"..Article 186 in the Brazilian constitution stipulates that
private property, including land, must serve a social
function."
--------------------------------------------------------
Original source URL:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=48&ItemID=11580
ZNet | Brazil
Brazilian Governor Moves to Expropriate Land From Agribusiness Multinational
Syngenta
by Isabella Kenfield; December 08, 2006
Curitiba, Brazil - On November 9th Roberto Requião, Governor of the state of
Paraná, dealt a blow to agribusiness when he signed a decree to expropriate the
experimental test site owned by the Swiss multinational corporation Syngenta,
located in Santa Tereza do Oeste. The decree was made in the public interest
because Syngenta illegally planted 12 hectares of genetically-modified (GM)
soybeans at the site. The decree is unprecedented in Brazil and Latin America
(indeed, the world), as never before has any state or the federal government
moved to expropriate land from an agribusiness multinational corporation. The
action is representative of the growing sentiment among Latin American
politicians to resist the increasing power of agribusiness corporations, and is
evidence of the increasing organization and power of civil society in the
region.
Requião's decision to expropriate the 127-hectare site is undoubtedly the result
of pressure from civil society. The decree to expropriate the site came after
an eight-month, non-violent occupation of the site by members of the rural
social movements the Via Campesina and the Movement of the Landless Rural
Workers (MST), which occupied the site on March 14th after the Brazilian
Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), the federal
environmental agency, confirmed that Syngenta had illegally planted GM soybeans
there. While GM soy is legal in Brazil, Syngenta's planting was illegal because
the experimental site is located within the protective boundary zone of the
Iguaçu National Park, which was declared the Patrimony of Humanity by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1986. The
occupation stopped all of Syngenta's activities at the site, and according to
statements made by Syngenta to the press, cost the corporation more than US $50
million. The occupation also pressured IBAMA to fine the corporation US
$465,000 - a fine Syngenta still has not paid. Throughout the occupation and
since Requião's decree, Syngenta has denied any criminal activity.
"This is really a historic moment in the global struggle against transgenics,
and it is proof that the social movements can control the actions of
transnationals," says Maria Rita Reis, an attorney for Terra de Direitos, a
human rights organization in Curitiba representing the legal proceedings against
Syngenta.
According to Roberto Baggio, state leader of the Via Campesina and the MST, "The
conquest of Syngenta was only possible through a large alliance of the rural
social movementsŠin alliance with a firm and courageous position of Governor
Requião, in the defense of a diversified, national agriculture that preserves
biodiversity. This action is a referential international mark in the struggle
against the powerful interests of the agribusiness transnationals that want to
dominate global agriculture and impose their project, but here in Paraná there
are strong signals of popular resistance, which should stimulate militancy to
combat the transnationals all over the planet."
The legal argument for the government's decree to expropriate the site from
Syngenta for the public interest is based in the Brazilian constitution.
According to the statement released by the state press agency, Governor Requião,
who has a history of anti-GM politics, is drawing upon Brazilian states'
sovereignty to "protect notable natural areas and the environment, to combat
pollution of whatever form, and to preserve the forests, fauna and flora,"
emphasizing "the fragility of the biggest and most important remnant of the
semideciduous forest of the country, situated in the Iguaçu National Park."
Additionally, Article 186 in the Brazilian constitution stipulates that private
property, including land, must serve a social function. Since the early 1980s,
the MST has used Article 186 to justify non-violent occupations of unproductive
land owned by large landowners, in order to pressure the government to
expropriate the land for the purpose of agrarian reform. More recently, with
their growing economic power, control of natural resources and criminal acts in
the country, multinational agribusiness corporations are becoming the targets of
these occupations. Terra de Direitos argues that the land at Syngenta's
experimental site was not serving its social function, and that by illegally
planting GM soybeans there Syngenta committed a human rights violation by
endanging Brazil's biodiversity and biosecurity, as all Brazilians depend on the
country's natural resources.
According to João Pedro Stedile, of the national coordination of the MST,
"Governor Requião had a courageous attitude to fulfill the constitution of the
state to protect natural resources, and at the same time the law of biosecurity
which states that no one can make experiments with transgenics within national
parks. Thus he penalized Syngenta. I hope that other state governors and the
federal government will follow in [Requião's] example, and help us to defend
Brazilian biodiversity, and the struggle for food sovereignty, and against the
transnationals that want to control the food and biodiversity throughout the
world."
Yet just because Requião has signed the decree does not mean the process of
expropriation will be simple. There is little doubt Syngenta will appeal the
decision in federal courts. This will complicate the effort to expropriate the
site because the administration of President Luis Inacio 'Lula' da Silva is more
disposed to yield to the interests of agribusiness. Brazil is currently
experiencing an economic boom from agricultural production, especially from the
production of GM soy. The planting of GM soy was legalized in 2003 during the
Lula administration, and the country is now the second largest producer and
exporter of soybeans in the world, second only to the U.S. Syngenta, which
realized profits of over US $8.1 billion in 2005, wields considerable economic
and political power in Brazil, and has a strong interest in maintaining its
business in the country.
Syngenta has not publicly responded to Requião's decree, and did not answer
press inquiries into the case. Yet it is clear that its strategy to fight the
decision has been to use its political and economic power to change Brazilian
law in order to complicate the effort to find it guilty of criminal behavior.
On October 31st, President Lula signed a measure that reduced the distance of
the protective boundary zone for national parks from 10 kilometers to just 500
meters, a move which was almost certainly the result of pressure from Syngenta.
This maneuver complicates the effort to find that Syngenta illegally planted GM
soy within the protective boundary zone, as it planted the soy six kilometers
from the park. On November 30th the Federal Public Minister of Paraná, through
the Municipal Prosecutor of Cascavel, annulled a public inquiry into the illegal
planting of Syngenta filed by Terra de Direitos in October, and ruled that
Syngenta is in accord with all of the regulatory and legal requirements at the
experimental site. This decision is currently en route to Brasília, where it
must be accepted by Minister of Justice Márcio Thomaz Bastos before it is
official.
Yet despite the political and juridical opposition he faces in Brazil over the
decision, Requião's effort to expropriate the site will be bolstered by other
regional forces that are working to his advantage, most importantly the leftist
wave currently sweeping Latin America. Leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chávez
and Bolivia's Evo Morales will undoubtedly provide Requião with regional
support. Chávez himself has ties to the MST and the Via Campesina, and is an
outspoken critic of GM technology. Bolivia recently began to implement a
progressive agrarian reform program that will benefit small farmers and landless
workers.
Requião's move to expropriate the site from Syngenta will, at the very least,
send a message to agribusiness multinationals that they can no longer illegally
exploit Brazil's natural resources as they wish, and commit crimes with
impunity. It will also no doubt bolster the strength and confidence of the
social movements. According to state Via Campesina and MST leader Celso
Ribeiro, "for the coordination of the Via Campesina this signifies a huge
victory and a grand conquest. Syngenta is the 2nd largest producer of seeds in
the world, producing both transgenic corn and soy. Now the site will be used as
a center for us to create native and creole seed varieties."
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/
cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org
subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.•••
Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/
Blogs:
cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/
Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/
for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/
Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/
Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
