Brazilian Poor Peasents League holds 6th Congress

 

Via LCP

Missteps by Brazil Mar Visit by Pope

[The New York Times reports the Brazilian power elite’s attempts to attribute “blunders” — not mass resentment at religious and political arrogance, extravagance, and brutal repression — for the obvious breakdown of bourgeois authority and credibility in social and political life. — Frontlines ed.]

Pope Francis with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff. Pope Francis, with a long history of support for repressive powers in Latin America, became an object of the ongoing mass protests against Dilma Rousseff’s corrupt and repressive regime — an unintended consequence of a visit planned to “fan the fervor of the faithful” and to distract the anger of the oppressed.

By SIMON ROMERO, New York Times, July 24, 2013

RIO DE JANEIRO — Pope Francis celebrated his first public Mass on Wednesday at one of Latin America’s largest shrines, asking Catholics to shun the “ephemeral idols” of material success, power and pleasure, but his visit to Brazil continued to be marked by tension over blunders by its Brazilian organizers.

The missteps began minutes after Francis arrived in Rio on Monday, when his small motorcade got stuck on a crowded thoroughfare, exposing the pope to a mob scene of people trying to touch him through the open window of his car. On Tuesday, Rio’s subway system broke down for two hours, leaving thousands gathered here for a conference of Catholic youth scrambling to reach a seaside Mass.

Rio’s political authorities have also faced scrutiny over their handling of street demonstrations around the pope’s visit. They acknowledged using undercover agents to infiltrate the protests but denied claims that their intelligence officers were to blame for violence, including the throwing of firebombs.

Nepal: Landless peasants and Maoists (CPN-M) struggle for land, against landlord in government

[This struggle for land has been ongoing for years.  Since the abandonment of the People’s War by the UCPN-M, Maoist defenders of the peasant land seizures have continued to hold and seize the lands of feudal landlords.  See the two articles on recent actions, followed by news of an earlier (2011) confrontation in Bardiya. — Frontlines ed.]

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Baidya cadres seize Regmi land

KAMAL PANTHI , The Kathmandu Post

BARDIYA, APR 03 – Workers of the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist have captured around 6.7 hectares of land belonging to Chairman of the Interim Election Government Khil Raj Regmi in Khairichandanpur VDC-7 in the district.
Around 25 Maoist activists led by district secretary Drabya Shah announced the seizure by hoisting the party’s flags on the land on Tuesday night. They shouted anti-government slogans and demanded Regmi’s resignation. The party claimed it captured around 23 hectares of the land belonging to the Regmi family. Shah said they captured the property as per the party’s policy.
Chief District Officer Dhruba Raj Joshi said the land was registered in the name of Regmi’s wife Shanta.
Police reached the site on Wednesday morning and removed the flags from the land.