From: "Viviane Lerner" <•••@••.•••> Subject: FW: Brazil to IMF: Shut up or get out Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 12:12:47 -1000 http://www.thestar.com/editorial/updates/business/200002130_BRAZIL-IMF.html Feb 12, 19:28 est Brazil to IMF: Shut up or get out RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The International Monetary Fund has retracted criticism of Brazil's anti-poverty plan in the wake of national indignation and calls for IMF representative Lorenzo Perez to be kicked out of the country. Perez released a statement late Friday saying the government's explanation of the plan convinced him it would not endanger Brazil's ability to reduce its debt. Reducing the debt and a chronic budget deficit are parts of Brazil's 1998 agreement with the IMF for a $41.5-billion (U.S.) bailout loan. On Thursday, Perez openly questioned the wisdom of the proposed 10-year anti-poverty program, which would cost $2.3 billion a year. Most of the money would come from the privatization of government property, which Brazil now uses to defray a huge domestic debt of about $294 billion. ''Brazil already spends a significant amount of money on social programs,'' Perez said in the first statement. ''This money has to be used more effectively.'' The statement managed to unite the political right and left in outrage. Senate President Antonio Carlos Magalhaes of the rightist Liberal Front party said it was ''undue meddling'' in the country's affairs. Representative Jose Dirceu of the leftist Workers party urged the government send Perez home. In the 1980s, when Brazil went broke and was bailed out by the IMF, many Brazilians blamed the Washington-based fund for the recession that ensued. IMF-bashing rallies were common. Anti-IMF sentiment erupted again in 1991, when IMF economist Jose Fajgenbaum insisted structural reforms in the economy would require changing the constitution. Former Brazilian president Fernando Collor de Mello said Fajgenbaum should ''go reform his own house.'' ******************************************** Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 15:50:53 -0200 From: SEJUP <•••@••.•••> Subject: News from Brazil, No. 387 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz). Number 387, February 11, 2000. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- <snip> - The Second American Conference for Humanity and against Neoliberalism Anarchists, Bolivarists, Catholics, democrats, ecologist, feminists, gays, Hare Krishnas, intellectuals, politicians, teachers, students, visionaries. . . . During the week of December 6th, 1999, 2,686 delegated from 24 countries, 24 Brazilians states, 31 indigenous nations, and numerous cultural, social and non-governmental organizations participated in the Second American Conference for Humanity and against Neoliberalism, held in Belem, Para. In spite of a national press boycott, 80 important newspapers from around the world gave coverage to the event. The participants were divided into groups with diverse themes. However, most of the discussion were centered around the impact of neoliberalism on the lives of people, on agrarian issues, and on culture. In spite of the seriousness of the talks, the climate of the meeting was one of celebration, even during moments when debates were intense. The participants resolved to take on several grand undertakings. One of these was to organize a "March of the Americas," which will begin simultaneously in Brazil and Canada, and march throughout the continent, calling forth protests and demonstrations in the cities, towns and villages through which the march may pass. The march will end in the Mexican city of Juarez, on the U.S.-Mexico border, where there is a steel wall, protected by helicopters, guards and dogs, which symbolizes the separation between the rich and the poor of the two continents. The first meeting to prepare for the march will be in March of this year. Another decision was made to call forth a plebiscite in every Latin American country on the payment of external debt. To do this, it will be necessary to incorporate every popular movement and organization in Latin America. In Brazil, this process will be combined with the organization of the movement, "Brazil: 500 years of Indigenous, Black, and Popular Resistance." The idea is to join forces with the 2,000 indigenous who will be present in Porto Seguro to say to authorities that beginning now, there will be another different kind of "500 years." The group resolved to take up the cause of the liberation of Mumia Abu Jamal, a member of the Black Panthers, who has been in prison in the United States since December of 1981 under the accusation of murdering a Philadelphia police officer. His trial was a judicial farce. He is considered to be a political prisoner. Another resolution was made in the area of communication: to fight for the rights to access to information and to cultural productions of resistance by all means available. One idea was to form a communication net among the various groups and social movements, through newspapers, journals, bulletins, radios, television, Internet, etc. Finally, at the plenary meeting, participants decided to accept an invitation from the Anishnabaies Indians of Canada to host the next conference. Source: Caros Amigos January, 2000 To read the resolution of the conference in Portuguese, go to: http://www.encontroamerican.com.br URGENT ACTION APPEAL - Landless worker killed by gunmen in Atalaia, Alagoas >From the Movimento Sem Terra (Movement of rural workers Without Land) February 2, 2000 A landless worker was killed by gunmen hired by landowner Pedro Duarte, known as "Pedro do Charque (Beef Jerky Pedro)" at around 11 am, on February 2, 2000, at the Sao Pedro farm in the town of Atalaia. Ailton, 21 years old, was an activist in the MST. Two other workers were seriously wounded. Sao Pedro farm was first occupied on January 4, 1999 by 200 families, and during the year was reoccupied 5 more times. INCRA (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) visited this area twice during this period and declared it to be productive land. This provoked the indignation of the workers, who are aware that the land is idle, and so they decided to reoccupy the farm on February 1. It should be noted that INCRA, the government agency that should be working for the growth of agrarian reform, is in collusion with the land owners, allowing them to "apply make up" to the area during inspections. Governor Ronaldo Lessa was advised numerous times of the presence of gunmen at the farm, but no precautions were taken. In fact, one worker had already been tortured by the gunmen, in May 1999, being tied up in barbed wire and brutally beaten, and was not murdered only because the rest of the camp came to his aid. On top of this, on this same day, armed gunmen in the presence of the Alagoas State Police were filmed by a television crew as they bullied and harassed workers at the camp. We are asking our friends to send faxes or e-mails to: - Governor of Alagoas, Ronaldo Lessa fax: (82) 326-5724; - President Fernando Henrique Cardoso fax: (61) 226-7566, •••@••.•••; - Minister of Justice, Jose Carlos Dias •••@••.•••, fax 011 55 61 321 15 65; - Superintendent of INCRA/Alagoas, Ricardo Vitorio (fax: (82) 326-5288); - Minister of Agrarian Reform, Raul Jullgman (fax: (61) 226-8727); - Secretary of Public Security of the State of Alagoas, Edmilson Miranda (fax: (82) 336-9001). Please ask them to act as soon as possible because the situation at the camp is tense, and a new gun fight could occur, since the families are resisting. Also, it should be requested that not only the gunmen, but also the landowners who ordered the crime, should be arrested. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. If you wish to contact us or receive NEWS FROM BRAZIL free of charge by e-mail send a message to sejup1@ ax.apc.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 19:29:48 -0600 From: Mark Douglas Whitaker <•••@••.•••> Subject: WWW: http://www.unpo.org/ Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization [FYI] UNPO Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation UNPO is an international organisation created by nations and peoples around the world, who are not represented as such in the world´s principal international organisations, such as the United Nations. Founded in 1991, UNPO today consists of over 50 members who represent over 100 million persons. UNPO offers an international forum for occupied nations, indigenous peoples, minorities, and even oppressed majorities who currently struggle to regain their lost countries, preserve their cultural identities, protect their basic human and economic rights and safeguard the natural environment. What is the UNPO? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNPO is an international organisation created by nations and peoples around the world who are not represented as such in the world's principal international organisations, such as the United Nations. Founded in 1991, UNPO today consists of nearly 50 members and observer nations and peoples who represent over 100 million persons. UNPO offers an international forum for occupied nations, indigenous peoples, minorities, and even oppressed majorities who currently struggle to regain their lost countries, preserve their cultural identities, protect their basic human and economic rights, and safeguard the natural environment. WHAT IS THE UNPO? UNPO ACTIVITIES UNPO does not represent those peoples; it assists and empowers them to represent themselves more effectively. To this end, UNPO provides much needed professional services and facilities as well as education and training in the fields of diplomacy, international and human rights law, democratic processes and institution building, conflict management and resolution and environmental protection. Assistance by UNPO at the United Nations enhances activities by indigenous and other unrepresented peoples there. NON VIOLENCE Many groups turn to violence out of frustration at the refusal or inability of the international community or particular governments to listen, let alone respond, to their concerns. By demonstrating the effectiveness of non-violent strategies and actions, UNPO members hope that their organisation may succeed in reducing the use of violence throughout the world. FINANCIAL SUPPORT The costs of running an organisation such as UNPO are very high, and the peoples who set up UNPO do not have the means to support it on their own. Although the International Secretariat staff in the Hague is all-volunteer, operating costs are still considerable. Members, private foundations and individuals finance its activities. In the long run only a solid base of individual FRIENDS OF UNPO can assure UNPO's continued existence and support for the needs and interest of the unrepresented nations and peoples. MORAL AND ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT Struggling in isolation is very painful. The knowledge that other peoples are going through similar experiences and that there are people throughout the world who know about your plight and who care, is of immeasurable importance. FRIENDS OF UNPO provide this moral support. Through the publication of UNPO NEWS and the Special FRIENDS OF UNPO NEWSLETTER, UNPO will keep the FRIENDS OF UNPO informed of the situation of nations and peoples throughout the world. FRIENDS OF UNPO will also, in future, create Support Groups to develop activities in support of human rights and the aims of UNPO Members.
