Brasília, May 3, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The "Red April" strategy adopted by social movements that support and join displays of pressure to expedite the agrarian reform process will be extended for another two months and will resume after the October 3 elections. This information comes from the executive secretary of the National Forum for Agrarian Reform and Rural Justice, Gilberto Portes de Oliveira.

Two large demonstrations are scheduled for May: the Workers' March of the Movement of Dam Victims (MAB), on the 12th, and the Clamor of Brazil's Land, by the 17th. In the former, around 500 people will walk 200 kilometers from Goiânia, in the state of Goiás, to Brasília, to alert the government and society to the problem suffered by the hundreds of families that lost their homes and lands as a result of the construction of hydroelectric dams.

And the 2004 edition of the Clamor of Brazil's Land, organized by the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (Contag) - one of the 43 groups that make up the Forum - plans to gather over one thousand people in Brasília. They demand political negotiations for the granting of credit to family farming, as well as subsidized funds for rural women and youth to establish small businesses or continue their studies.

COMMITMENT

In June, the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) intends to return to the streets to remind the government of the commitments assumed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and those contained in the II National Agrarian Reform Plan. "The objective will be to defend the victories obtained so far by the social movements. We shall not relent, and we shall remain mobilized," says Oliveira.

Among these victories, he cities, in addition to the formulation of the Plan, the assurance that US$ 580 million (R$ 1.7 billion) will be made available this year for the implementation of agrarian reform and the settlement of 115 thousand families by December. Other agreements reached with the government cover the renegotiation of the settlers' debts, the purchase of the settlements' surplus production, and the transfer of resources to provide literacy instruction to over 100 thousand adult rural workers.

The social movements coordinated by the Forum also want assurances that the government will make an effort to obtain Senate approval of a bill federalizing crimes against human rights. The bill has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies. "It will be a victory not only for the landless, but for all citizens," Oliveira said, referring to the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre, in whch, on April 17, 1996, military police from the state of Pará surrounded a group of 1,500 landless workers camped along a state highway. The confrontation led to the death of 19 rural workers. The massacre, according to Oliveira, led to the resurgence of MST activities throughout the country.

In his opinion, President Lula possesses a "democratic pro-change profile" and will only succeed in making progress, including the fight to combat rural violence, if the social movements keep up the pressure by demonstrating in the nation's streets. These movements unite 4.8 million landless families, as calculated by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), and form the Forum's base of support.

SUPPORT

The executive secretary adds that the demonstrations also have the character of supporting the President, in the sense of effectively helping him carry out agrarian reform. "We know that the peasants' chief arm is not the rifles and shotguns that estate owners use against workers. Our chief arm is organization, the number of people we regiment in the dispute over land. The estate owners are the ones who use arms to protect what isn't theirs," Oliveira affirms.

The spirit of the social movements, he adds, "is to fortify Lula, an historical ally of agrarian reform." Red April, according to him, is "mated" to the current political moment, the current government. "The Forum's political decision always was and always will be to support the fight to carry out agrarian reform," he asserts. On the other hand, he worries that political pressures may be affecting President Lula and his party, the PT. "Lula is moving to the right, and we want to pull him to the left. Only with lots of people in the street will we be able to make the PT, the President, and the Ministers from the PT not stray from the path."

Translator: David Silberstein