Tree Plantations Are Not Forests, Women Activists Say

By Marcela Valente

Brazilian women rally against deforestation. Credit:Courtesy of WRM Uruguay

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 1 (IPS) – Touted as “harvested forests,” single-crop tree plantations are fast encroaching on the native forests and grasslands of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, affecting the environment and the lives of local communities, rural women say.

Witness in Stang land case released from hospital

WKYC.com
SAO PAULO — Authorities in Brazil say a hospital has released a witness who was shot after being summoned to testify in a case related to the 2005 death of American Amazon defender Dorothy Stang.
A spokesman for the Para state public safety department says Roniery Lopes will be able to testify in a case involving [...]

Brazil pledges deep emission cuts in ‘political gesture’ to rich nations

The Guardian

Brazil will take proposals for voluntary reductions of 38-42% by 2020 to the Copenhagen climate change conference next month, chief of staff says

The Brazilian government is preparing to pledge a big curb in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 as a “political gesture” aimed at pressing rich nations into agreeing to large cuts [...]

GM’s Money Trees

Mother Jones
In Brazil, people with some of the world’s smallest carbon footprints are being displaced—so their forests can become offsets for SUVs.

By Mark Schapiro
I am standing in the shadow of General Motors’ $1 tree. It’s a native guaricica, with pale white bark and a spreading crown that looms about 40 feet above my head. Hanging [...]

Land Reform Under Lula: One Step Forward, One Step Back

Dollars and Sense
By Chris Tilly, Marie Kennedy, and Tarso Luís Ramos
The Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) of Brazil, which has mobilized more than a million Brazilians to occupy and farm large landholdings, was cautiously optimistic when Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva of the Workers Party won the presidency in 2002. “We campaign for Lula,” remarked MST [...]

Land Reform Under Lula: One Step Forward, One Step Back

Dollars and Sense
By Chris Tilly, Marie Kennedy, and Tarso Luís Ramos
The Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) of Brazil, which has mobilized more than a million Brazilians to occupy and farm large landholdings, was cautiously optimistic when Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva of the Workers Party won the presidency in 2002. “We campaign for Lula,” remarked MST [...]

No place like home: Brazilian immigrants leave US for better job prospects

Christian Science Monitor
The deep US recession – and a rebound in Brazil – have reversed the flow of migration. Will other immigrants follow?
By Taylor Barnes
When Leonardo Nakao’s flight from Brazil landed in Boston at 1:30 a.m., he didn’t have to search long for a job. By 5 a.m., he was pumping gas at a suburban [...]

Manifesto in defense of the MST

Dear Friends and Sisters
I am sending this manisfesto and hope that you will keep our people in your prayers.
Hugs and Blessing,
Lu
Manifesto in defense of the MST“
…They become legitimate not through their property but through their work, in this world in which work is becoming extinct. They become legitimate because they make History, in a world [...]

The World Social Forum’s 10-year anniversary celebrations will start in Porto Alegre

World Social Forum
The World Social Forum’s 10-year anniversary celebrations will start in the city where everything began: Porto Alegre. The capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul along with its metropolitan area are going to hold the Greater Porto Alegre 10 years Social Forum, from January the 25th until the 29th 2010. But [...]

Brazil calls Obama over US bases

BBC
Brazil’s leader has called on US President Barack Obama to meet South American leaders to calm fears about the US military presence in Colombia. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his concerns in a phone call to President Obama, Brazil’s foreign minister said.He wants guarantees that US troops will be restricted to fighting drugs and [...]