TC

Vision

V/O

SYNC

Deserted road, cow carcass

10:00:34

Interview: (Valdir, Peasant):

"It 's dying.  The drought is tough. There's nothing to do. It has to die. Most of the cattle have already died. You can't do anything. The loss is enormous especially for the poor people. It's all suffering here. There's no water, no work.  Everybody suffers here".

10:01:18

The droughts return each year, as if the land were cursed. The few plants that do force their way to the surface, languish for lack of water. The animals suffer, and there are few
means available to save them. Most die. The peasants, the poor of this land, also suffer. The absence of water affects everybody. To find it is a
struggle, daily. More often than not, the desert wins. There are days without a drop to drink.

10:01:51

Interview: (João, Peasant)

"We just don't drink water. There's nothing to drink because there's no water. What can we do".

10:02:00

Without water, without food, some turn to hunting wild animals. If they have any luck they try to sell part of their catch for a little money. Even this does not guarantee a daily meal, something, anything to fill the stomach.

10:02:17

Interview: (Lindinalva, Peasant)

"Our daily life is a struggle. One day there's food, the next day nothing. There are days in which we have nothing to eat".

10:02:39

Yet the suffering of the people is
not just the ill will of nature. Most of the land is in the hands of a few powerful landlords. The peasant community have no access to that land, which could give them the means to combat the need for food which weights
so heavily on their lives. The landlords will not allow them to enter these lands, even if the land has been abandoned, un-worked.

10:03:07

Brasilia, seat of government and
the Brazilian parliament. Here the desitiny of millions of citizens is defined. Governments come and go with every election. But there are members
of the Parliament which remain, government after successive government.  Some of these form an integrated group called 'the rural sector', grouped
from different political parties, but beyond their general political perspectives, sharing a common cause: the defence of their personal property and the obstruction of agrarian reform.

10:03:42

Osvaldo Coelho is one of the
members of the Rural Sector. He's the longest standing deputy in the Brazilian parliament, with seven consecutive mandates to represent the people of his state. Few politicians understand the secrets of power like Coelho. In Brasilia he's known as a very astute politician.

10:04:06

He's from the state of Pernambuco, in Brazil's desolate Northeast. Here's he known as the most powerful landlord. With his political and economic power, he's the man who decides who will have water... and who will not.

Subtitle: Music: "Because the land is owned by the
landlord-politicians.... they never show their face.....

10:04:34

Interview: (Osvaldo Coelho):

"I belong to a family with a great public and humanitarian spirit, very dedicated to work.  The efforts have to be ceaseless. That's our secret... unflagging effort and a lot of human solidarity and a great humanitarian spirit".

10:05:18

Osvaldo Coelho recognises he's
something more than just a politician, a federal deputy.

10:05:26

Interview: (Osvaldo Coelho)

"I'm a landlord.  I have a hundred hectares with mango-irrigation, forty hectares with grapes, and I also breed cattle. I take care of my property".

10:05:41

But the interests of Osvaldo
Coelho, principal landlord of the region, reach far beyond the mere defence of his land.

10:05:49

Interview: (Lewy, Regional peasant leader)

"The Coelhos' power is both economical and political. This is an area ruled by traditional politicians. They have been ruling for over 30 years locally, as well as on the provincial and federal levels in this State.  They are also the main businessmen in the region".

10:06:22

Here water means power and that power is visible everywhere in the town of Petrolina, principal town of the region. On every corner, the political and economic strenghth of Coelho can be seen. Petrolina is situated on the bountiful River San Francisco. Here the prosperity is in deep contrast to the misery of the countryside.
Coelho has designated the town's administration to his son

10:06:50

Interview: (Guilherme Coelho, Mayor of Petrolina)

"Federal deputy Osvaldo Coelho has politics in his blood. He's
a man of simplicity and of few words. He has dedicated all his life to his parlementary terms and he contributed quite a lot to the growth of Petrolina".

10:07:17

Times change and in what was once a solid scheme of absolute power, a small but important dissident voice is making itself heard.

10:07:27

Interview: (Cristina, Deputy Council of Petrolina):

"In Petrolina there's a group that belongs to the same family
and the same political party: there're two provincial deputies, a federal deputy, a subsistute senator.... all of them from the same family. In such a poor region most of the people don't have land and those who do, don't have water. They all depend on the supply of the watertruck. And by that means the political control is assured".

Subtitle: Music

"They say the Coelhos' feel like saints.  I can speak freely because I don't depend on him.  They say he only gives water when you vote for him".

10:08:17

Water trucks from Petrolina leave to assist the poor peasant, without which he cannot survive.

10:08:24

Interview: (Lewy, Regional peasant leader)

"People have to walk for miles in order to get water. So, when a watertruck comes to your home, promising that it will return every time you need water, you will surely vote even for your worst enemy, because you are aware that the drought will return every year".

10:08:47

Osvaldo Coelho has experience which power provides and knows, thanks to this helping hand to the poor, his re-elections are assured.

10:08:57

Interview: (Osvaldo Coelho):

"I believe that I'm admired very much for what I do. I think that my political acts express what people and the community expect me to do. That's why I'm always re-elected. It is a testimony of admiration and prestige".

10:09:32

Interview (Bishop Tomas Balduíno, Pres. Land
commission Catholic Church):

"Here in Brasil we have so much land but concentrated in very few hands. There is no land reform in Brasil. For the government that possibility doesn't exist. My experience as a bishop is that all small farms where peasants are now producing were obtained -and
there are no exceptions- by land occupations".

10:10:15

Interview: (Soraia, Peasant):

"We are farmers.  We want to work. We are not fighting a war".

Subtitle: Occupying...... resisting...... producing

10:10:29

Year after year, drought. Year
after year, misery. Year after year, the promises of Osvaldo Coelho. Year after year no solution to peasants' problems by the Brazilian government.
Despite the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 established a land-reform prospectus, nothing happened. Obligated by the misery of their situation
the peasants decided to act. The Movement of Landless Peasants was created.  Occupation of unproductive farms was the methodology which gave the
movement success. In Pernambuco the main target of the Landless Movement is
the property of the landlord- politicians.

10:11:25

Because of their desperation, they decide to occupy the same farm for a third time.

10:11:32

Interview: (Misael, Peasant):

"We must all stay, because we shouldn't be afraid of the police or the gunmen that will come. Fear will kill us. Those who are afraid and run, are weak and will never survive. Only those who have the courage to resist, they will
survive".

10:12:02

Interview: (Bishop Tomas Balduíno, Pres. Land commission Catholic Church):

"Most of the politicians in the Congress are landlords. Their main concern is to press the government through personal interviews, phone calls and other ways so as to influence the right person in government or in the Congress. They are a strong group".

10:12:32

Interview: (Osvaldo Coelho):

"They already invaded my land. I went to court and won the case. It was only a small farm of 14 hectares. If the law says that the right of property does exist, it's
wrong to break the law. A small minority cannot break the law".

10:13:04

The peasants from the Landless
Movement are afraid, afraid of being evicted again by Coelho's police force, as happened on each of the two previous occasions.

10:13:15

Interview: (Evair, Peasant):

"We were moved out during the first occupation and then a second time, but we stayed together as a group. Now some have abandoned since we started this new move. But we're here again with the hope that some day we will win and get
our piece of land, because until now we have never succeeded".

10:13:52

Interview: (Duceneia, Peasant

"I'm here because of God's will. We are going to fight with his help so that the government will give us a piece of land to raise our children on".

10:14:11

This time, however, they know they are not alone. Now there are thousands of families will have decided to resist the suffering of hunger, of daily thirst. Settlements of the Landless Movement are growing all over the region. Out of their struggle they have persuaded the Federal government to agree, on a case by case basis, if these lands, unproductive before being taken over, can be considered for appropriation under the land reform laws. But this is a parliamentary process, by its very nature a long-term affair. Meantimes there is no food, the hunger continues. What can be done?

10:14:50

Interview: (Conceição, Peasant

"We are not letting our children starve. We've waited for help from the government but it never comes. So we go and get it on the highway over there. If we stay
here we starve. So I think the best thing to do is to go and get the food that passes by on the highway".

Subtitle: Music

"I see women, children and men crying.  They must plunder in order not to starve".

10:15:20

The food is on the highway. It is
on-route in big trucks to feed the rich cities. The decision is taken. A roadblock of the highway is put into action. A new act of plunder begins,
just one more in the history of hunger, of misery. At dawn, why not?

10:15:40

Spontaneous plundering of
supermarkets and food trucks is not a new phenomenon in Pernambuco, in the lands of Coelho. Now however, as the authorities have become aware these acts are being organised by the Landless Movement, it generates strong controversy. The transport companies talk of robbery and assault. The
commercial sector bemoans the repeated loss of goods they suffer. The truck drivers say they are afraid to cross Pernambuco's highways, through Coelho's lands. But no alternative exists. In Brasilia, the national government talks of chaos.

10:16:16

The peasants control the highway,
but with little time on hand and fearing police intervention at any moment, they quickly search just for food. The trucks with foodstuffs are diverted
to one of the Landless Movement's settlements in the bush. Other vehicles are allowed to continue their journeys

10:16:38

Interview: (Evarista, Truckdriver

"They are going to take my truck to who knows where in the bush. Where's the police and the army to arrest these people? I've never seen this before. They are taking me into the bush to unload my truck. He's one of them and two others are already in the cabin".

10:17:24

Interview: (Edson, Truckdriver

"I think it's a shame that the federal government doesn't help these people here".

10:17:35

Interview: (Antônio, Local leader MST):

"Hunger is a real problem. There are 6000 people that have been without food for nine months and the government doesn't provide any help. We are plundering because we need food. This is not an assault, we don't steal money, all we want is food. We plunder because there is hunger, poverty and unemployment. As long as there are peasants without land and people suffering in the countryside there will be plunder".

10:18:16

The Landless quickly organise
unloading food cargoes at their settlement. Later it will be distributed around the Movement's other settlements in the region. It's an efficient
network ... for those who have nothing

10:18:41

Interview: (Wanderley, Truckdriver

"I think this is all wrong. It 's not correct. People are out of control".

10:19:00

Milk is one of the most
sought-after products. They are well aware their children are paying a high future price for today's deprivation. The vicious circle of poverty, an apparently unbreakable legacy.

10:19:18

The Landless will now do anything to obtain food, in spite of a history of patience. They don't care if they are considered as thieves, as highwaymen, possibly stealing from others as
poor as themselves. They are finally organised, and with that structure, for the first time ever, feel powerful.

10:19:38

Interview: (Bishop Tomas Balduíno, Pres. Land commission Catholic Church):

"When there is hunger and basic needs are not provided, goods become common property. Then for Saint Thomas of Aquino private goods do not exist.  Under these circumstances, plundering trucks with food and bring that food to people with hunger becomes totally legitimate. For us that means in no
way a scandal".

10:20:13

These frequent acts of plunder and the occupations of land affect Coelho's power. Equally these acts by the landless Movement enhance the strength of the peasants. Coelho tries the
old demagogue style which has stood him in such good stead in the past -whilst Federal Funds from Brasilia go into public works.

10:20:31

Interview: (Osvaldo Coelho):

"This project is entirely founded and created by my wife. She is the brain behind all this.  She takes care of it with a lot of love and solidarity".

10:20:50

The situation of instability has
repercussions in the National Congress. The Government and its rural counterparts are concerned. The political opposition uses the opportunity
to criticise both.

10:21:02

Interview: (Adão Pretto, National Deputy PT
(Labour Party):

"These deputies indicate to the government who they want
as the minister of agriculture, of land reform, or economy. In exchange they vote for the reforms the government needs. They sell their votes for favours from the government. When there are elections they receive money
for their campaign".

10:21:38

Equally in Pernambuco, Coelho's
power is under attack. The local opposition dispute the powers of state government, although this opposition is not one of Coelho's main concerns.

10:21:50

Interview: (Fernando Coelho, Opposition leader)

"There is a political struggle between his section and the one I
am leading. Since 1986 we have been alternating ".

10:22:10

58 Interview: (Fernando Coelho, Opposition leader):

"I condemn the methodology he uses to maintain his public life,
which is mostly based on paternalism. If you support him, then you get a job, if not, you don't. If you support him you can have access to official services but if you don't, every door remains closed. But I don't feel very
comfortable talking about his character. Because although we are political opponents, we are also relatives. He's my uncle".

10:22:43

Interview: (Jaime Amorim, Leader MST):

"We have to maintain the spirit of struggle we had until now. For our
organization, our dynamic approach, and especially because of our conviction that only in the struggle we will conquer the things we need.  Congratulations for all of you and for all the people who believed that some day Catalunha would be expropiated".

10:23:12

The Catalunha farm. Occupied two years ago by the Landless Movement. Now they are celebrating. They slaughter some cows for the party. For the very first time, a farm which had been the property of a landlord-politician has been expropriated by the government and given to the peasants who occupy it.

Subtitle: Catalunha, sweet victory

10:23:39

62 Interview: (Jaime Amorim, Leader MST)

"Specially in this region which is practically ruled by one family in both the countryside and the towns, the Coelho-family... if they feel sad today then we feel satisfied. This is a huge victory for the Landless Movement and above all for land reform".

10:24:03

Subtitle: Music: "The landworker who works day and night on
his land producing food to sustain this nation"

800 families suffered through
hunger and misery for two years of the occupation, guided by one hope... that became a reality. Now they are the new owners of this land.

10:24:16

Interview: (Rosalino, Peasant):

"Now, I'm proud to be a landless with land".

Subtitle: Music: "The struggle from the people in Brazil has
a long history....."

End credits