We all feel indignation with the result of the jury verdict that took place the 18th of June which absolved the landowner who plotted the murder of the union leader Margarida Alves, in Paraiba in August of 1983. And this is not the only case. Since 1985 more than 1,600 union members, church workers, lawyers, and political representatives have been murdered in rural areas because of political motives involving land-related problems. Less than 100 cases have had processes and judgments. In less than 20, those responsible for the murders were found guilty. And, by what can be ascertained, only those involved in three crimes are in prison, those cases which obviously were very notorious: the murders of Chico Mendes, the priest Josimo Tavares, and the union leader Canuto. All the rest are unpunished. In the case of the police that participated in the massacre of Carajás, more than five years ago, the assurance of impunity has led to some of them being implicated in the murder of two other leaders of the MST, in Paraupebas (PA). For more than a year now a proposed law has been stalled in the Senate, after it had been approved in two votes in the House of Deputies, that would have called for a constitutional amendment, by the government’s own initiative, to transfer to the Federal Justice crimes committed against human rights. There is an agreement among all the political parties for the approval of this project. And, for some reason which is stronger than the rhetoric of the political parties and the federal government, the project has not been approved in the Senate. Why? The other Brazil Unfortunately, beyond the absurd physical violence that blinds with impunity so many lives, in the rural areas there are many more injustices. Untiringly and courageously the priest Ricardo Resende continues denouncing the existence of slave labor even today, into the 21st century, in the farms of Sur de Pará. Desperate mothers are unaware of where their adult children end up, taken by “gatos” (slave runners) without any word from them. Without documents, without an address, without citizenship, treated as if they were common merchandise. Could this be the modern Brazil that Fernando Henrique Cardoso promised to the Brazilian people seven years ago when he assumed government power? We all remain indignant with the stupidity and irresponsibility of the federal government concerning the electrical energy crisis. But in the rural areas today there are still millions of Brazilians that are not familiar with electrical energy. And it is not because they live in inaccessible caves. We have a school, an installation of MST, that functions with 600 students, in the old patio of the major hydroelectric plant of Paraná, Santiago Falls. For the time being, we are next to the hydroelectric plant. And it has no electricity! Thousands of farmers in Pará and Maranhao live in the dark, a short distance from the electric lines of Tucuruí, that carries energy only for a Canadian multinational company that exports aluminum. How many more examples could be given of so many injustices, social violence, and of the existing impunity? There are plenty of examples. All one needs to do is to walk through this Brazil and observe. But the key question is: Why do these injustices and impunities persist? They persist because our society is controlled by a minority, of the dominant class, of the well-off, who think only in accumulating wealth, accumulating power. When confronted by international capital, they are extremely servile. With the Brazilian people, they are violent and repressors . This minority takes advantage of the State only in order to guarantee its privileges and to increase them even more. The Brazilian State has not yet assimilated the French Revolution of 1789, the separation of the three powers, and the free and democratic vote. However, more than this, the Brazilian State is organized, structured, in order to function only for the benefit of a minority. As the bishop of Caxias (RJ) Don Mauro Morelli stated recently, “the Brazilian State is like a van made to accommodate barely ten people. The populace, crowding into bus stops, has the ability to choose to change the driver, but only a mere 10% of the people are ever able to travel in the van.” Our society needs radical changes, that go to the root of the problems. And for this it is not enough simply to change the driver. We need to change the means of transportation so that all Brazilians can “travel” and not just 10%. Without these changes, the social injustices will continue increasing and the impunity of the powerful will continue being part of the rules of the game. * Joao Pedro Stedile is a member of the National Leadership of the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST).