ALAGAMAR: Nonviolent land struggle
HILDEGARD GROSS-MAYR
In most Latin American countries military or civilian dictatorships, on the basis of the doctrine of national security, continue to uphold an economic system of exploitation that favors a small group of privileged individuals (as well as national
37

and multinational enterprises in the First World) and condemns the vast majority of the people to a life of dependence, misery, and political and social marginalization. But the masses of the poor in Latin America have increasingly become aware of their human rights and dignity, and in many parts of the continent, despite violent and brutal repression, they have begun to organise and struggle for change. Popular civic movements are springing up and pressing for justice.
Within this process, the Christian Churches carry considerable responsibility. Based on decisions taken by the Latin American Bishop's Conference in 1968 in Medellin and confirmed in 1979 in Puebla, the Catholic Church considers its mission is to take a firm stand on the side of the poor. There are great differences as to the degree of commitment among Christians and Church leadership. The current within the Church favouring the status quo and a modus vivendi with the established forces has grown in strength during the past few years. Yet Christians in many Latin American countries - peasants, workers, pastoral workers, priests, bishops, young people, women and men - have committed themselves in the struggle for basic justice and human rights, even to the point of giving their lives. The Latin American Church has become a Church of martyrs.
While many people understand that fidelity to the gospel requires an identification with the poor and exploited, certainly not all of them have come to see that the liberating force of the gospel (what Dom Helder Camara has called the "radically new message" capable of breaking through the spiral of domination of man over man) is the power of nonviolence. These people base their commitment, in the last resort, on the old doctrine, still kept alive in our Churches, of the "just war", of "just revolutionary and insurrectional violence" - with all its consequences of destruction of lives, values, human relationships and of a political and social nature.
However, there also exists a deep current, mainly among the poor in the Christian grassroots communities ('communidades de base') and among the indigenous population, strengthened and nourished by certain Church leaders, which in its liberation struggle wants to remain faithful in a radical way to the gospel and refuses the oppressors' provocation to violence. It refuses hatred and counter-violence in the process of struggling for a truly fraternal and just society.
This current is particularly important in Brazil.  There, eighteen years ago, some 900 workers of the cement factory of "Perus", with the assistance of the lawyer Mario Carvalho de Jesus, started out on a strike to obtain basic workers rights.  This
38

was the first outspokenly nonviolent campaign in Brazil. It lasted seven years and set precedents on many fronts: law and jurisdiction, solidarity among the working class, and challenges to the Church, intellectuals, and the middle class. The cost of the strike was torture, imprisonment, and even the life of one participant who died of hunger.
The success of "Perus" was not primarily the money paid to the workers when they won their strike, but a first deep awareness that the people, the poor and exploited who unite in a commitment to justice, possess the power of nonviolence which is capable of overcoming injustice.
Awareness of this nonviolent liberating force of the gospel also sprang up among a handful of Church leaders, bishops like Dom Helder Camara, Jose Maria Pires, Dom Fragoso, Cardinal Arns and Cardinal Lorscheider. They began to bring it to life in their pastoral work. They also carried it with strong faith into the Brazilian Catholic Bishops' Conference, trying gradually to unite and transform it into an instrument of nonviolent liberation on the side of the poor during the height of military dictatorship. Although this commitment was never joined by all the bishops, nevertheless, during the hardest time of repression in the 70s, the Church of Brazil was a strong pillar on the side of the poor and defenceless. It took stands for the protection of political prisoners, the indigenous, and the landless, for general amnesty, for basic democratic rights and for a new and just economic order. It accepted to pay the price for its commitment by refusing all former privileges and positions of power.
At the same time, this work for liberation with the power of the gospel grew and was made concrete in many of the thousands of Christian grassroots communities that sprang up throughout the country. At the moment, due to a certain political and democratic opening, civic, popular movements are strengthening. Grassroots communities are like a yeast in this struggle. Thus the big metal workers' strikes of the past year, the movement for amnesty for political prisoners, the movements against the high cost of living, etc, have been very largely nonviolent, characterised by an attitude of wisdom and constraint, refusing the provocation of counter-violence.
At present the battle for land is one of the hardest and most tragic problems of Brazil. Millions of rural workers and peasants have been chased from the land they tilled and on which they and their families lived. Big national and international firms are moving in. Intermediaries with armed private police threaten the poor or indigenous people and drive them away by force,  acting unpunished, protected by those in power, and
39

against the laws of the country, in particular the agrarian reform laws. While in some areas, specifically in the Amazonian basin, the poor are repeatedly resorting to counter-violence (with the poor means at their disposal) in order to defend their life and rights, in the northeast of Brazil, the peasants are becoming more and more united in a nonviolent liberating struggle for the land.  Alagamar is an example.
Due to the need to produce sugar for alcohol to be added to gasoline (part of Brazil's programme in response to increasing oil prices) , the value of land in the area of Alagamar has increased tremendously. Big companies wanting to profit from the sugar cane boom try to get hold of the land and throw off the peasants.
Christian grassroots communities are strongly developed in the area. For these Christians, the struggle for justice is inseparably linked to their faith. Thus, when a new proprietor took over and wanted them to submit to his orders, the peasants of Alagamar immediately consulted a lawyer at the "Center for the Defense of Human Rights" of the diocese, to find out about their rights. The answer was clear: according to the law, the land they tilled was theirs. Measures of the owner to expel them would be unlawful.  They decided to resist.
This decision was made in a large mud hut which the peasants had built to serve as their chapel and community meeting place. The very fact that they met, prayed, and discussed their problems was seen by the owner as a dangerous, subversive act. One day when the men had gone to the market, his private police came and destroyed the chapel. It was like a warning: do not dare to resist!
The news of the destruction spread quickly. The following Sunday the priest of the area and Archbishop Jose Maria Pires celebrated the Eucharist in the destroyed chapel, with several hundred peasants attending. The event was picked up by the press. Public opinion began to be stirred up.
Step by step solidarity and unity began to develop, drawing in small communities and more and more peasants of the area, the Church, and eventually people of the town.
The peasants tried to negotiate with the owner but never succeeded. Therefore they decided to take their case to court and to try to win the agricultural unions and the regional land reform authorities to their side. They knew a long struggle lay ahead. As they continued their efforts, repression stiffened.  They were spied upon, slandered, cheated and interrogated
40

by the police.
When because of their actions some of them were arrested and taken to town, the peasants decided they were all equally responsible. Hundreds marched to town and filled up the house of the judge, demanding to join those who had been arrested. Finally the judge was obliged to send them all home, including the prisoners.
In order to sustain their struggle financially, they began to plant collective fields of manioca. One day, as some 80 of them were working on one of these fields, the owner sent armed men to tear up the plants and destroy the harvest.
This was a tremendous challenge. The 80 peasants got together and discussed what to do, reminding themselves of the principles Dom Jose Maria had elaborated with them: "First, never kill, second, never hurt, third remain always united..." They decided to resist the provocation to counter-violence. Silently they watched the men tearing up 3,000 plants!
The next day they went into the field and planted them anew. The Archbishop came to the spot, picked up some of the uprooted plants, and took them to town to place on the cathedral altar. To the whole diocese he appealed: "These peasants are truly living the nonviolent liberating power of the gospel. Let us follow their example and sustain their just combat!"
People's minds began to change. The question arose: Who is "subversive", the peasants who, with peaceful means, try to apply the laws of the country in order that justice may be achieved for all, or the firm that steals from the poor their small and last resources?
Solidarity grew, pressure increased. On the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic to Joao Pessoa, 2,500 hectares of land (out of 10,000 in dispute) were handed over to the people.
Today the community is stronger and more united than ever and the popular struggle of Alagamar continues. From it the people have developed five principles:
Never kill;
Never wound;
Always be well-informed of the facts;
Always be united;
Disobey the orders which will destroy us.
41