Many labour unions are either in the process of negotiating with their respective employers (mostly municipal, state, or federal governments) in Brazil, while others are actively on strike. These include federal workers from the government bureaucracy, school teachers, city staff, and university staff and faculty. In this piece, I would like to highlight how unions in the transportation sector are highly represented in these labour struggles. The Metro Workers Union of São Paulo is one of them and as of Monday, the 9th of June, it faces its fifth day of strike amidst layoff threats and a repressive state military police. Shortly before, the bus drivers of the city of São Paulo, represented by two unions, were also on strike. In both cases, the judiciary found the strikes to be ‘abusive’ and fined the unions hundreds of thousands of reais after ordering the workers back to their posts. The Metro Workers decided to continue the strike, with the support of a variety of social movements (including the Free Fare Movement – MPL, and the Homeless Workers' Movement – MTST), political parties from the radical Left, and other labour unions. The judicial decision is being challenged for many reasons, but primarily for the fact that it is fuelled by illegalities committed on behalf of the employer that lead to the disavowal of the right to strike.[1] ... read full story / add a comment

São Paulo has some of the worst traffic in the world. Workers' daily commutes can be over two hours – one way – without ever leaving the city. Rain or traffic accidents can easily increase a commute to over four hours. Streets become so congested during peak hours of traffic that the local news stations report on the length of kilometers of stopped cars and trucks on the highways entering the city. There are permanent signs mounted beside these highways with lights that can be turned on and off indicating that “traffic is stopped in front.” São Paulo has the highest per capita density of private helicopters in the world. Those with serious money in this extremely rich and unequal city choose the option to literally fly over the traffic jams.
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While the world has been watching Turkey, another country is experiencing revolt. That country is Brazil. Just like Turkey, it is relatively succesful, economically speaking. Just like Turkey, the results of economic growth are divided very unequally. Just like in Turkey, a relatively small provocation is setting off a much biggen chain reaction. Unlike in Turkey, that provocation is a direct attack on living standards. But the anger exploding goes much deeper than that.
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É difícil calcular quantas pessoas estiveram presente no primeiro grande ato contra o aumento das tarifas do transporte público de São Paulo. Mas estima-se que mais de cinco mil manifestantes atenderam ao chamado do Movimento Passe Livre (MPL), ocuparam as ruas do centro da cidade e bloquearam durante várias horas as principais vias da região. Sem dúvida, é possível dizer que esta foi uma das maiores manifestações realizadas pelo Movimento e uma dos mais contundentes.
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Unas nueve mil personas de la comunidad de Pinheirinho, ubicada en Sao Paulo (capital brasileña), están siendo reprimidas este domingo y lunes de madrugada por la Policía Militar (PM) en un operativo para desalojar a las familias sin techo que ocupan terrenos de una empresa que quebró hace ocho años. ... read full story / add a comment

The largest grassroots social movement in the Americas, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), adopts a new strategy this summer at it’s 5th annual congress in Brasilia, Brazil. A strategy that seeks to address not only rural agrarian injustices but also seeks to counter the pernicious social, economic and environmental impacts of Neo-Liberalism on Brazilian society as a whole. The 5th MST congress brought a special acknowledgement and letter of support from the Zapatistas of Mexico who struggle to achieve similar economic, environmental and norms of social justice 6000 kilometers to the north. ... read full story / add a comment

A responsabilidade e a disciplina organizacionais
não devem horrorizar: elas são companheiras
de viagem da prática do anarquismo social.

Nestor Makhno ... read full story / add a comment

A vitória do projeto político reformista do MAS, com a eleição de Morales/Linera em 2005, significou a vitória de mais uma proposta conciliatória de classe para América Latina, ao manter a ordem institucional e defender a construção de um “Estado Social-Democrata”, que teria por objetivo promover a distribuição de renda. Para os trabalhadores isso significou uma derrota, momentânea, de suas aspirações. O Caminho do MAS é o da conciliação de classe, o da derrota. ... read full story / add a comment

La victoria del proyecto político reformista del MAS, con la elección de Morales/Linares en 2005, significo una victoria mas de un programa conciliatorio de clases para América Latina, al mantener el orden institucional y defender la construcción de un “Estado Social-Demócrata”, que tendrá como objetivo promover la distribución de los recursos. Para los trabajadores eso solo significa una derrota, momentánea, de sus aspiraciones. El camino del MAS y el de la conciliación de clases, es el camino de la derrota. ... read full story / add a comment