Agrarian Reform: Everyone’s Struggle

by Michael Finnegan

On 17 April this year the Irish Brazil Solidarity Group held a vigil outside the Brazilian Embassy in Harcourt Road. We were commemorating a massacre which happened one year before that in Brazil, near the small town of Eldorado do Carajas in the state of Para.

On the traffic island opposite the embassy we laid out 19 white crosses. Each cross had a name of one of those who died in the Massacre. Our vigil was a gesture of solidarity with the thousands of marchers who were converging on Brasilia that same day to mark the anniversary of the massacre.

What led to that massacre on the 17th of April 1996 was that a group of people had blockaded the road into the town. They were part of the MST landless movement (See Box) who were trying to get the authorities to expropriate land from a rich land owner in the area. The military police were called in to deal with these protesters. The police opened fire killing at least 19 people, and wounding 66. As yet, over a year later, there has been no official enquiry, nor has there been anybody brought to court.

Such land disputes are common in Brazil. In Corumbiara in 1995 in a similar massacre 10 people were killed. In Brazil testimonies of massacres only reach the newspapers and television when the number reach double figures.

The land issue is not just about the indigenous peoples who have long left the area. The problems arise from Brazil’s inequitable systems of land distribution. A few rich land owners have large holding which are often unproductive or sometimes just held as investments. Meanwhile the vast majority of poor Brazilians are left with no access to land which is their only means of production.

During his election campaign, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso promised wide-ranging agrarian reforms but, largely because of the conservative alliance he made to win power, he has done very little since her took office.

The MST settle landless people in occupation camps using a piece of Brazilian law which allows unproductive land to be expropriated for agrarian reform. But this is resisted by the landowners who employ violence and the set up armed militia to combat the landless. The authorities collude with the landowners and let them act violently against the landless with impunity.

What was unusual about the Eldorado massacre was that it was filmed and shown on international television. The video of the massacre shows the confrontation between the police and protesters at the road block before the massacre. It was clear that the police were acting on orders from higher-up to clear the road and not to negotiate with the protesters. The police opened fire with tear gas which infuriated the protesters causing more confrontation. When the police opened fire we see protesters running in confusion, the wounded lying on the ground and still the firing continuing.

At the vigil in April we handed in a petition of 900 signatures into the Brazilian Embassy. In it we expressed our solidarity with the MST and their struggle for land reform. We asked the Brazilian government to respect basic human rights of the landless; a just redistribution of land; an end to all killing and violence and that those guilty for the Eldorado massacre and other acts of violence be brought to justice.

The coffins of some of the victims of the April 17 massacre.

Photo: Sebastiao Salgado.