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View Full Version : Brazil: From land occupations to media democracy



cyu
29th October 2009, 02:12
Excerpts from http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6185

http://americas.irc-online.org/images/irc/1576.jpg

"Before, we could say that the media was a branch of the Brazilian elite, but today, with the growth of financial capital in the hands of the media, we can say they are an organic part of the elite itself"... the bank Bradesco is one of the major shareholders of the daily paper O Estado de São Paulo

"it is essential to destroy the media monopoly in order to diversify the media. The struggle to democratize communication requires the construction of a broader political project, capable of radically transforming the structures of our societies."

less than 10 groups... control the major communication networks, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and web pages

"Fight so that each settlement or community in inland Brazil has its own popular media outlet, such as a free community radio station. Fight for the democratization of all of society's media"

"We believe that there are measures in the communications field which, together with radical political and economic transformations, contribute to the implementation of the necessary changes for a truly just and equal society. For this reason, we demand the end to the criminalization of popular and alternative radio stations, and the revision of all public radio and TV concessions"

It is evident that to counteract the subcontinent's swing to the left, the media has boycotted the left's integration in the region and worked systematically to erode the support of governments that show a Latin Americanist vocation. The tools normally used are the silencing of information, biased reporting, and constant editorializing.

http://americas.irc-online.org/images/irc/1575.jpg

Some 25 years ago, given the shameful concentration of land ownership, one of the region's principal social movements was born in the thriving south: the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST).

The organization's core struggle is therefore the democratization of land ownership.

the movement publicizes its cause via land recuperations, occupations, and camps

One of the dangers is that the cause of the MST will become isolated in rural matters and forget to include the cities.

There is also a section of contacts for organizations with which the MST is in solidarity. Among them are Amnesty International, Brazilian human rights organizations, organizations working on the issue of forcibly disappeared people such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, the Unique Workers' Center (CUT) in Brazil, and the Latin American Coordination of Farm Organizations (CLOC)... In the same way, a relationship with the Homeless Workers' Movement has been established. It is they who survive in the corners of Brazil's cities, the poorest among the poor.

More: http://www.mstbrazil.org/?q=node/620

the last donut of the night
29th October 2009, 03:23
I believe that the MST is one of the most radical organizations in Brazil today. All leftists should support it.

Comrade Arthur
4th November 2009, 20:44
People, I'm Communist and I'm Brazilian. I don't think we should support MST, neither do I think we should criticize it.
MST is something we cannot know the truth about. What is said (not only my rightist magazines, but by neutral ones as well), is that they practice several acts of cruelty against animals.
If you can, try to watch Jornal Nacional (the main Brazilian television newspaper). Once it showed that MST invaded an orange plantation and UNNECESSARILY destroyed several plants. They stated that they destroyed those orange trees to open space for their own plantation of beans, but an agronomist said that beans could be planted in association with oranges, because they don't remove the same nutrients from the land.

PLEASE DON'T UNDERSTAND ME WRONG: I DO NOT ALLOW MYSELF TO HAVE MY MIND POLLUTED BY CAPITALIST MEDIA. DO NOT SAY YOU SUPPORT MST AND DO NOT SAY YOU HATE IT. I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD BE NEUTRAL TOWARDS IT UNTIL WE CAN SEE WITH OUR OWN EYES THE TRUTH ABOUT THEM

I myself tend to be for MST. Their struggle is admirable and their goals are beautiful, but, again, we cannot know exactly their means.

As a Brazilian comrade, I beg you to be careful about that subject.

I SUPPORT COMMUNISM
I SUPPORT THE LAND REFORM
BUT I PUT THE TRUTH ABOVE ALL WHEN I DECIDE MY POSITIONING.

dez
4th November 2009, 20:49
The truth is that globo is a media empire in brazil, and your best source is their golden chicken "Jornal nacional". They were created by the dictatorship and spent 20 years conveniently ignoring it, so forgive me when I call bullshit when you cite them as a neutral source.

cyu
5th November 2009, 20:49
they practice several acts of cruelty against animals


Oh noes, not der poor animals!! How can I live wid meself?? Dude, I eat animals. I also splat spiders - should I be ashamed?



an agronomist said that beans could be planted in association with oranges, because they don't remove the same nutrients from the land.


So what? You believe technical mistakes should invalidate an entire movement? Sounds more like you are just a dupe of your capitalist class.

I'm curious as to what your brainwashed mind thinks of this website: http://198.62.75.1/www2/mst/index1.html


"In many underdeveloped areas there are large or even gigantic rural estates which are only moderately cultivated or lie completely idle for the sake of profit. At the same time the majority of the people are either without land or have only very small holdings, and there is evident and urgent need to increase land productivity".
Vatican II: Gaudium et Spes, 71

the last donut of the night
7th November 2009, 00:18
cyu, please be more sensitive to this matter. Remember that the best way to refuse arguments is to be logical, and I believe your post comes very close to a troll. Hell, it's hard to accurately learn about your own movement when you spend hours and hours immersed in lies.

I used to think what Veja said about the MST was true, but I know better now. Stop being so high-strung.

cyu
8th November 2009, 06:44
please be more sensitive to this matter


Maybe I'm just a naturally suspicious person, but usually when I see someone with just a handful of posts on this board denouncing organizations I support, my knee-jerk reaction is to assume it's a right-winger in leftist clothing who will be banned or restricted soon enough :D

the last donut of the night
8th November 2009, 18:35
Maybe I'm just a naturally suspicious person, but usually when I see someone with just a handful of posts on this board denouncing organizations I support, my knee-jerk reaction is to assume it's a right-winger in leftist clothing who will be banned or restricted soon enough :D

an infiltrator in our ranks? :ninja:

mosfeld
8th November 2009, 20:31
People, I'm Communist [...] I don't think we should support MST
How about rooting for your side in the class struggle, communist?


is that they practice several acts of cruelty against animals.
Socialists shouldn't dabble in or get lost in the animal rights movement. We're fighting for proletarian liberation and worker's rights, not animal rights. Don't sideline class struggle for.. animal struggle. Im a vegetarian, by the way.

cyu
9th November 2009, 05:11
an infiltrator in our ranks?


No doubt some are better at it than others. I don't particularly care about them either way, other than insult them when they make lame arguments, and try to convert them when I'm in a better mood :cool:

Of course, that guy above may be someone with his heart in the right place and just has been muddled by too much propaganda (heck, maybe I may be muddled by too much propaganda) - maybe I am just inadvertently turning someone good away from revleft, but when I see a post that smacks of FUD tactics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt), I feel obligated to lash back.