The National Direction of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) has emitted the following communiqué, in reaction to mounting right-wing aggression in Brazil against social movements and actors.

The National Direction of MST denounces and repudiates the aggressive and shameful act committed against João Pedro Stedile, member of the national coordination of the MST, in the airport of Fortaleza in the late hours of September 22, 2015.

For the MST, this episode is not an isolated act, but the reflection of the present political moment in this country, where every day we see a growing hatred of people’s movements, migrants and poor and black peoples.  This was evident in the recent events in Río de Janeiro where acts of aggression have prevented young people from the favelas from going to the beaches of the southern zone of Río de Janeiro.

These acts of violence and hatred have been intensely propagated by certain social networks, often repeated in the streets, and are one more demonstration of the violence of sectors of the Brazilian elite disposed to promote a wave of violence and hatred against popular social groups.

However, in another recent episode of hatred, when a letter was circulated on social networks that offered a reward for Stedile "dead or alive", we had already sounded an alert to the effect that the dimension that these events are reaching comes mainly from certain partisan and manipulative media that distort and hide information, while they promote hatred and prejudice against those who think differently.

It is these media at the service of a rabid fascist right that are responsible for these criminal and hateful attitudes that feed the streets and social networks with the most antisocial and inhuman values that could exist.

Nevertheless, these attitudes will not be capable of deterring us from the struggle for agrarian reform and social rights historically denied to the Brazilian people. We will not accept that any militant of the popular movements suffer any kind of aggression or insult for defending or struggling for social justice. We are committed to stay in the streets struggling in defence of democracy, civil rights, the working class and respect for humanitarian values.

"Dare to struggle, dare to win!"

"Struggle! Build! Popular Agrarian Reform!"

National leadership off the MST

National Direction of MST

São Paulo, September 23, 2015.