by Landless Rural Workers’ Movement
In an Internationalist Act held on Sunday, May 11, during the 5th National Agrarian Reform Fair, the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) reinforced its role in fostering solidarity between countries facing massacres imposed by imperialism. At the Fair at Parque da Água Branca in São Paulo (SP), representatives from Cuba, Palestine, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and Venezuela highlighted the trajectory of resistance in their territories against external oppression and reaffirmed their partnership with the MST in the fight for sovereignty.
Rosana Fernandes, coordinator of the MST brigade in Venezuela, is leading the Pátria Grande del Sur project, which aims to generate agroecological production on 180 thousand hectares in Venezuela, guaranteeing food sovereignty in the country where 90% of food has had to be imported due to economic dependence on the oil industry.
She stressed the need for actions like this to build socialism, ensuring a dignified life for all peoples around the world. “Healthy food is a right for everyone. And solidarity is a value and a strategy for the MST,” she said. Rosana also recalled that the movement is present in China and Cuba through brigades formed by activists.
During the 5th National Agrarian Reform Fair, the MST action also launched a campaign that aims to raise funds by June to send a container of medicines to Cuba. During the event, the Movement also announced food donations to other countries. “Just as we receive solidarity, we offer it. This is tenderness between peoples,” says Rosana.
Soraya Misleh, from the Palestine Solidarity Movement, highlighted the importance of the MST during the traditional olive harvest in the West Bank, which has been the target of attacks by settlers in Palestinian territory. She highlighted the importance of international solidarity in combating the main weapon used by US and Zionist imperialism against the Palestinians: hunger.
Bombs, bullets and drones have been used to destroy and poison crops and prevent fishermen from gathering food for their families, she denounced. “It’s been 67 years of Palestinian catastrophe. With international complicity, including a mainstream media that dehumanizes Palestinians,” she said. “We are certain that we will not be wiped off the map with allies like you,” he said, referring to the MST.
Fight for independence and freedom
“What they did to Gaza, they did to Cuba slowly,” noted the Cuban consul general in São Paulo, Benigno Pérez Fernández, adding that it is not easy “to live close to imperialism.” “We are rebels, but rebels with a cause,” he said, emphasizing the importance of the fight for freedom on the Caribbean island.
One of the recent signs of the victory of the Cuban revolution, Benigno said, is the fact that the May Day demonstration brought together more than 600,000 people on the streets of Havana against the United States and demanded an end to the economic blockade.
Ahmed Mulay, representative of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), highlighted the struggle for independence of his territory, which he describes as the “last colony in Africa”. “Today, around 150,000 Moroccan soldiers oppress us, with French weapons and Israeli drones. But when the people rise up for freedom, there is no one to defeat them.”
He reaffirmed the importance of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) recognizing the Sahrawi state, as 84 countries have already done. And he emphasized the brotherhood with the MST: “You are children of the land’s agriculture, we are children of the clouds,” explaining that, as they are in the desert, it is necessary to look for where the next rain will fall to give water to the camels and for agricultural production.
Venezuela, where the MST has been carrying out solidarity actions for food sovereignty for two decades, was represented at the event by the country’s ambassador to Brazil, Manuel Vadell. “This is a great reinforcement. We have learned a lot from you,” he said, referring to the movement’s sharing of agroecology and internationalism.
He recalled how the support of countries like Cuba and movements like the MST were important for one of the guidelines of Venezuelan diplomacy to include work with popular organizations.
In thanking the MST for the Patria Grande project, he emphasized that the Brazilian movement’s technical assistance has helped the country move ever closer to food sovereignty. “They are trying to starve our people to death. We understand that we should replace imports and grow our own food.”
Haiti present
Haiti did not go unnoticed. Holding a Haitian flag, Messilene Gorete, from the MST’s internationalism sector, highlighted the need to build solidarity with the country in the face of isolation, hunger, and genocide imposed by the United States. “It was the first republic free of enslaved peoples, in 1804,” she said. “Today, it is resisting the plan for a new military intervention and the racist regime of the neighboring Dominican Republic.”
Messilene also highlighted the Bolivarian revolution, the struggle for Sahrawi independence, and Palestine as essential examples of resistance, fueling the hope of a victory for socialism against imperialism. “Cuba is this burning fire of inspiration. We are what we are today because Cuba continues to be our ideological and material base,” she said.
“In the MST, our assets are our activists, our base. We don’t donate what’s left over, but what we have,” she said. Messilene highlighted the Movement’s contributions through sending activists, humanitarian aid and helping to break the silence about the ongoing massacres around the world. “This is our commitment to our Landless People. Let’s globalize the struggle, let’s globalize hope.”
This article was written by Martina Medina and first published on the MST website.
