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In Brazil, land is power. Reporter Symeon Brown meets Brazil's communist activists taking the land from the rich to give to the poor. But challenging wealthy landowners can be deadly.
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00:00Tonight, Unreported World is from Brazil, tracking down the communist activists taking
00:05land from the rich to give to the poor.
00:08In Brazil, land is power, and the country's vast crops make it an economic powerhouse,
00:13even though over a quarter of households can't always put food on the table.
00:18But across Brazil, Marxist-inspired activists are trying to change that.
00:22Emboldened by the return of left-leaning President Lula da Silva, they're on the march,
00:27which occupying unused farmland so they can live a self-sufficient life.
00:32But not everyone agrees with their methods, and as Simeon Brown discovers,
00:36challenging wealthy landowners and farmers can have deadly consequences.
00:43Communism is on the march in Brazil.
00:49In the most economically unequal country in Latin America,
00:53a growing movement is taking land from the rich to give to the poor.
01:02and landowners are mobilizing.
01:04Even if it were improdutible, the land is on the ground.
01:07Now, conflict over land is escalating.
01:11This is where you were shot.
01:12This was the gun that they shot.
01:15As activists clash with landowners, who will win the battle for land in Brazil?
01:38In agriculture, Brazil is a global superpower.
01:42As the world's largest exporter of corn and soy, agribusiness makes up a quarter of Brazil's GDP.
01:50But that wealth is not being shared.
01:54Just 1% of the country owns almost 50% of the land.
01:59And in states like Bahia, the inequality is stark.
02:04Especially for black and indigenous Brazilians.
02:08This is the region where Portuguese colonialists first seized the land from the indigenous inhabitants
02:12and built one of the largest slave ports in the entire Americas.
02:16Not only is this where Brazil's racial inequalities began, but where it became bound up with just who owned the
02:23land.
02:24And despite its riches, over a quarter of Brazil's households are considered food insecure.
02:30But there is a communist resurgence brewing.
02:33Hundreds of thousands are using militant methods to seize land, build homes and claim it as their own.
02:40This camp in Itabella is run by the Landless Rural Workers Movement, known as the MST.
02:46The Marxist-inspired group occupies land using a clause in Brazil's constitution
02:51that says unproductive land can be used for social good.
02:55The aim is everyone gets a plot to cultivate and eventually live a self-sufficient life.
03:04Mariseche and her four children have been on this camp for a year.
03:11How long have you been living here for?
03:28The single mother built this hut herself after she left her job as a domestic worker
03:33in the nearest city, but struggled to buy food.
03:36How does this place compare to your home in the city?
03:40Mariseche Otoño-Marika
03:41No, I don't have a comparação.
03:42Mariseche Otoño-Marika
03:43Para a gente que mora na cidade, a gente não é bom.
03:47Às vezes é bom para quem tem condições, né?
03:50Eu me sentia escravizada, porque eu fazia dois trabalhos para ganhar muito pouco e trabalhava demais.
04:00Por isso que a gente precisa ter um lugarzinho de terra para poder a gente plantar, colher,
04:05so I don't need to get hungry as I've already got hungry in my house.
04:12But there is a problem over who owns the land Mariseche is occupying.
04:17The 500 families in this DIY township are fighting an eviction order from farmers
04:22who say the land belongs to them.
04:26These legal battles can take decades to resolve,
04:29and in that time settlements expand, leading to conflict.
04:34Across Brazil, there are currently 100,000 families living in temporary camps,
04:39and the number is growing.
04:43This year the landless workers have occupied at least 35 new sites across the country,
04:49up 150% on 2023.
04:52And I've just had a tip-off about a new one in the state of Espirito Santo, south of Bahia.
04:58So right now we're just on the outskirts of San Mateus,
05:01and we're heading towards the MST's latest land capture.
05:05It's a former flower plant.
05:10Good morning.
05:11Good morning.
05:13Good morning.
05:13I'm Simeon.
05:14Welcome to our camp.
05:18This camp is just three days old.
05:21Since the Communist group took the land, it's been a communal effort to clear the ground,
05:27build tents, and wire electric.
05:32There's even a Sunday service preaching liberation theology at the heart of the movement.
05:50The MST is a controversial movement that is either loved or hated for its direct action.
06:00They show me how a few nights earlier they seized the site.
06:04Under the cover of night, they filmed themselves smashing the lock of the old flower mill.
06:15Now they direct hundreds of waiting families onto the land before anyone can stop them.
06:20Go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
06:26Since they occupied, the camp has been on high alert.
06:30They know the first few days of an occupation are the most dangerous.
06:34Is that the police?
06:35Yeah.
06:36So you can just see over there, the police are watching.
06:40The campers say that just hours into the occupation, the site was surrounded by hostile local farmers who opposed their
06:48movement.
06:50There's an expectation that at some point there could be a standoff.
06:55So at different points across the camp are people keeping watch.
07:00There's real reason to be worried.
07:03Shots have been fired and homemade bombs have been thrown into the camp.
07:07Then we heard a scream, like a fool!
07:10Then we looked at it, and then it passed away.
07:13It passed away.
07:14It passed away, going in that direction.
07:17Then there was four shots.
07:21Of the two explosives thrown into the camp, one immediately went off.
07:26But a police bomb squad had to detonate the other.
07:29My God!
07:31If it exploded, close to the people, they could kill at least five or six people around them.
07:40So the bomb was not to scare them. The bomb was to kill them.
07:46There is a sense of deja vu with this occupation.
07:49The landless workers were evicted from here 22 years ago.
07:53And yet they're back.
07:55In the past, the court had asked you to leave.
07:57There was currently an order asking you to do the same.
08:00Do you not respect the rule of law?
08:02We are not obeying the judicial action, because we are within the period.
08:09We have a period of 15 days to be able to respond.
08:13If these families are removed, we do not have another place for these families to go.
08:20For now, the camp is calm.
08:23But although there is concern about future attacks, they are only stepping up their plans.
08:33In Bahia's capital, Salvador, the landless workers are marching to the regional government.
08:38In its 40th year, the communist movement is having a renaissance.
08:42In 2022, their 1.5 million members helped to bring the left-wing President Lula da Silva to power.
08:50Since then, its occupations have surged, as the movement hoped is pushing at an open door.
08:57Everyone here is marching to the regional assembly.
09:00But in many ways, although this is a protest, this is actually a victory procession.
09:10President Lula is the son of sharecroppers, elected on a ticket of improving the lot of the working poor.
09:17Now the movement wants the president to make all its temporary camps official,
09:21and speed up the process of land reform.
09:24And now, they are going into government.
09:28But land rights activists have long faced violent opposition from landowners trying to defend their properties.
09:35We are here because the fight continues. The war continues.
09:41It is only allowed to rest when the war of our dead is done.
09:49Today, activists are honouring martyrs who died in the struggle.
09:53420 people have been killed in conflicts over land in the past decade.
10:11And outside the government's offices, I find two movement veterans who are no strangers to conflict.
10:18Celia and Shoda live in occupied land and have come face to face with armed farmers trying to forcibly evict
10:24them.
10:49But the MST has opponents, and they are getting organised.
10:55Worried by the resurgence of MST activity, last year a new movement emerged to rally farmers and landowners, calling itself
11:03Invasion Zero.
11:05Its 15,000 members use WhatsApp groups to coordinate against land seizures.
11:16The group also has a political arm, endorsed by the former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
11:23He relaxed Brazil's gun laws and lobbies for the interests of agribusiness.
11:30So we're headed seven hours south from the capital of Bahia, Salvador.
11:34And we're heading to a region that is well known for producing cocoa.
11:38And it's where the founders of Invasion Zero are based.
11:43After a recent killing appearing to implicate the movement, the group's everyday members are proving hard to find.
11:51But one of the founders has agreed to speak to us.
11:54Good morning.
11:56Dida Souza is from a dynasty of landowners.
11:59A farm she inherited was occupied by the landless workers 17 years ago.
12:05She hasn't been to the sea's land in over a decade.
12:08But today, Dida's decided to take us back and has no idea what we'll find.
12:32Dida's land is in legal limbo.
12:34After so many years, the state has still not decided if she can have it back.
12:38Or if the landless workers camped here get to stay.
12:42As soon as we arrive, she starts to attract the crowd.
12:45Good morning. Are you good?
12:48How are you?
12:49How are you?
12:49You are on the land that they never paid for Osvaldo.
12:53And it doesn't help you to plant anything.
12:57Dida is holding an olive branch, but maintaining the landless workers took her father's land illegally.
13:02As the farm was active when it was occupied.
13:06Was the MST wrong to occupy this land?
13:10No.
13:11I wouldn't say that it's wrong.
13:1217 years ago, she only produced cacao and mangueiros.
13:17And today, she produces many other types of fruit.
13:20But if this land was producing cocoa before, that means it wasn't unproductive.
13:26And isn't the MST's policy to only occupy unproductive land?
13:30Because it was unproductive.
13:32As roças, as roças perdidas, os mangueiros já perdidos.
13:36So you can't do it.
13:38You can't do it.
13:38You can't do it.
13:39She took 6.000 acres of cocoa, I give you all the documentation of the KG1.
13:43Even if it was unproductive, the land has a land.
13:47Yes.
13:48Everyone wants to receive, of course.
13:49It's a case that we don't have a fault.
13:52We don't have a fault.
13:54Here.
13:54Neither of you.
13:55Neither of you.
13:56Neither of you.
13:57Let me give you a hug.
13:58Let me tell you something.
14:00I don't want to hurt anyone.
14:02In a hand-break turn, Dida offers to give her land to the group.
14:07If the INCRA liberates my part, I divide all the documentation of you.
14:13My, without receiving anything.
14:21This is the first time Dida has been here in over 10 years.
14:25And the woman who founded Invasion Zero has now promised to give away her part of the land so they
14:30can live here.
14:32But seemingly happy endings are uncommon in land disputes.
14:38Invasion Zero faces accusations it was involved in an incident where a tribal leader was killed.
14:46150 miles from Dida's farm, the town of Power Brazil is celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day.
14:52In this area, four people have been killed in disputes over contested ancestral land this year.
14:59Today's ceremonies are a show of defiance.
15:03This nearby territory belongs to the Patecho people.
15:06After a long campaign to reclaim indigenous ground from private landowners, the government awarded the tribe 54,000 hectares of
15:13land in 2012.
15:15But Chief Nelton Patecho says ground historically belonging to the tribe is still in the hands of local farmers.
15:26In January, the tribe went to occupy the land when he says they were ambushed by up to 200 farmers
15:32and landowners rallied by Invasion Zero.
15:37The people from Invasion Zero came out by the military military police in Bahia.
15:44The Indians were armed and they were armed.
15:47They used violence.
15:50They used violence.
15:50They were attacking.
15:51They viewed the Indians.
15:53They hit their hand.
15:54The number of them was a big number.
15:57They had a number of many including government.
15:58The military police did not work.
16:01They turned their hands to the Indians and left everything with the Indians.
16:07is. Many indigenous people were injured. Chief Patasho was shot in the kidney and taken
16:18to hospital to be operated on. Wow. That's where you were shot. His sister Neger Patasho
16:31was also shot. Together they lay on the ground trying to take cover but she died before the
16:37ambulance arrived. Neger Patasho held a doctorate in education and was highly respected for her
16:56work on women's rights, a spiritual leader, at the heart of her people.
17:01Who took her life took her life took her life of a very important person in our community.
17:08It was a coward to have killed my sister without weapons, without anything, with a hand on her
17:14hand. But some have accused the Patasho of starting
17:19the violence and a farmer was hit in the arm with one of the tribe's arrows. The invasion
17:25zeroes say that it was the occupants of the land who fired first, not them.
17:46And right now, are you scared to be here?
18:00Two men have been arrested. The military police told us that one of them was a reservist policeman
18:05who is being investigated. They say they act in accordance with legal protocols and standards
18:11and that police action is reasonable and proportionate in all phases of land repossession.
18:18Invasion Zero is also being investigated by the federal police over its alleged role in
18:23the incident. Now its founders have difficult questions to face.
18:29Some people have called Invasion Zero a militia. Are you a militia?
18:34No, of course not. We are a militia. We are unprotected producers by this government that
18:40is there. We want, yes, a agrarian reform, but not an invasion of land. We don't use
18:46weapons, we don't use anything, white or hot weapons, nothing. Absolutely nothing.
18:51But this year, an indigenous leader was shot dead by a farmer identified as being part of Invasion Zero.
19:00In fact, you have to understand that this boy did not participate in the group. The only
19:07exclusive participation of Invasion Zero was to communicate and tell us where the
19:12exit was, to register the incident bulletin. The police went ahead with all the producers
19:19and what happened? It was a tragedy, a tragedy. This is the government's responsibility.
19:25The responsibility of the police, the responsibility of the government that allows this to happen.
19:31You've been very critical of the government, but one thing the government would like to see
19:37is a de-escalation of conflict. Do you think the best thing to do now is to stand aside and
19:43let
19:43the authorities handle it?
19:58With President Lula in power, the Landless Workers Movement had political cover, and the government
20:04has pledged to settle 300,000 families by 2026. But to enact its reforms, it also needs the support of
20:13wealthy
20:13farmers who drive the economy.
20:16Felipe Freitas is Secretary of Justice and Human Rights for Bahia. He oversees investigations
20:21into land disputes in the state.
20:23In my view, it is legitimate that ruralists are organized to defend the interests of the agronegócio.
20:30However, they need to act within legalism, responsible for the consequences of their
20:36statements in the public debate. However, the formation of armed groups, to any
20:41pretext in the democratic order, is absolutely concerning and unacceptable.
20:46Invasion Zero says that they have to mobilize because you have failed, not only in how slow
20:52you are in processing land acquisitions, but also in the failure to protect the land. Are they right?
21:11How do we actually create wealth for the poorest?
21:19The land is rich, but the land is power in Brazil. And, therefore, a way to make a
21:27reform agrarian complete, or, or, a reform agrarian that doesn't democratize
21:31only access to land, but democratize the power in Brazil, is to repartir politically
21:39a political representation in the country. And, therefore, it is not only a challenge
21:44of governments, but it is a challenge of governments and the Brazilian society. And, therefore,
21:50a very complex challenge.
21:53Many in Brazil agree that land reform is overdue, but the country is yet to resolve what that
22:00best looks like. For those who join the Landless Workers Movement, this is it.
22:09Good morning.
22:12Celia and Shoda, who I met back at the march in Salvador, have invited me to their own slice
22:17of paradise. After 15 years of uncertainty, legal battles and risks to their safety, the
22:23government has made their MST settlement official.
22:26It's really good. It's an immense happiness. That's why I always defend the movement,
22:32wherever I go, wherever I go.
22:36Every generation of Celia and Shoda's families have worked for landowners, but this plot is
22:41theirs to keep. The land still belongs to the state, but they have permanent use of it
22:47and can hand it down to their children.
23:04What do you think the first generation of your family to be in Brazil would make of your life here
23:10now?
23:10Well, I'd be very happy. My father was already happy for me to be here. He said that before
23:17he died, before he left, he said that his wish was to be here, but I'm helping me.
23:23I'd be very happy to see us here on our land working.
23:29Shoda and Celia have food security and a home. This may be their communist utopia, but the state
23:36retains the farm. And as long as the wealthiest 1% still own most of Brazil's land, the country's
23:42chronic inequalities will only widen.
23:53Sinister threats from online. Are the clues pointing closer to home, or is that a red herring?
23:58It's Agrippa, 24 hours in police custody. Starts Monday at 9.
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