In one year only, more than 2,600 people who had been taken
into slavery were released in Brazil, whereas every year
dozens of peasants and leaders are killed.
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Alberto Broch |
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Forced labor is a very sad situation which brings shame on
our society as a whole; this unfortunate situation has been
going on for many years. CONTAG has played a historic role
in the fight for the eradication of this hideous practice,
it has sought international condemnation together with the
ILO and has demanded the Brazilian Labor Minister to control
the situation in rural areas. We have worked hard for the
eradication of this germ together with other organizations
like the Land Pastoral Commission. Recently under Lula's
government, the presence of inspectors has raised in distant
zones, with the result, only last year, of the release of
2,600 people forced to work under this atrocious regime.
More slaves have been released in two years of this
administration than in eight years of Fernando Henrique
Cardoso’s government. A working group has been formed where
several institutions partake, like the Ministry of Labor and
the ILO which make a follow-up of specific proposals aimed
at finishing slave work.
One proposal has been put into practice already and it is
helpful: it is the publication of the names of landowners
who slave men and women workers. This instrument is very
powerful and has unveiled in the eyes of the society the
double standards of renown people, influential in the
Chamber of Deputies and local powers, who had slaves in
their farms. Along the same line, we are promoting a reform
of the constitution to allow immediate expropriation of
landowner's states where slave work is proved. This reform
was approved in the Chamber of Deputies, was modified in the
Senate and now is back in Deputies. It should be passed
quickly, but a lot of pressure is being made what predicts
proceedings may be more protracted than desired. Besides, we
have worked hard to introduce Rule 31 which refers to Health
and Safety of workers, and we have pressed the government
and Parliament to have ILO Agreement 184 ratified, which
refers to Health and Safety in agriculture. These
instruments shall conduct us more rapidly and firmly towards
the eradication of slave work in Brazil.
Forced labor is imposed by deception and is a trap: people
are hired usually by third parties who place them in farms
with no contact with the outside world. They work there for
two or three months, generally with promises never
fulfilled, and when they want to leave they are not allowed
because lodging and food they have consumed is charged at
exaggerated prices. This way, the master creates a debt that
the worker must pay and the term of repayment is at the
master's discretion. People actually loose their freedom and
when they manage to get out, they have empty pockets.
This generally occurs to people who have families awaiting
them; they work with no labor rights, no signed labor
agreement and that is the reason why the crime is very
difficult to be proved.
We reckon that at present in Brazil, there are 20 thousand
workers under slave conditions. This problem is always
matched with violence in the countryside. Unfortunately, we
have had this problem for many years, and social rural
organizations like CONTAG and the MST settlements are those
who most suffered it. We have been permanently exposed to
violence, especially in the “borders” with extensive
landowning and where the Sin Tierra (landless) workers are
sited, because it is an area in permanent conflict for the
property of the land. It can be affirmed that over the past
30 years, the whole process of land reform –some people say
this was never applied in Brazil- took place because of the
rural workers' struggle and the social movements in the
Brazilian countryside. In recent years, we have suffered the
assassination of many trade union leaders, priests, nuns,
lawyers and a long list of workers. With Lula’s government,
the trend is a reduction of violence, in some cases. Over a
month ago, in the state of Pará, Sister Dorothy was
assassinated, she was an American born nun naturalized
Brazilian who had been struggling in favor of rural workers
for more than 20 years. She supported the actions of our
unions in the northern region of the country, currently one
of the most violent. In Pará, there is still a long intact
border, virgin lands where there is a strong dispute over
land property.
The main actors of these disputes are important timber
industry interests which covet natural forest of noble
woods. But confrontation is not only because of land
distribution, against the burning of forests, but also
against the development system imposed by such interests.
Our unions promote Sustainable Development Projects,
something totally different from the systematic destruction
of the natural woodland to sell timber and then develop soy
monoculture o prairie for extensive cattle-breeding. Our
policy is the promotion of a sustainable agricultural
production model which includes rational exploitation of the
woodlands. With the death of Sister Dorothy, the problem of
rural violence in Brazil had an international impact, but we
should remember that on the same week of her assassination,
we also lost two CONTAG trade union leaders in the area and
two rural workers who were also killed. And this has been
happening for years, several dozens of people have been
killed over the past years. It is still worse: there is a
list of people condemned to death with the names of many
leaders, peasants and local leaders who oppose those
interests. This has become public, the National Congress and
the Executive Power have become interested in the problem
and they have taken specific initiatives, though we believe
this effort has to be intensified.
Impunity has to come to an end because it encourages rural
violence. Landowners, farmers and timber industry owners and
their mercenaries who kill must be tried and prosecuted and
at the same time land property problem has to be solved. A
land reform has to be implemented and a development model
has to be discussed. The government assigned a considerable
military force in the state of Pará to stop this immune
violence. We hope it continues until the real problems are
solved, i.e., the regularization of property in Brazil,
especially in the northern region.
The world must know what is going on here, international
mass media are not interested in this 'domestic' facts
unless a sad death occurs, like Sister Dorothy's.
International pressure and solidarity have colossal power.
At this time, they should support the government actions
against political aggression in the region, against
extensive landowning, against the timber industry and
international capitalism pushing to get installed in the
region. We must not forget the importance of human
solidarity with the workers’ families, with our
organizations, so we can establish widespread support, unity
and solidarity.
Alberto Broch *
5 June, 2005
* Vice President of CONTAG (National Federation of
Agricultural Workers) and a member of the IUF Latin American
Committee.
