Thus, the contradiction between the masses and semi-feudalism, which is concretized in the confrontation between the poor and landless peasants and the big landowners, is now finding an intensifying expression in that the big landowners no longer rely only on the armed forces of the old state, above all the Brazilian military police, to assert their interests, but have formed their own armed combat unit. The aim of the big landowner association, which has given itself the appropriate name "Zero Invasions", is to fight against the agrarian revolution in Brazil and especially the land invasions of poor peasants. Co-founder of the organization is the former arch-reactionary president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
The democratic and revolutionary newspaper "A Nova Democracia" describes in an article that this organization is not at all a completely new thing but has been operating since March of last year and has made it its goal in its declarations and actions to become active throughout Brazil against poor peasants, indigenous peoples and quilombolas, which according to the newspaper is an equivalent to a declaration of war. Recently, the organization's actions are said to have undergone a qualitative leap. Since its foundation, the actions of "Zero Invasion" have been limited to attempts to intimidate and besiege struggling farmers and their land invasions.
However, on 21 January this year, 200 big landowners and their mercenaries organized a military operation against the indigenous territory of Caramuru-Catarina in which they invaded the area in joint action and protection with the Brazilian military police to expel the indigenous population from their land. During this armed raid, the indigenous activist and farmer Nega Pataxó was shot dead by the son of a big landowner. The day before, the military police prepared this military operation by entering the indigenous territory, beating up indigenous people and stealing their mobile phones so that no one could record the subsequent raid.
The article goes on to report that "Zero Invasion" has already worked very closely with armed forces of the old Brazilian state in other federal states. The newspaper concludes that the poor peasants, indigenous people and quilombolas do not have many options left in the struggle for their right to land other than the one promoted last year by the League of Poor Peasants: armed self-defense against the war of the big landowners.
Big landowners of the "zero invasions" are gathering for the armed attack against indigenous people.
The newspaper "A Nova Democracia" informs in another article that a People's Tribunal will take place on March 9 and 10 in the state of Maranhão. This People's Tribunal will be made up of human rights defenders, activists and researchers and aims to investigate and condemn the crimes committed by big landowners and the old Brazilian state against more than 10 peasant communities in the Gurupi region on the border between the states of Para and Maranhão. For this purpose, the affected peasants shall report directly to the People's Tribunal their accounts of the numerous crimes committed against them. In addition, a group of lawyers will present their report on the crimes committed against the peasants in the communities. An inspection of the crime scenes will then be carried out.
On March 10, each member of the evaluation commission will then comment on everything they have read, seen, and heard and give their personal assessment, from which a unified report with necessary recommendations will be drawn up. The People's Tribunal will be organized in partnership with the Committee of Solidarity with the Struggle for Land and the Union of Communes in Struggle.
Past assemblies of the Union of Communes in Struggle.
In the state of Amazon, the federal court responsible for the region, "TRF-1", has granted the company "Potássio do Brasil" ("Potassium Chloride from Brazil") a license to mine potassium, contrary to the decision of the state court of Amazonas. Previously, struggles by indigenous people and poor peasants had led to a victory over the company when the state court ordered a ban on potassium mining in the region. The company "Potássio do Brasil" is not a Brazilian mining company, but a front company, of which 70 percent of the shares are owned by Canadian and British capital, backed by imperialist banks and investment groups such as "Forbes&Manhattan", "CD Capital" and "The Sentient Group".
However, the mining area on the banks of the Madeirinha River in the interior of the state of Amazonas, which is of such interest to imperialist investors, has been populated for centuries by the indigenous Mura people, who have been fighting for over 20 years for their land to be recognized as indigenous territory and demanding an end to the expulsion and imperialist exploitation of their homeland.
Indigenous people from the Mura protest against potassium mining on their land.
All images are taken from the respective articles.
