Marielle Vive Camp is one of the occupations covered by the decision; Unicamp supports the community’s stay on site
Update (31/03): The injunction prohibiting evictions and evictions during the pandemic has been extended once again. The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Luís Roberto Barroso extended the effects of the Allegation of Non-compliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) 828 until June 30th. The decision covers more than 132 thousand families threatened with eviction in Brazil. Barroso stressed that he will no longer extend the ADPF and demanded that public authorities take measures to prevent an increase in the number of homeless people.
"It is therefore necessary to establish a transitional regime, in order to prevent repossessions throughout the country at the same time from leading to a situation of humanitarian crisis. The situation demands absolute commitment from all public authorities to avoid a significant increase in the number of homeless people”, stated the minister. Look here the full STF decision.
Check out the report produced by Jornal da Unicamp on the subject:
The routine starts early in the largest rural occupation in the State of São Paulo (SP). At the Marielle Vive camp, 450 families organize themselves daily in working in the agroecological garden, preparing three meals a day for the more than a thousand residents and in educational and cultural activities. In the community, which since 2018 has occupied an area in the city of Valinhos, no one goes hungry. There are healthy foods, environmental preservation, training, sports and leisure for children and adults. But this entire organization is threatened. The Federal Supreme Court (STF) injunction prohibiting evictions and evictions during the Covid-19 pandemic expires on March 31st. With the suspension of the measure, 132 thousand families, including those from Marielle Vive, could be left without housing.
The anguish over the situation is expressed by Sueli Moreira, one of the coordinators of the territory's agroecological production, organized by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). While organizing the joint planting of 400 reforestation seedlings, as an educational action for the community, she reflects on the possibility of eviction.
“While people are thinking about whether they can stay, we are here planning to plant seedlings. What we want is our right to survive off the land. Today I have a roof over my head, but what about tomorrow? If there is reinstatement, what will it be like? Where I go?".
Given the seriousness of the situation, collectives, parties and judicial bodies such as the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and the Federal Public Defender's Office (DPU) asked the court to extend the measure. The preservation of the health of socially vulnerable families, combined with the worsening of the economic crisis and food insecurity in Brazil, are the reasons behind the request.
"We are in a group of more than 130 thousand families under the same threat. In São Paulo alone there are more than 40 thousand. We need to put pressure on Minister Barroso to extend the deadline", assesses Gerson Oliveira, from the MST-SP state directorate. and Marielle's camp.
It highlights the development that the community has brought to the area, which could be lost in the event of eviction. “These families, who have been building their lives here for four years, providing income generation and a series of activities, are at risk of reliving the problems they suffered before the camp. There are many social and economic advances that Marielle Vive has achieved. It is barbaric to think about eviction at this moment”, he points out.
The ban on evictions during the pandemic was obtained through the Claim of Non-Compliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) 828, filed with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) by parties in partnership with the Zero Eviction Campaign. The ADPF, approved by the STF, obtained the suspension of urban evictions until December 31, 2021, which was also obtained by the approval of Law 14.216, in October 2021.
With the end of the rules, Minister Luís Barroso accepted the request to extend the deadline until March 31st. Barroso also expanded the effects of the ADPF to rural areas. In his decision, he noted that the pandemic had not yet ended and noted that the worsening of poverty “may result in an increase in the number of homeless people”.
According to the Zero Eviction Campaign, formed by 175 organizations, social movements and collectives, there was a 602% increase in the number of families threatened with losing their housing between March 2020 and February 2022. There were 18.840 families between March and August 2020. Currently, there are 132.291.
Despite the ban on evictions, several states and municipalities disregarded the decision, causing a 333% increase in the number of families evicted in the last two years. São Paulo is the federative unit that removed the most families - 6.017.
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Largest rural camp in SP is at risk
More than a thousand people live in the Marielle Vive camp, including 230 minors. The community comes together to overcome difficulties in accessing water, electricity and basic sanitation. In protest for the achievement of these rights, one of the campers was murdered by a local businessman, who rammed his car into the protesters. In honor of the victim, the camp's Popular School is named after Luis Ferreira.
The occupation was created on April 14, 2018, one month after the murder of Rio de Janeiro councilor Marielle Franco. The São Paulo Court of Justice, in November 2021, decided to evict the families, following a request from Fazenda Eldorado Empreendimentos Imobiliários, owner of the land. The MST argued that the land was unproductive, degraded and did not fulfill a social function.
The owner intends to build a condominium on the site. The Marielle Vive families demand permanence, based on the fact that lands that do not fulfill a social function can be expropriated for agrarian reform, in accordance with the Federal Constitution.
Fernanda Fernandes Bezerra is one of the campers. Four months pregnant, she has already suffered other evictions and fears what could happen if the ADPF is not extended. “Having gone through two evictions, I'm worried, not only for myself, but because I'm pregnant. The pressure they put on us is painful. I am very worried about the families. Many lost their jobs due to the pandemic. There are people getting sick because of the worry of not knowing where they are going.”
Also camping, Wilson Aparecido Lopes questions the condominium construction project. “The owners want to build a mega-condominium, one of the largest in Latin America, which would certainly have a major impact on Serra dos Cocais nearby. Its water supply supplies Valinhos. If you destroy the Serra, there will be a direct impact on the city's water supply. Today Valinhos already buys water from Campinas, imagine if it destroys the water table”.
Marielle Lives with a roof over her head, healthy eating, training, leisure and culture
Marielle Vive families are divided into sectors, as is customary in the MST. These are groups that organize the entire dynamics of the territory. The production sector is responsible for the garden, from which food is supplied for meals, prepared in the collective kitchen. The surplus is sold at fairs in the region, contributing to income generation.
All production is sustainable and agroecological in nature, based on the conservation of natural resources. Agroecology provides healthy food, free from pesticides, and guarantees environmental preservation in the region. The community also grows medicinal herbs. In 2021, the camp received the Agroecological Transition Seal from the Work, Technical Assistance, Rural Extension and Environment Cooperative (AMATER) and the State Department of Agriculture and Supply.
In addition to agroecological production, there are training courses, school support, adult literacy, sports, cultural and leisure activities. External partners contribute to the programming. Among them, members of the Unicamp community. Through extension projects and voluntary initiatives, students, teachers and employees of the Faculty of Education (FE) carry out reorganization of local library and educational activities.
The contribution of health professionals, including doctors from Unicamp, also guarantees service to the community in general medicine, pediatrics, gynecology, psychology and psychiatry. Mass testing for Covid-19 was another Unicamp action on site.
Furthermore, the FE professor, Fabiana Rodrigues, and the professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH), Daniel Perez, formed the Nucleus for Incentives in Self-Composing Practices (NUIPA), a body linked to the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo which aims to mediate conflicts. Issues such as children's lack of access to education, hampered by the lack of proof of address, were overcome through mediation.
A Working Group (GT), formed in December 2019 by teachers from different areas of knowledge, also carried out several visits to the camp. The aim was to contribute to the well-being of families and to the planning of the territory. The director of the University's Human Rights Directorate (DEDH), professor Silvia Santiago, highlights the advances that the community has made in the occupied area.
“We identified several human potential and transformation. A site that was completely degraded was transformed into a productive area from an agricultural point of view, in addition to springs that were rebuilt. But the most important thing was to witness the dignity of people in contributing to the environment. The camp is an asset to the city of Valinhos and its surroundings.”
Unicamp supports the permanence of the camp
Unicamp, through DEDH, sent on March 28th a craft to the judge of the first instance of Valinhos, Bianca Vasconcelos. The document highlights the University's support for families to remain. “Unicamp is in favor of recognition by civil society and applicable legal bodies of the right of this community to remain where it is currently, in addition to its transformation into a community, which will certainly contribute to social justice, the preservation of the environment and to build a better country”, emphasizes the letter.
The document also points out that the camp is made up of workers in conditions of social vulnerability who, through their organization, guarantee housing for hundreds of families. “In addition to housing and production space, the community has a series of activities with a view to improving living conditions, protecting the environment and providing access to education, culture and the construction of a dignified life.”
Given the end of the ADPF period, the DEDH asks that the social rights of families be considered and “that the Mediation Chamber be guaranteed to dialogue in the event of the execution of the repossession with the participation of representatives of the Camp”.
In addition to the extension of the ADPF, public housing policies are urgent
The right to housing is established by the Federal Constitution, which also guarantees the expropriation of properties and lands that do not fulfill their social function. However, the country faces a deficit of 5,8 million homes. Brazilian legislation also ensures agrarian reform and the expropriation of properties with no social function, a measure rarely put into practice.
Brazil has one of the largest concentrations of land in the world. Large monoculture farms for export make massive use of pesticides. It is also the country that uses chemical pesticides the most, a situation worsened by federal government measures, which expanded the permitted substances. Furthermore, a proposal is being processed in Congress project which could further expand the use of pesticides.
The insufficiency of housing policies and agrarian reform, in addition to the increase in poverty, has been negatively reflected in several ways. The Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) indicates that the homeless population increased by 139% between 2012 and 2020. Food insecurity is already a reality for more than 110 million Brazilians, according to a study by the Brazilian Network for Research in Sovereignty and Food and nutrition security. Of these, 20 million say they go more than 24 hours without eating.
Against the deepening social and economic crisis, there are many projects like Marielle Vive, which are organized and provide what the Public Power neglects. Ensuring their survival is urgent for the thousands of families in vulnerable situations.
