More than 150 democratic institutions and personalities express their support to the League of Poor Peasants of Brazil (LCP)

More than 150 democratic institutions and personalities express their support to the League of Poor Peasants of Brazil (LCP)

Support for the LCP is growing throughout the country and abroad.

Editorial staff of A Nova Democracia

24 May 2021

The most diverse expressions of solidarity with the Poor Peasants League (LCP) and repudiation of the attacks by Bolsonaro and generals against the peasant movement are growing exponentially. More than 150 progressive and democratic entities and personalities, including renowned artists and intellectuals, have positioned themselves alongside the just struggle for land.

This striking manifestation of support comes at a time when the anti-popular and warlike actions promoted by the genocidal government are forceful, and in their most atrocious form against the LCP and the Camp Manoel Ribeiro.

This number of signatures, which is growing every day, subscribes to the manifesto Enough massacres against the peasant movement! In defence of the lives of the peasants of the Camp Manoel Ribeiro and the League of Poor Peasants of Rondônia, proposed by the Brazilian Centre of Solidarity with the Peoples (Cebraspo) and the Brazilian Association of People’s Lawyers (Abrapo).

Among the signatories are the Association of Judges for Democracy, the Brazilian Association for Agrarian Reform, various teachers’ associations, trade unions, teachers and democratic artists such as Vladimir Safatle, Luiz Eduardo Soares, Virgínia Fontes, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Dermeval Saviani, Peter Pál Pelbart, Carlos Latuff, Armando Babaioff, Soraya Ravenle, the renowned Indian professor and democrat Amit Bhattacharyya, and several honest intellectuals from all over the country.

“We, the popular movements, men and women, citizens of Brazil and other countries, have come to firmly confront the threats of the Bolsonaro government and the generals to promote one more massacre in the countryside,” the democrats declare. The manifesto also extends to the defence of the freedom of the four peasants who were arrested in the camp, where under the slogans “Struggling is not a crime”, “Land for those who live and work on it” and “Down with the persecution of the peasant movement”, it shows that those who sign it are on the side of the just popular struggle.

The position issued and reaffirmed by the democrats through the manifesto clearly demarcates the line that separates them from the executioners who are looking for a way to massacre the peasants in order to give the necessary support to the latifundia and seek to criminalise the popular movements.

On the other side of the dispute are the words and actions of Bolsonaro who, through recurring speeches, attacked the LCP, as happened on May 7, at the opening of the bridge over the Madeira River, when he said: “LCP, get ready, it won’t be free, cheap, what are you doing? There is no room for terrorist groups here. We have the means to get them on track and respect the law”. (sic)

Bolsonaro was not the only member of the genocidal government to speak out. Among the Armed Forces High Command (ACFA), the spokesperson for the threat to the peasants was Reserve General and Defence Minister Braga Netto, who on 15 May, during a pro-Bolsonaro rally organised by landowners in Brasilia, stated: “Agro is the strength of that country. The armed forces are there to protect you.”

Read the full document:

ENOUGH MASSACRES AGAINST THE PEASANT MOVEMENT!

IN DEFENCE OF THE LIFE OF THE PEASANTS OF THE CAMP MANOEL RIBEIRO AND THE LEAGUE OF THE POOR PEASANTS OF RONDÔNIA!

We, the popular movements, men and women, citizens of Brazil and other countries, have come to firmly confront the threats of the Bolsonaro government and the generals to promote one more massacre in the countryside. The recent massacre that took place in the favela Jacarezinho in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where 27 people were executed without their crimes being characterised, their possible trials tried and convicted, in a country where the death penalty does not exist, shows that they are moving to act without respect for laws and international human rights treaties. The password has already been given: Bolsonaro often calls all popular movements that fight for the rights of the people, including the sacred right to land, “terrorists”. And he not only celebrates the advance of the old and new type of latifundia (agribusiness) on protected forests, indigenous reserves and public lands, contrary to the law and persecuting those who want to inspect it.

The camp Manoel Ribeiro of the League of Poor Peasants in the municipality of Chupinguaia in Rondônia is being directly criminalised by Bolsonaro, who set up a war apparatus through the National Security Force, together with the PM of Rondônia, threatening the peasants with high calibre weapons. Currently more than 200 families are camped in the area and an illegal war operation has been mounted against peasants, daily and systematic persecutions with excessive use of tear gas bombs, shooting of rubber bullets and pepper spray, invasion attempts, use of helicopters flying over the camp and continues to surround and isolate the area, preventing families from moving to buy basic subsistence products, a clear attempt to provoke psychological torture, terror and intimidation. They even withdrew the presence of primary health care workers, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which vaccination actions are being carried out for at-risk populations. All this attack on the peasants is happening despite the fact that the judge responsible for the recovery process has suspended it, guaranteeing, albeit provisionally, the presence of peasants on the site.

In an escalation of aggressions against the camp, on the 14^th of May, the police cowardly assaulted ten peasants, arresting four others, on unfounded and falsified charges with illegal machinations of planting evidence of crimes.

The region is part of the former Santa Elina Hacienda, where the episode known as the “Corumbiara Massacre” took place in 1995, remembered by the peasants as the Heroic Peasant Resistance of Corumbiara, when 12 peasants occupying the farm were killed by police forces, and dozens more were cowardly tortured and beaten, including women and children. This atrocious action took place under the command of Colonel José Hélio Cysneiros Pachá, today Secretary of Public Security of the State of Rondônia, who is in charge of the illegal actions against the peasants occupying the area.

The struggle for land is a legitimate right, and the land must fulfil its social function as foreseen in the Federal Constitution (article 186, CF / 88). It is the peasants who in fact give the constitutional social destination to the property when they occupy and transform unproductive area into productive area. It is the peasants who produce the food that reaches the tables of Brazilians, who today suffer from hunger and pandemics. We cannot close our eyes and turn our backs on the more than two hundred families, including women, children and the elderly, who have tirelessly resisted these illegal actions that constitute real torture and state terrorism.

We join other democrats in Brazil and around the world who have expressed their solidarity with the Poor Peasants League when they say: “Should we let the lie continue? Should we let them accuse the peasants of being terrorists, when armed with hoes, sticks, stones, common hunting weapons they defend themselves from the forces paid by the landowners when they attack them? That they use this as a justification for new massacres?”

In several situations in which Bolsonaro and the Generals faced popular mobilisations, they always tried to disqualify them, accusing activists and organisations of being “terrorists”. Statements that are taking shape in a scenario where the implementation of a true police state against the people is advancing, with the intense criminalisation of poverty and the gradual restriction of the free right to demonstrate and organise. The attack on the camp Manoel Ribeiro and the League of Poor Peasants is an attack on all those who struggle in that country.

We demand the immediate suspension of all actions perpetrated by the security organs of the state of Rondônia and the Brazilian government, including the sending of the National Security Force to the region and the immediate release of the peasants of the camp Manoel Ribeiro arrested on 14 May 2021.

We express our support and solidarity with the peasants of the camp Manoel Ribeiro, the Poor Peasants League and the entire peasant movement fighting for land. We reject the defamations and criminalisation organised by the military police of the state of Rondônia in collusion with the latifundia and its brown press to justify a massacre of the peasants in that state, instilled by the state and federal governments, particularly with the recent declarations of Bolsonaro:

“Our government has had few invasions in the countryside, … Although, let me make it clear, we have a more serious approach than the damage caused by the MST in Rondônia. We have here an example of the LCP, the Poor Peasants League, which has brought terror to the countryside of that state. I met this week with the governor, the minister of justice, to outline a strategy on how to contain this terrorism, which obviously starts in the countryside and can certainly go to the city.”

We call on all democratic and progressive sectors to stand in solidarity with the peasant movement struggling in that state and to denounce this criminal hoax against the League of Poor Peasants (LCP) and the attempted massacre in the camp Manoel Ribeiro. It is urgent that this situation is widely known nationally and internationally to stop this crime that is taking place in the state of Rondônia.

FREEDOM FOR THE POLITICAL PRISONERS OF THE MANOEL RIBEIRO CAMP!

STRUGGLING IS NOT A CRIME!

LAND FOR THOSE WHO LIVE AND WORK ON IT!

STOP MONITORING THE PEASANT MOVEMENT!

To become a signatory send an e-mail to cebraspo@gmail.com

Signatories (List in Portuguese):

Centro Brasileiro de Solidariedade aos Povos – CEBRASPO

Associação Brasileira de Advogados do Povo – ABRAPO

Associação de Juízes para a Democracia – AJD

Associação Brasileira de Reforma Agrária – ABRA

Diretoria Colegiada do Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais/RJ – GTNM/RJ

Associação de Docentes da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – ASDUERJ

Associação de Docentes das Universidade Federal do Amazonas – ADUA

Associação de Docentes do CEFET/RJ – ADCEFET-RJ

Sindicato dos Servidores do Colégio Pedro II – SINDSCOPE

Sindicato dos Petroleiros do Rio de Janeiro – SINDPETRO/RJ

Sindicato dos Professores e Pedagogos de Manaus – ASPROM/SINDICAL

Amit Bhattacharyya, Retired Faculty, Jadavpur University – Kolkata, India.

Dr. Siro Darlan, desembargador do Tribunal de Justiça do estado do Rio de Janeiro

Dr. João Tancredo, advogado e fundador do Instituto de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos

Vladimir Safatle, professor titular da cadeira de Teoria das Ciências Humanos da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo (FFLCH-USP)

Luiz Eduardo Soares, antropólogo e escritor

Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, professor de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social no Museu Nacional/UFRJ

Dermeval Saviani, Professor Emérito da UNICAMP, Pesquisador Emérito do CNPq e Professor Titular Colaborador Permanente do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da UNICAMP.

Virgínia Fontes, historiadora da Pós-Graduação em História da Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)

Emilson Frota de Lima, professor indígena do Povo Munduruku

Carlos Latuff, Cartunista

Fóruns e Redes de Cidadania do Maranhão

Central Única dos Trabalhadores de Rondônia – CUT/RO

Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras do Brasil de Rondônia – CTB/RO

Comissão Pastoral da Terra /Regional Rondônia – CPT/RO

Sindicato dos Trabalhadores em Educação no Estado de Rondônia – SINTERO

Sindicato dos Professores e Professoras no Estado de Rondônia – SINPROF/RO

Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas História Sociedade e Educação no Brasil – HISTEDBR/UNIR

Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Químicos e Papeleiros no ES – SINTICEL/ES

Sindicato dos Trabalhadores na Silvicultura, Plantio, Tratos Culturais, Extração, Beneficiamento da Madeira, em Atividades Florestais e Indústria Moveleira do Extremo Sul da Bahia – Sintrexbem

Rede de Comunidades e Movimentos Contra a Violência

Núcleo de Pesquisa e Estudos Sobre Políticas Públicas, “Questão Social” e Serviço Social – NUPEQUESS/UFRJ

Núcleo Transdisciplinar Subjetividades, Violências e Processos de Criminalização – TRANSCRIM – UFF

Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa e Intervenção Social – LIPIS/PUC-Rio

N-1 edições – editora

Comitê Chico Mendes do Acre

Instituto Helena Greco de Direitos Humanos e Cidadania

Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos Pedro Lobo – CDDH-PL

Instituto de Cidadania e Direitos Humanos de Minas Gerais

Organização Comunista Arma da Crítica – OCAC

Rosa Maria Guarasugwe Frei Moraes, Liderança Indígena Povo Guarasugwe

Elivar Karitiana, Liderança do Povo Indígena Karitiana

Peter Pál Pelbart, filósofo, ensaísta e editor

Armando Babaioff, ator e produtor

Soraya Ravenle, atriz e cantora

Isabel Teixeira, atriz e diretora

Ricardo Muniz, editor e produtor

Eliana Caruso, produtora

Isaac Bernat, ator e diretor

Letícia Isnard, atriz

Julia Bernat, atriz

Stella Rabello, atriz

Eliana Ferreira de Castela, atriz e poeta.

Jorge Carlos Amaral de Oliveira, ator e artista plástico

Igor Mendes, escritor

Raquel Braga, juíza aposentada do TRT/RJ, membra da Associação de Juízes para a Democracia (AJD) e da Associação Brasileira de Juristas pela Democracia (ABJD)

Marcelo Chalréo, advogado e Conselheiro da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil/Seção Rio de Janeiro (OAB/RJ)

José Agripino da Silva Oliveira, membro da Comissão de Direito Constitucional da OAB/RJ

Paulo Horn, advogado e ex-assessor-chefe da assessoria jurídica do ITERJ – Instituto de Terras do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Ítalo Pires Aguiar, advogado e Conselheiro da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil/Seção Rio de Janeiro (OAB/RJ)

Daniel Mazola, jornalista e editor chefe do jornal Tribuna da Imprensa Livre

Drª Silvia Cristina Conde Nogueira, Diretora da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal do Amazonas (FACED/UFAM)

Kate Lane Paiva, presidente da Associação de Docentes da Universidade Federal Fluminense (ADUFF)

Luciana Manta, presidente do Sindicato dos Bibliotecários do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (SINDIB-RJ)

Simone Mendes Lima, enfermeira e Diretora Secretária Geral do Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Fiocruz (ASFOC-SN)

Elizabeth Soares Dutra, psicanalista e coordenadora-geral do SINDSCOPE

Acácio Augusto, professor do Departamento de Relações Internacionais da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

Maria de Fátima Siliansky, professora associada do Instituto de Estudos Saúde Coletiva da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Regina Helena Simões Barbosa, professora aposentada do Instituto de Estudos Saúde Coletiva da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

José Antônio Martins Simões, professor aposentada do Instituto de Física da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Romildo Vieira do Bomfim, professor da faculdade de medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Janete Luzia Leite, professora titular da Escola de Serviço Social da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Edemilson Paraná, professor da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) e da Universidade de Brasília (UnB)

Nazira Camely, professora da Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)

Maria Helena Zamora, professora de psicologia da Pontífica Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RIO)

Rondinelly Gomes Medeiros, pesquisador do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da Universidade Federal do Paraná (PPGFILOS/UFPR)

Dr. José Claudinei Lombardi, professor Titular da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)

Drª Arminda Rachel Botelho Mourão, professora titular da Universidade Federal do Amazonas – PPGE/FACED/UFAM

Dr. José Alcimar de Oliveira, professor do Departamento de Filosofia da Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)

Antônio Pereira de Oliveira, professor do Departamento de Ciências Sociais Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)

Ana Lúcia Silva Gomes, professora do Departamento de Parasitologia do Instituto de Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)

Elciclei Faria dos Santos, professor do Departamento de Educação Escolar Indígena da Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM)

Lucia Rejane Gomes da Silva, professora aposentada da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Dr. Valdir Aparecido de Souza, professor associado do Departamento de História/ Programa Mestrado História da Amazônia da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Carlos Luís Ferreira da Silva, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Drª Marilsa Miranda de Souza, professora da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Dr. Paulo Aparecido Dias da Silva, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Alisson Diôni Gomes, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Edilson Lôbo do Nascimento, professor do Departamento de Economia da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Dr. Marco Antônio Domingues Teixeira, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Prof. Me. Márcio Marinho Martins, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO)

Profª Drª Xênia de Castro Barbosa, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO)

Prof. Dr. Mauro Henrique Miranda de Alcântara, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO)

Prof. Cleyton Pereira dos Santos, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO)

Prof. Me. Alvino Moraes de Amorim, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO)

Uílian Nogueira Lima, Coordenador do Núcleo de Estudos Afro-brasileiros e Indígenas (NEABI) do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO/Campus Calama)

Deborah da Costa Fontenelle, professora do Instituto de Aplicação Fernando Rodrigues da Silveira – UERJ

Felipe Castelo Branco, professor de filosofia da Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)

Déborah Danowski, professora do Departamento de Filosofia da PUC-Rio

Charleston José de Sousa Assis, Diretor Geral do Colégio Universitário Geraldo Reis – UFF

Carlos Augusto Aguilar Júnior, ex-dirigente sindical da Associação dos Docentes da Universidade Federal Fluminense (ADUFF) e professor do Colégio Universitário Geraldo Reis – UFF

Paulo Henrique Flores, professor do Colégio Universitário Geraldo Reis – UFF

Dr Luciano da Silva Alonso, professor associado Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ)

Alexandre P. Mendes, professor de direito da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ)

Karen Giffin, professora aposentada da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz)

Vinicius Ortigosa Nogueira, professor assistente do Departamento de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Ana Lúcia Escobar, professora da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Ulysses Pinheiro, professor do Departamento de Filosofia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Maria Cecília Filipini, Advogada, militante dos direitos indígenas

Arão da Providência Guajajara, indígena e advogado da Aldeia Maracanã

José Guajajara, indígena e professor universitário da Universidade Indígena Aldeia Maracanã

André Luiz Conrado Mendes, advogado e professor universitário

Elder Duarte, bacharel em direito e empresário

Márcio Cordero Lopes, advogado

Dr. Afonso Maria das Chagas, professor do Departamento de Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Drª Walterlina Brasil, Diretora do Núcleo de Ciências Humanas da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (NCH/UNIR)

Rozilene Magipo dos Santos, Estudante Indígena Sakirabiat, Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Dr. Nilson Santos, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Mestra Ariana Boaventura Pereira, Departamento de Libras da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (LIBRAS/UNIR)

Giovana Maria Noleto Barros da Silva, dirigente sindical do Sindicato dos Urbanitários de Rondônia (SINDUR)

Prof. Me. Eder Carlos Cardoso Diniz, Instituto Federal de Rondônia (IFRO/Campus Vilhena)

Prof. Dr. Reginaldo Martins da Silva de Souza, Instituto Federal de Rondônia (IFRO)

Ana Lúcia Escobar – professora do Departamento de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Dr. Ricardo Gilson da Costa Silva, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Dr. Adilson Siqueira de Andrade, professor da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR)

Maria José de Melo, geógrafa e escritora

Escola Bíblica: Vidas Desabrocham no Semiárido de Petrolina-PE e Juazeiro-BA

Movimento de Moradores e Usuários em Defesa do IASERJ/SUS – MUDI

Victor Ribeiro, Witness Brasil

Ellen Francisco, Bombozila

Gláucia Marinho, Justiça Global

Mônica Cristina Brandão Santos Lima, indígena da etnia Manaú e ativista do movimento de Resistência Aldeia Maracanã

Carlos Augusto Lima França, jornalista

André Miguéis, documentarista

Articulação Judaica de Esquerda – AJE

Mídia Independente Coletiva – MIC

Frente Internacionalista dos Sem Teto – FIST

Coletivo Tempo de Resistência – CTR

Patrick Decrescenzo, jornalista e cineasta

Margareth Bravo, ativista da Assembleia Popular do Largo do Machado/RJ

Rosane Leite, ativista da Assembleia Popular da Cinelândia/RJ

Marcus Giraldes, advogado e analista da FIOCRUZ

Wender Francisco de Assis, engenheiro agrimensor

Marcus Vidal Moura dos Santos, professor