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Activists for Food Sovereignty Demonstrate at Brazilian Consulate in NYC, Mark 20th International Day of Peasants’ Struggles for Food Sovereignty

Members of the US Friends of the MST (the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement) and the US Food Sovereignty Alliance mark 20 years since the Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre and Protest the Coup in Brazil

Contact: English: Corbin Laedlein, 917-628-1699 or Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau, 207-475-7542. Portuguese: Isabela Carvalho, 706-206-4940.

April 14, 2016

New York, NY – Food justice and food sovereignty activists in New York City are organizing a demonstration outside of the Brazilian Consulate at 225 E 41st Street to mark April 17th, the International Day of Peasants Struggles, to demonstrate for “food sovereignty” and “food and land justice” in New York City and around the world, and to stand in solidarity with the Brazilian people opposing the Presidential impeachment process, which Brazilian social movements see as an attempted coup.

The action in New York City is led by the US Friends of the MST, a US network in solidarity for the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST), which represents over 1 million families struggling to access land and produce healthy food. Actions are happening today in San Francisco and were organized in Washington D.C and Chicago last week. The US Friends of the MST is a member of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA), which is organizing actions throughout the country.

20 years ago, the Brazilian police killed 19 people during a peaceful land occupation by landless farmers of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Eldorado dos Carajás. And just last week, the Brazilian police and private security guards killed 2 more landless farmers, Vilmar Bordim and Leomar Bhorbak, in Northeast Brazil.

Meanwhile, political elites are attempting to impeach the democratically elected president, Dilma Rousseff, even though she faces no charges and has committed no crimes. Social movements in Brazil see that this push amounts to a “soft” coup.

political elites are attempting to impeach the democratically elected president, Dilma Rousseff, even though she faces no charges and has committed no crimes. Social movements in Brazil see that this push amounts to a “soft” coup

Besides threatening democracy, the coup also threatens the work of the MST, who has returned 250,000 families to the land in Brazil, bringing healthy food to the people and cooling the planet. The leaders of the coup have encouraged violence against the MST and their members.

Many communities in the US and in NYC are also landless, displaced from their neighborhoods, and unable to access healthy food. Community gardens are critical to many families in NYC, but they are sacrificed for development.

For more information, visit the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/265565900450501/266822196991538/.

For more information on the US Friends of the MST, visit www.mstbrazil.org.

For more information on the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, visit www.usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org.