wfn.org | Brazil's Land Reform Movement Seeks Awareness, Solidarity

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227; news@ncccusa.org; www.ncccusa.org
NCC10/10/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRAZIL'S LAND REFORM MOVEMENT SEEKS AWARENESS, SOLIDARITY

	A representative of Brazil's Landless Farmers' Movement is on a three-week
U.S. speaking tour, describing both the struggles and successes of a growing
effort against rural hunger and poverty and for environmental protection,
especially of the Amazon rainforest.

	"We need the American people to know that we are dying of hunger in Brazil
because of our government's policy, which, in turn, is imposed by the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund," said Katia Grams de Lima, with
the Movimiento Sem Terra (MST), based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

	That policy includes high interest rates, opening of the country to foreign
capital, freezing of wages, privatization of national industries and
reduction of public services, she said, speaking October 3 in New York City.
Most of Brazil's rich agricultural land is concentrated in a few wealthy
hands, leaving nearly five million rural workers landless.

	MST has organized 1.5 million landless and rural workers for "land reform
from below" and helped hundreds of thousands of families gain access to
productive land.  It provides health care and education to landless families
and organizes occupations of idle land, transforming them into productive
agricultural cooperatives focused on local consumption, not export.  Some
400 such groups are now operating.

	Ms. Gram's seven-city tour is co-sponsored by Agricultural Missions, Inc.;
the United Methodist Committee on Relief, and Church World Service, the
global service and witness ministry of the (U.S.) National Council of
Churches.  The tour began September 27 in Washington, D.C., and continued on
to Philadelphia, New York City, Cleveland, and Chicago.  She is addressing
denominational, ecumenical and community organizations.

Ms. Grams continues on to Des Moines, Iowa, October 9-10 (contact Bob
Gronsky, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, 515-270-2634); St. Louis,
Mo., October 11 (contact Margaret Hill, 314-721-2977), and Louisville, Ky.,
October 12-16 (contact Stephen Bartlett at louisville402@yahoo.com.mx or
phone Agricultural Missions at 212-870-2553).  Ms. Grams stops back in
Washington, D.C., on October 17 before returning to Sao Paulo on the 18th.

Viewed favorably by an overwhelming majority of Brazilians, the MST also has
suffered assassinations, defamation and even massacres at the hands of
police and paramilitary groups.  In April 1996, more than 2,000 military
police attacked 1,500 landless workers and their children as they blocked a
highway, killing 19 and severely injuring 51.

Ms. Grams urged North Americans to become part of MST's information network
"so that when things happen, we can get the word out through this network
and help rally the international community to put pressure on Brazil."  The
MST is asking North Americans to "defend their right to struggle" and to
"struggle with them" in the halls of governments, human rights offices and
international financial institutions.

	At the foundation of the struggle, she said, the debate, is, "What's the
meaning and value of life?  How do we organize our societies to promote
life?  A society can't just keep feeding the whims of those who are in
power."

	MST members' "Ten Commitments" include environmental protection and
reforestation, avoiding monocultures and the use of agricultural poisons.
MST favors producing food to eliminate hunger and rejection of "injustices
and violence against people, communities or nature."  Members commit to
"struggle against land concentration in few hands so that all can have land,
bread, education and freedom."

-end-