Alessandra Bastos
Special Report

Eldorado dos Carajás (PA) – "Hello, listeners, here we are in Eldorado dos Carajás. You are listening to the Young Rural Worker Resistance Radio (Rádio Resistência Jovem Camponesa)", says the announcer, Ronaldo Terra, who is a youth member of the Landless Rural Worker Movement (MST). The radio station is part of the infrastructure of an MST group camped out on Pará state highway PA-150, exactly on the famous "S" curve where the Carajás massacre took place exactly ten years ago.

The camp was set up at the beginning of April to mark the anniversary of the masacre, when 19 rural workers were killed and 69 others wounded, on April 17, 1996. Since then the date has become the MST's World Day for Land Reform. The camp consists of 19 "houses," each in memory of a dead MST member. There is also, nearby, a Landless Worker Massacre Memorial where 19 tree trunks each have plaques with the name of one of the fallen.

The Young Rural Worker Resistance Radio is on the air every day. "Well, actually, it is on whenever we have diesel fuel to run the generator," explains the announcer, Terra. He says the radio seeks to "demystify" the wrong impressions many people, especially the press, have of the MST. It also orients MST members, especially young ones, he says.

Translation: Allen Bennett