory of the remaining four years of her murder. unpunished. The activities are developed in conjunction with debates on the participation of women in politics and violence.
Know the actions of the Day that were carried out throughout the country:
Southeast
In São Paulo, this Monday (7), about 70 Landless women protested against the use of pesticides in front of the factory of the Swiss company Syngenta, in the city of Paulínia (SP), 120km from the São Paulo capital. With banners, graffiti and slogans, the peasant women denounced the deaths and poisonings that generate profits for companies such as Syngenta, a manufacturer and world leader in the pesticide market.
In Lençóis Paulista (SP), also this Monday (7), the Women Without Land protest took place in front of the main entrance of Bracell, a company based in Singapore, belonging to the RGE group, Royal Golden Eagle. The peasant women denounce that the company has been in Brazil since 2003, in Camaçari (BA), and since 2018 it has been established in Lençóis Paulista and Macatuba, concentrating land in the country, even if it is foreign. Protest against Poison Pack PL in front of Syngenta.
Last Saturday (5), about 100 rural and urban women gathered at the Santa Clara State School, in the Che Guevara Settlement, in Mirante do Paranapanema, in the interior of São Paulo, to participate in the Regional Meeting of Rural Women and Municipal. .
In Rio de Janeiro, at dawn on Monday (7), some 70 women from the MST held an act in front of the multinational Bunge, in Parque Duque, in the municipality of Duque de Caxias. Peasants denounced that Bunge is one of the main agribusiness multinationals that profited the most in 2021. Second, Women without land, this shows the advance of inequalities, while multinationals have very high incomes, Brazil returns to the map of hunger and misery.
To start the Day of Landless Women in Minas Gerais, last Sunday (06), the women camped and settled in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, planting seedlings in the Zequinha Nunes Camp, in the Ana Primavesi Agroforestry System.
In Vale do Rio Doce (MG), last Sunday (6), women from Governador Valadares’ Popular Brazil Front, the Olga Benário women’s movement, the PT women’s secretariat, the World March of Women and the Collective feminist class activist Ana Montenegro occupied the streets at the Governador Valadares municipal market fair. The act denounced the setbacks in food security with the PL do Veneno, approved by the National Congress, and the crimes of Samarco that still remain unpunished, and the families without compensation for the damages committed; as well as demanding an end to violence against women.
In Vale do Mucuri (MG), landless women began the Day, last Saturday (5), with a united action that aimed to confront agribusiness and present the MST’s agroecology project. The activity was carried out in the São Francisco Parish, in the municipality of Teófilo Otoni, with the participation of 150 urban and rural women. Also participating were women from the MST, GMOM, CRDH, Pastoral da Criança, Pastoral da Agroecologia, Projeto Frutificar, Comev – Commission to Combat Domestic Violence against Women, Teófilo Otoni Neighborhood Association, Casa da Mulher, Casa dos Movimentos Populares, Neighborhood Association and other social organizations of Vale do Mucuri.
Amazon
On the afternoon of this Monday (7), Landless Women from the Amazon region of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins and Pará join the actions of the Jornada De Lutas: for “Land, Work, Right to Exist”, occupying the bridge that connects the states of Tocantins and Maranhão, between Aguiarnopólis (TO) and Estreito (MA) on the BR-230, to denounce the impacts of hydro-business caused by the Hydroelectric Power Plant of the Estreito Energia Consortium – CESTE, which destroys the lives of towns of the region.
Last Saturday (5), in Maranhão, a public act was held at the Estreito municipality fair. In the act, the peasant women denounced the predatory impacts of hydrobusiness and reinforced the importance of family farming and the struggle of the Popular Agrarian Reform for food sovereignty and the production of healthy food.
Northeast
In Rio Grande do Norte, this Monday (7), Women Without Land set up a camp in the center of Natal to denounce hunger. The State Camp of Landless Women – Elza Soares occupies the center of the city with a representation of women from all over the state, to denounce the increase in hunger in our country. In the afternoon, the women met with the state governor, Fátima Bezerra (PT), to build an agenda of actions around the demands.
Last Saturday (5), the Landless women of the Aloísio Alexandre Brigade, of the MST Regional of the MST of Bahia, held the Assembly: Women, MST and Memory, to debate the role of peasant women in the struggle and construction of a popular project, rescuing the memory of peasant workers. Also in the state, last Wednesday, 02, Bahian peasant women occupied the Zootechnical Station of Extreme South, in Itabela, extreme south of Bahia, in defense of research and science in the country and in denouncing the lack of incentives and abandonment with the farm family farming by the federal government.
Also on Monday morning (7), MST peasant women from the Sergipe camps and settlements carried out actions to denounce the abandonment of the agrarian reform agenda before the INCRA superintendence in Aracaju.
Central West
On the morning of this Monday (07), the women of the MST of Mato Grosso, together with the Levante Popular da Juventude and the Collective of Urban and Peasant Women, held a rally at the AMAGGI headquarters in Cuiabá (MT). The action is part of the National Day of Struggle for Landless Women.
In the Federal District and surroundings, this Monday (7), the Landless Women donated blood at the Brasilia Blood Center. The initiative is part of the National Day of Struggle for Landless Women and seeks to contribute to the blood stock of the Blood Center, which has fallen due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In Mato Grosso do Sul, Women Without Land held, last Saturday and Sunday (5 and 6), the State Meeting of Women Without Land in the state. The meeting was held at the Geraldo García Training and Research Center (CEPEGE), with the participation of more than 50 women from the central, south central, conesul, border and pantanal regions. Friends of the MST and Guarani Kaiowá indigenous comrades were also present at the meeting.
South
In Paraná, the actions of the Landless Women’s Day began with solidarity actions in various regions of the state. Between March 7 and 11, in Curitiba, Mujeres Sin Tierra promote blood donation in Hemepar.
And on the 5th, the farmers made a collective effort, with more than 60 volunteers planting 27,000 vegetable seedlings in the Contested Settlement, in Lapa (PR). The harvest will be served in Marmitas da Terra, distributed in squares and occupations in Curitiba and the Metropolitan Region and in the Agroecological Day, scheduled for June 2022 in the capital of Paraná. Also on the 3rd, in the municipality of Palmas, 80 baskets of food were donated to the community of Marielle Franco. In addition to food from the Agrarian Reform, the baskets included soap made by the Ana Primavesi Women’s Collective, made up of MST women from the region.
*Edited by Solange Engelmann
Latin American Summary / MST web / March 8, 2022
Resumen Latinoamericano, March 8, 2022, http://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/
COMMUNIST PARTY OF MAINE (Site Under Renovation) 