On this day 15 years ago a man named Marc Lepine walked into the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and murdered 14 women with a shotgun before killing himself. Lepine said: “You’re all a bunch of feminists!” as he did the killing.
On the one hand it was the act of a crazed individual. On the other it was a symptom of sexism, misogyny, and violence against women that plagues our society. The choice of an engineering school was deliberate. In a time when the models for sexual relations are those offered by theocracy and served up in movements of puritans and Christian fundamentalists on one side and the exploitative and dehumanizing world of commercial sex industry (and its lite versions on reality TV) it is a good day to reflect on how far we still have to go.
I also wanted to note a massacre that occurred on November 20, by landowners in Brazil against landless peasants. 5 peasants were murdered rancher gunmen (I am including the note from the MST, Brazil’s landless peasant’s movement, below). Because this blog so often discusses conflicts like those in Colombia, Palestine, or Iraq, it is worth noting that in this case there appears to be a chance that justice will be done. Paramilitarism might have arrived in Brazil, but there is still a chance that the battle against impunity could succeed.
URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Massacre of Landless Workers in Felizburgo – MG
So Paulo, November 23 2004.
From: MST Human Rights Sector of the MST
Dear friends,
By means of this letter we want to inform you of what happened in Minas Gerais, where five landless workers living in encampments were killed.
On November 20, around noon, about 200 families who were occupying the Nova Alegria Ranch since May 1, 2002, were surprised by a volley of bullets fired off by 18 gunmen, three of them hooded. The men, coordinated by Sr. Adriano Shafico and his cousin who were strongly armed, killed five workers. Four died on the spot and another died after being taken to the hospital.
The comrades slain were Iraguiar Ferreira da Silva (23), Miguel Jos dos Santos (56) Francisco Nascimento Rocha (62), Juvenal Jorge da Silva (between 65 and 70) and Joaquim Jos dos Santos, (between 65 and 70)
More than 13 workers were shot and three are in serious condition (transferred to the hospital in the municipality of Te filo Otoni/MG). Among the wounded there is a 12 year-old child. Besides the shootings, the gunmen set fire to all the shacks. The Nova Alegria Ranch is located in the municipality of Felizburgo, In the region of Vale do Jequitinhonha, state of Minas Gerais.
The Land Institute of Minas Gerais (ITER) has stated that the ranch is vacant and belongs to the state of Minas Gerais. But because of the slowness of the Judiciary, the process of settling the families has not been completed.
Aware of this situation, the rancher spent these past two years making every type of provocation and threats and even kidnapped teenagers, trying to do everything to drive the landless out of the area.
The solidarity pouring in to the encampment is great: many people, including workers, popular leaders, unionists, supporters and authorities from all over the country are arriving.
On Sunday the 21st Sunday, Miguel Rosseto (Minister of Agrarian Development), Holf Hackbart (President of the Institute for Colonization and Land Reform – INCRA) and Nilmario Miranda (Special Presidential Secretary for Human Rights) were there, promising to make an example of the punishment in this case.
The surviving victims testified and three gunmen are already jailed. Arrest warrants have been issued for Adriano Shafico and another nine people. Evidence against the rancher is substantial: he planned, contracted the gunmen, and personally participated in the massacre, according to the testimony of nearly all the victim witnesses.
The Landless Workers Movement (MST) hopes that Justice will be established, that all the gunmen and the rancher who hired them are immediately arrested. And that the government of the state of Minas Gerais take possession of the area to distribute the land to the workers.
The state government and the unproductive latifndio are responsible for this massacre. The state of Minas Gerais possesses 11 million hectares of vacant land and does nothing to speed up land reform in the state and the judiciary does not respond rapidly to the processes of expropriation.
While Land Reform remains on paper, the landless farmers continue being victimized.
We ask you to send messages to the authorities listed below, demanding the arrest of the gunmen and those who gave them orders, the immediate settlement of the families in the area and a speedy implementation of land reform:
Governor of Minas Gerais – A cio Neves
Praa da Liberdade S/n (Palacio da Liberdade) – Funcionarios Belo Horizonte – CEP: 30.140-912
Fax: (31) 3250 6339
email: governadorgab@governo.mg.gov.br
Minister of Justice – Marcio Thomaz Bastos
Esplanada dos Ministrios – Bloco T – 4 Andar – Sala 400
CEP: 70064-900 – Bras lia/DF
Fax: 61 322 – 6817
email: gabinetemj@mj.gov.br
Special Secretary for Human Rights – Nilmario Miranda
Esplanada dos Ministrios – Bloco T – 4 Andar – Sala 422
CEP: 70064-900 – Bras lia/DF
Fax: 61 223 – 2260
email: nilmario.miranda@sedh.gov.br or direitoshumanos@sedh.gov.br
Please send a copy of the message to
Human Rights Sector of the MST
Alameda Baro de Limeira, 1232
Campos El seos, SP/SP
CEP: 01202-002
fax: (11) 3361-3866
sdh@mst.org.br
Do you usually send a
Do you usually send a message when various campaigns request this action? Do you think it is effective? Will a letter from some North American activist truly influence Brazilian officials?
I’ve sent letters before for various campaigns, and other times not. My inclination is that if the group is requesting people do this, then I do, but I’m not always certain how useful it is, and how much effort should be put into such a letter.
I try to… there’s plenty
I try to… there’s plenty of evidence that they work. Although effectiveness varies because of a lot of factors. And faxes are better than emails, calls better than faxes, visits better than calls, delegations better than visits…