Tough luck, Syngenta
The Struggle for the Expropriation of Syngenta: Showdown Between the Social Movements and Agribusiness in Brazil
by Isabella Kenfield
January 07, 2007
by Isabella Kenfield
January 07, 2007
Curitiba, Brazil - The recent decree by Roberto Requião, Governor of the state of Paraná, to expropriate the Syngenta corporation's experimental site in Santa Tereza do Oeste has become a powerful symbol for all interests in the struggle over the future of Brazilian agriculture. The magnitude of Requião's decision was highlighted on November 30th when members of the rural social movements the Via Campesina and the Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST) closed the first Meeting of Education in Agrarian Reform, in Cascavel, with a march to the Syngenta site. En route to the march, the movements' busses were halted by a blockade of tractors formed by about 100 members of the Rural Society of the West (SRO), an elite group representing the interests of large landowners and commercial agricultural producers in western Paraná. Some SRO members were on horseback and armed with guns. As the marchers began to cross the barricade on foot, a violent conflict began. Shots were fired into the air, and pieces of wood were used to beat the marchers. While no one was hospitalized, the confrontation resulted in the injury of nine people. According to Alessandro Meneghel, President of the SRO, the blockade was created "to show that the rural producers will no longer peacefully accept land invasions and political provocations."
The conflict over Syngenta began on March 14th when about six hundred members of the Via Campesina and the MST occupied the 127-hectare locale after the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), the federal environmental agency, confirmed that Syngenta had illegally planted twelve hectares of genetically-modified (GM) soybeans there. The planting was illegal because the site is located within the protective boundary zone of the Iguaçu National Park, and under Brazilian federal law it is illegal to plant GM crops within this zone. The Via Campesina and MST justified their occupation of Syngenta's site with Article 186 in the Brazilian constitution, which stipulates that private property (including land) must serve a social function. Since the early 1980s, the MST has used Article 186 to justify non-violent occupations of unproductive land owned by large landowners in order to pressure the government to expropriate the land for the purpose of agrarian reform. The movements argue that the land at Syngenta's experimental site, through the illegal cultivation of GM crops, was not serving its social function because it endangered Brazil's natural resource base, upon which all Brazilians depend. The occupation stopped all of Syngenta's activities at the site, and cost the multinational millions of dollars. Additionally, the occupation successfully pressured IBAMA to fine Syngenta US $462,000 (which remains unpaid), and applied continuous pressure on the governor to expropriate the site.
The conflict over Syngenta began on March 14th when about six hundred members of the Via Campesina and the MST occupied the 127-hectare locale after the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), the federal environmental agency, confirmed that Syngenta had illegally planted twelve hectares of genetically-modified (GM) soybeans there. The planting was illegal because the site is located within the protective boundary zone of the Iguaçu National Park, and under Brazilian federal law it is illegal to plant GM crops within this zone. The Via Campesina and MST justified their occupation of Syngenta's site with Article 186 in the Brazilian constitution, which stipulates that private property (including land) must serve a social function. Since the early 1980s, the MST has used Article 186 to justify non-violent occupations of unproductive land owned by large landowners in order to pressure the government to expropriate the land for the purpose of agrarian reform. The movements argue that the land at Syngenta's experimental site, through the illegal cultivation of GM crops, was not serving its social function because it endangered Brazil's natural resource base, upon which all Brazilians depend. The occupation stopped all of Syngenta's activities at the site, and cost the multinational millions of dollars. Additionally, the occupation successfully pressured IBAMA to fine Syngenta US $462,000 (which remains unpaid), and applied continuous pressure on the governor to expropriate the site.
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