As the heads of state of 34 American countries prepare, from the 31st of October, in Quito Ecuador, for another round of negotiations for the creation of the FTAA. Social movements, unions, political parties and NGOs are preparing for protests across the continent.

These are considered to be the most important protests since the April 2001 protests coinciding with the final negotiations for the FTAA accord in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Quebec (Canada).

Based on the draft accord, made public in September last year, and the impacts caused by NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement - the commercial block in force since 1994, which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico) it is anticipated that FTAA will result in the deterioration of legislation protecting workers rights and the environment, the concentration of profit and the privatization of social services.

Protests are expected on the 30th and 31st of October in major cities around the country. In São Paulo there will be a series of protests between the 31st of October and 1st of November.

On 31st there will be a march on the Avenida Paulista from 2pm. On the 1st a critical-mass from 7am, and a party in the street from 6pm, will close the cycle of protests.

On October 30th there will be demonstrations in Santos - at midday in the Praca Maua and at 7pm in front of the University of Santos (in the Rua Euclides da Cunha, near channel 1). On the 31st of October, the groups which organized the plebiscite will promote protests in 31 Brazilian cities. In Fortaleza there will be a gathering in the Praca do Ferreira (in front of the McDonald's) at 4pm.

Indymedia Ecuador | FTAA's official website

On Friday 18th October, the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) and the Federal Police tried to close the Muda FM free radio station, located on the campus of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). They had already tried to close the station on October 1st. The station has managed to stay on air thanks to the intervention of the Vice-Chancellor's office of UNICAMP.

Radio Muda has been on air for 12 years, always fighting for democratization of the media. Protest to ANATEL.

The 18th October ANATEL action against Muda FM | Report on the 1st October action | Manifesto of the Radio Muda Collective | Petition in support of the radio station

To listen to Muda, just click on this link or type Ctr+L in your Winamp and put this address at the Open Location box: http://radio.uk1.indymedia.org:8100.

Brazil was denounced on United Nations and OAS [1] for disrepecting human rights on landmarking of the indian territory Xucuru, at Pernanbuco state. Even this landmark were homologated by the President since April 2001, until today it's not oficialized. Moreover, indian leaders an human rights watchers have it's life constantly threatened.

Here comes a list of cases involving disrespect, threats, persecution and murdering against indian people this year:

Xavante indian ambientalist threatened by death | Raimundo Sota, Pataxó Hã Hã Hãe is killed | Gunmans attacks Pataxó Hã Hã Hãe families | Minister suspends landmarking the indian territory "Araçaí" | Indian comission Truká denounces Federal Police intromission | Village Uiramutã resists to Army threats | Krahô/Kanela goes to Brasília ask for help | Gunmans plans actions against Pataxó people | The Pitaguarys | Pitaguarys versus Appropriators | The Pitaguarys and their culture | More about Pitaguarys' situation

In cities across Brazil, university administrations are persecuting and criminalizing the student movement.

In São Paulo, the vice-chancellor's office of UNESP (State University of São Paulo) requested that the Institute of Arts hand over the records of 3 students being investigated for involvement in protests. The students were protesting against the public university's 'expansion plan' - a plan to create 7 new university campuses without proper semester-long teaching or support for students. The vice-chancellor's offices were occupied in the process.

In Sergipe a student who organised a rally against the price of monthly fees in a private university (UNIT - Tiradentes University) is facing expulsion. The student, who was taking only one subject, paid the same amount as students undertaking a full course load.

In Goias seven students who protested against a rise in prices at the University Restaurant of UFG (Federal University of Goias) are facing an administrative tribunal. University restaurants in Brasil are usually subsidised to offer affordable food to students. Prices at the restaurant had risen by 70%.

Send a message to the administrations of these universities: UNIT | UFG | UNESP

Luiz Inacio ?Lula? da Silva, the leftist Worker?s Party (PT) candidate will face Jose Serra, the center Brazilian Social Democratic Party candidate for a second round scheduled for October 27.

With 99% of the votes counted, Lula obtained 46% of the valid votes while Jose Serra took 23.2%. According to the Brazilian law, Lula would need 50%+1 to have avoided a second round runoff.

Mr. Lula said in a press conference that he had hopes to win the election on the first round. ?I believed we had all the conditions to win but it didn?t happen.?

In a statement published at the PT official website, Mr. Lula said that, so far, the results of the elections 2002 ?are the ?best harvest? PT ever had since its foundation twenty-two years ago?.

Jose Serra, the ruling party?s candidate, was optimistic with the outcome and confident that the second round will give him a chance to debate more in-depth the problems that affect Brazil. ?Now is a new phase. In the next three weeks, our strategy is to show Brazilians how the problems can be solved?, said Jose Serra do Folha de Sao Paulo.

The other candidates, Anthony Garotinho and Ciro Gomes totaled 29% of the votes. For a second round, alliances are already being forged. Ciro Gomes announced his support to Lula without, previously, consulting with his party. It is likely that Anthony Garotinho will offer support to Lula as well.

More than 115 million voters went to cast their vote yesterday in the biggest electronic ballot election in the world. Out of the 406,000 ballots, four thousand were reported to be slow or not working properly accounting for long lines in some regions of the country. Fraud in the vote counting is not discarded and there is still a heated debate on whether the electronic ballots a ?fraud proof? or not.

Read the earliest feature

Between September 1st and 7th the National Plebiscite on the FTAA took place, a popular consultation about Brazil's participation in the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The Plebiscite was organized by the CNBB, unions, social movements, NGOs and leftist political parties and reached millions of people during the span of one week. The voting booths were scattered in various points in the state capitals and smaller cities throughout the country. This week, a national caravan should submit the official results to the authorities in Brasilia. The plebiscite is part of a broader campaign to oppose the FTAA which should include plebiscites in other countries and demonstrations throughout the continent at the end of October and the beginning of November.

The FTAA is the acronym for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, an agreement that looks to build a commercial bloc with free circulation of goods, services and capital throughout the American Continent (with the exception of Cuba). The FTAA began to be discussed in 1994 at the initiative of the United States who wanted to expand the Northa American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to include the whole continent. The estimated deadline for the negotiations is 2005.

The negotiation process for the FTAA is under severe criticism, because it is complete held behind closed doors, without the participation of civil society or even the legislature of each country. On the basis of what already happened with NAFTA and in the World Trade Organization and what is known from the released version of the agreement, the FTAA could create worsened social inequality, the loss of labor rights, the privatization of social services, more rigid intellectual property laws and could give corporations the power to block laws that threaten their profits.

Links (portuguese): Direct Action PDF Newspaper special on the FTAA | alcaralho.org | Aliança Social Continental (Continental Social Alliance) | Jubileu 2000 (Jubilee 2000) | Mulheres X ALCA (Women against the FTAA)

The 2nd of October marks tens years since the largest massacre of the Brazilian Prison system. On that day, São Paulo's military police invaded the Carandiru Detention Centre to repress a disturbance resulting from a fight between the prisoners. The operation resulted in 111 murdered detainees.

The prisoners were all from Pavilion 9 and were awaiting judgement - from the 111 victims, 89 had not yet been condemned. The troops were from ROTA (first battalion of the Shock Police), COE (Special Command and Operations) and GATE (Special Tactical Operations Group) and were armed with rifles, machine guns and pistols. Most of the victims were shot in the thorax and head. The state authorities withheld the number of dead until the end of the next day, when municipal elections were being held. The public was informed about the massacre just thirty minutes before the ballot boxes were to be collected. The operation's commandant, Colonel Ubiratan Guimarães, was tried for the crime and condemned at the first level of the courts, to 632 years in prison. As a first offender he awaits an appeal in freedom, and is a candidate for the national congress. His number alludes to the massacre that he commanded: 111 90.

There will be many protests in remembrance of the incident. On the 2nd of October, at the São Francisco public square, there was an ecumenical act. On Saturday, the 5th of Oct, there will be a protest in memory of the victims, organized by Punk Movement.

The Independent Media Center would like to name all of the 111 human beings murdered:

Adalberto Oliveira dos Santos, Adão Luiz Ferreira de Aquino, Adelson Pereira de Araujo, Alex Rogério de Araujo, Alexandre Nunes Machado da Silva, Almir Jean Soares, Antonio Alves dos Santos, Antonio da Silva Souza, Antonio Luiz Pereira , Antonio Quirino da Silva, Carlos Almirante Borges da Silva, Carlos Antonio Silvano Santos, Carlos Cesar de Souza, Claudemir Marques, Claudio do Nascimento da Silva, Claudio José de Carvalho, Cosmo Alberto dos Santos, Daniel Roque Pires, Dimas Geraldo dos Santos, Douglas Edson de Brito, Edivaldo Joaquim de Almeida, Elias Oliveira Costa, Elias Palmiciano, Emerson Marcelo de Pontes, Erivaldo da Silva Ribeiro, Estefano Mard da Silva Prudente, Fabio Rogério dos Santos, Francisco Antonio dos Santos, Francisco Ferreira dos Santos, Francisco Rodrigues, Genivaldo Araujo dos Santos, Geraldo Martins Pereira, Geraldo Messias da Silva, Grimario Valério de Albuquerque , Jarbas da Silveira Rosa, Jesuino Campos, João Carlos Rodrigues Vasques, João Gonçalves da Silva, Jodilson Ferreira dos Santos, Jorge Sakai, Josanias Ferreira de Lima, José Alberto Gomes pessoa, José Bento da Silva, José Carlos Clementino da Silva, José Carlos da Silva, José Carlos dos Santos, José Carlos Inojosa, José Cícero Angelo dos Santos, José Cícero da Silva, José Domingues Duarte, José Elias Miranda da Silva, José Jaime Costa e Silva, José Jorge Vicente, José Marcolino Monteiro, José Martins Vieira Rodrigues, José Ocelio Alves Rodrigues, José Pereira da Silva, José Ronaldo Vilela da Silva, Josue Pedroso de Andrade, Jovemar Paulo Alves Ribeiro, Juares dos Santos, Luiz Cesar leite, Luiz Claudio do Carmo, Luiz Enrique Martin, Luiz Granja da Silva Neto, Mamed da Silva, Marcelo Couto, Marcelo Ramos, Marco Antonio Avelino Ramos, Marco Antonio Soares, Marcos Rodrigues Melo, Marcos Sérgio Lino de Souza, Mario Felipe dos Santos, Mario Gonçalves da Silva, Mauricio Calio, Mauro Batista Silva, Nivaldo Aparecido Marques de Souza, Nivaldo Barreto Pinto, Nivaldo de Jesus Santos, Ocenir Paulo de Lima, Olivio Antonio Luiz Filho, Orlando Alves Rodrigues, Osvaldino Moreira Flores, Paulo Antonio Ramos, Paulo Cesar Moreira, Paulo Martins Silva, Paulo Reis Antunes, Paulo Roberto da Luz, Paulo Roberto Rodrigues de Oliveira, Paulo Rogério Luiz de Oliveira, Reginaldo Ferreira Martins, Reginaldo Judici da Silva, Roberio Azevedo da Silva, Roberto Alves Vieira, Roberto Aparecido Nogueira, Roberto Azevedo Silva, Roberto Rodrigues Teodoro, Rogério Piassa, Rogério Presaniuk, Ronaldo Aparecido Gasparinio, Samuel Teixeira de Queiroz, Sandoval Batista da Silva, Sandro Rogério Bispo, Sérgio Angelo Bonane, Tenilson Souza, Valdemir Bernardo da Silva, Valdemir Pereira da Silva, Valmir Marques dos Santos, Valter Gonçalves Gaetano, Vanildo Luiz, Vivaldo Virculino dos Santos.

Last Wednesday, students from FFLCH (Philosophy, Languages and Human Sciences School of the University of São Paulo) decided, in a meeting, to end students' strike, which had been going on for over 90 days.

After a tight voting (637 against 511), the meeting members considered the rectorate's offer as a partial victory, and the movement made a commitment to continue its efforts to improve education at the school. FFLCH's students demand better teaching conditions and also require that the school hires 259 professors. After a lot of pressure, the rectorate offered to hire 92 professors.

Last Thursday, August 8th, the people from Fortaleza took to the streets to say no to FTAA. Several community entities participated in the parade, as well as militants of political parties, worker unions, graduate and high school students, Tapeba indians, the GLS movement (Gays, Lesbians and supporters), Hip-Hop movement and NGOs. Also, some politicians took the opportunity to campaign for election.

The group marched through several downtown streets, and then stopped at a McDonald's restaurant, where many protests were held. The rally ended at Ferreira square.

Pictures: March banners | Signs | Tapeba Indians

Two thousand families are getting ready to resist

In the beginning of this month, the Justice of Osasco authorized the police to use the force against two thousand families who were just fighting for having a place to live in the camp named "Carlos Lamarca". Before the occupation organized by the Homeless Workers' Movement - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto (MTST), in the end of July, the area was a dump being used as a graveyard for wrecked cars and murdered bodies. In the last minutes, lawyers who support their cause were able to delay the eviction but time runs against them. If you want to help, please, send e-mails to the mayor of Osasco, Celso Giggio, in order to put pressure on him and on the authorities. The eviction could not happen.

The ghost of a confrontation with the police is threatening more than two thousand families in Carlos Lamarca camp, in Osasco, near the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In August 3th, a guerilla warfare was set off by the police force. More than 400 police officers encircled the camp early in the morning to execute an order of ownership reintegration to guarantee the private property against the right of living. But their effort to scare the homeless wasn't powerful enough. The families were ready to fight back, protect their children and give their own life to preserve a basic principle of life: having a place to live.

Fortunately, the confrontation didn't take place on that day. Lawyers who support the cause of Homeless Workers' Movement - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto (MTST) were able to delay the eviction but time runs against them. They can be evicted anytime.To garantee the stay of these homeless citizens in Osasco is a duty for those who search for social justice. That's why we ask you to interfere in this process against injustice. Click here to send e-mails to the mayor of Osasco, Celso Giggio, and to the governor og the State of Sao Paulo.

Area was an informal dump

Burried bones, wrecked cars and license plates. This was the informal dump used as a graveyard occupied by more than two thousand families organized by of Homeless Workers' Movement - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto (MTST) in 26th of July. That night, three hundred families arrived. Two days after, this number increased five times. And families come each day carrying all they have: pans, mattresses and some bags. They removed the garbage, cut brushes and woods, to build their tents and resist under black canvas as a real camp of refugees, trying to escape from misery.

These homeless are hoping to build there a urban settlement. They plan to divide the area in plots of land and set aside a part for an agriculture of subsistence. They want also places where to build a school for their children, pharmacy to take care of people and a house for cultural activities. But a judge of Osasco, Analisia Soares, in the 2nd of August, authorized the police to execute an order of ownership reintegration to remove them. She simply ignored the right of living, the Brazilian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Fortunately, in the last minutes, lawyers who support their cause were able to delay the eviction but time runs against them. Everyone who is for social justice can't keep silence facing this injustice. Only the popular pressure can keep this seed of hope planted by these homeless. It's unacceptable to allow the others - led by their human ambition for property - to destroy it. It's mandatory for us!

Urgent appeal by Internet

Follow the pattern:

To: prefeitura@osasco.sp.gov.br; ouvidoria.geral@osasco.gov.br; habita@ouvidoria.sp.gov.br

"A Prefeitura Municipal de Osasco
Prefeito Celso Gigglio
Secretaria de Estado da Habitacao
Francisco Prado de Oliveira Ribeiro

Dear Sir,

We are extremely concerned about the situation of these families in the camp Carlos Lamarca, in Osasco, and we give support to the Homeless Workers' Movement cause - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem-Teto (MTST). We are against the order of ownership reintegration given by the Justice in the 2nd of August. We know the order can be executed anytime from now on, putting in risk thousands of families who live there, and we don`t agree with this injustice.

The right for a home to live and the human law are against the basic principles of life and against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The social function of the land, a fundamental victory written in our Constitution, was ignored by the judges, as it has been for ages. To garantee the stay of these homeless citizens in Osasco is a duty for those who search for social justice.

They planted a seed of hope in a vacant land, former used for wrecked cars and real state exploitation. We can't allow the others - led by their human ambition for property - to destroy it. It's mandatory for us!

That's why we are just asking you to interfere in this process to preserve the right of those who fight for a home to live, a basic right the government has been denying. We can't accept that the commercial interests of a company defeat the right of more than two thousand families, without a shelter to bring up their children. We want justice and your political participation in this fight is a duty. We count on you!"

On August 3, a workers' march was held in the state of Rio Grande do Sul of Brasil to an international bridge in the city of Uruguayana, which separates Brasil from Argentina. About eight thousand persons participated in the event, held in a cold rain. Participating unions included the CUT, the PIT-CNT (Central Uruguayan) and CTA ( Central Argentine), the MTD (Movement of Dismissed Workers), and others. The marchers were barred by the Argentine Army and Brasilian Federal Police from crossing the Amizade (Friendship) Bridge when arriving in Uruguayana.

The central demand of the march was the rejection of the ALCA (FTAA - Free Trade Area of the Americas). It also protested for self-determination, and against unemployment rates in the region, the withdrawl of civil liberties, the delivery of the Alcantara aerospace center from the U.S., located in the state of Maranhao near the Amazon rainforest.

Early in the morning of July 27, more than 400 families, some coming from Greater Sao Paulo, occupied a large area of land in the region of Osasco. The fifty hectare (0.5 square km) is in a wealthy area, adjacent to a golf course and luxury condominiums. The space was formerly an informal dump for garbage and abandoned automobiles. Police arrived shortly later attempting to restrain the action, but were blockaded at the two access points to the land.

The MTST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto - Movement of Workers Without Living Spaces), MLP (Movimento de Luta Popular - Movement for a Popular Struggle, and Resistencia Popular helped organize the community. The space is being organized collectively through commissions and relies upon the solidarity of the neighborhood. Approximately 80 inhabitants of the MST Anita Garibaldi camp in the region of Guarulhos helped support the Osasco action. New families continue to arrive at the site, and by July 28, more than 600 families were living there.

Read reports (en Portuguese) about the action [ 1 | 2 ]

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3

Video from Anita Garibaldi | Antia Garibaldi Site

A partnership between IMC-Brasil and Muda Radio allowed a internet broadcast of this historical community radio in Campinas.

Self-managed by a collective of over 100 broadcasters, the Muda has been broadcasting for over 10 years directly from the Campinas State University campus and brings diversity and quality of music that commercial radios won't offer.

Ranging an universe of 300,000 listeners, Muda found, in a poll made in 2000, that it was the highest-audience radio in the region. Now, broadcasting over the internet, it can reach an even larger audience.

To listen to Muda, just click on this link or type Ctr+L in your Winamp and put one of these addresses at the Open Location box:

If you are in Campinas, tune on 105,7 MHz.

On last June 02 took place the 6th GLBT Pride Parade (Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders), at São Paulo. The Parade has crowded the "Avenida Pulista", following up to "Praça da República", with about 500,000 people.

The strike for more lecturers and better teaching conditions of students of the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of the USP began almost a month ago. This week has been notable for the enlargement of the strike that now has the support of the students of all undergraduate courses and two post-graduates. The definition of the final list of demands of the students will be made next Tuesday and on Wednesday the demands will be presented to the rector.

Abuse, sun, drugs, survival, motels, misery, pedophilia, boats, neglect, trafficking... sex tourism is practiced from north to saouth, principally on the brasilian coasts. The motivations that bring about sex crimes and crimes against sexual freedom, among them rape and violent assaults, the corruption of minors and the international traffick of women, are innumerable and relative. Constant denunciations by the Agency for Children and Adolescents, however, take no effective steps with respect to these crimes. On the contrary, post cards illustrate well what the foreign tourist can find in Brazil.

In Fortaleza, in Blacksmith Square, creative protests denounce the practice of sex tourism. May 18th has become the national day of struggle against the abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. The date was chosen in memory of the brutal murder of a girl from the state of Espirito Santo, from Vitoria-ES, in 1973. The girl was kidnapped, beaten, raped, drugged, and murdered, her body disfigured by acid. The aggressors went unpunished.

22/05: Major José Maria Olivera,commandant of the troops responsable for the massacre, has been found guilty and sentenced to 158 years in jail. Contrary to what happened in the case of Colonel Pantoja, Olivera was given the minimum sentence for his conviction (8 years and 4 months for each victim).

May 16: Colonel Mario Colares Pantoja was condemned to 228 years in prison (12 years for each of the 19 dead), the first conviction in the judgment of the two who have been accused of the massacre at Eldorado dos Carajas. The Colonel has made his appeal and will await the decision in freedom, yet the video that recorded the confrontation shows a burst of machine gun fire going off, shooting the landless people. 147 more police officers must be judged in the coming days.

On the 13th May, the brazilian government launched the PNDH (Nation Plan of Human Rights). Within the objectives of the plan is the consolidation of the "civil marriage between homosexuals (PCR)" , modified in 1996 by the "registered civil contract", that extended to include in addition cases of opposite sexes. The PCR would guarantee the rights of inheritance and pensions for homosexual couples.

Almost seven years have passed since 1995, when the proposal was made, and the status of the bill continues without clarification following successive deferments voted for by the Chamber of Delgates Meanwhile many delegates have openly declared themselves against the proposal, many others try to side-step taking a stance.

Today the subject has returned to frequent our illustrious Parlement, generating passionately homophobic speeches. The delegates, many of them evangelical, never tire of proffering obtuse arguments against the bill, and homosexuality in general. Thus affirming their indignation to the support of the project by the PNDH and the recent photograph in which the president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, looking embarrassed, carries a flag of the gay movement.

En the morning of Saturday the 11th of May 2002, various movements of Sem-Teto (without roof) carried out 8 occupations throughout the metropolitan region of São Paulo. One of these attempts, in the region of Zona Sur, was hindered by military police. The occupations took place as a measure to apply pressure to the authorities and the government with respect to the policies of housing and accommodation for the population; some 5000 families took part in them. Currently more than 6.5 million families are without accommodation in Brazil, 95% of whom have a total income of between 0 and 3 times a minimum salary. In the state of São Paulo the number reaches as many as 1,161,157 families. There are 10 million people lacking the necessities to meet basic standards of living.

Students from the department of Philosophy and Social Sciences (FFLCH) from the University of São Paulo have been on strike since April 30th for better teaching conditions. The strike movement was sparked by students of Liberal Arts who had the worst conditions in the whole university with overful classrooms and a lack of professors to teach important disciplines.

During the past ten years, the faculty lost 19% of its professors and another 20% are still in the process of soliciting tenure. The FFLCH make up 19% of the USP student population, but only have 7.2% of the university's professors and the worst student to square meter ratio. The students complain that there is a disregard for the departments that train professors while the university turns to production for the market.

Last Thursday, students present at the "Bienal do Livro" book fair staged a protest during the talk from the director of FFLCH, professor Francis Henrik Aubert.

Last Monday (May 6th) professors from FFLCH aproved a resolution of broad support for the student strike.