by Denis Lerrer Rosenfield *
* Denis Lerrer Rosenfield, professor of Philosophy with Ph.D. from Paris University and author of 'Hegel' (Jorge Zahar Editor, Coleção Passo a Passo) among other books.
Original source: Diário do Comércio on 01/28/2008
Published at Mídia Sem Máscara on January 29th, 2008
http://www.midiasemmascara.com.br/artigo.php?sid=6332&language=pt
Translated by INSTITUTO LIBERDADE, Porto Alegre, Brasil
This country never ceases to surprise us. When we think we have seen just about everything, there comes a new fact, one which defies any parameter of common sense.
The Brazilian Minister of Social Security, Luiz Marinho, has just issued a federal act granting social security coverage to invaders of land owned by the state or private individuals.
In other words, invaders would now have social security coverage as a reward for their violations of property rights. They would be treated exactly like any tax-paying worker. Furthermore, when making his decision, the minister considered property as something petty and irrelevant, something that ought not to be taken into account.
There is no rule of law in this government. Legally, invaded property should not be the object of expropriation. And still the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform, a government agency, validates such acts. Invaders should have their names removed from settlement lists. However no measures are taken to identify and punish these people caught from the commission of crime and breaking the law. The government just turns a blind eye on it. And the make-believe becomes this “new” reality, even more vexing as it attempts against the very pillars of a free society: private property and the rule of law.
As if this was not enough, the government also funds the so-called social movements with taxpayers’ money, transferred to NGOs that act as “middle men”. The rationales vary greatly: some highlight “solidarity education” and “alternative cultivation” or other such shenanigans. Revolutionary imagination takes its course, “freely”. But one thing which is never spoken clearly is that these resources are in fact funding invasions as well as the formation of their consciences. This is how dogmas are passed on.
And this education takes place with the help of textbooks that rewrite history under the perspective of Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. They come in all shapes and colors. More recently, this new “humanitarian” called Hugo Chávez, who is so fond of kidnappers and narcoterrorists, has moved up to being the new mankind beacon. Under such perspective, the terrorist FARCs are “humanitarian”!
However, the "news" is far from over. All over the country, university courses have been popping up in areas such as Law, Pedagogy and Veterinary, all tailored to the needs of “social movements”. Like a “special reserve” just for them. This political organization nominates those who will take part in such courses, and elaborates curriculum programs catered to their needs and agendas. This method of education, so-called “participative”, is done according to an ideological prism, meant to serve as a guideline to the rupture “movement” of the representative democracy. Thereby, a “university” is created within the university, funded by the Ministry of Education, with total disrespect for equality, since merit and aptitude should be rightfully the main entry criteria to an institution for higher education. In reality, taxpayers are the ones paying for the advance of “socialism”, namely “totalitarian democracy”.
And taxpayers keep footing the bill with no limits. There is a complete lack of sense. Invaders are also financed with public funds through programs such as the family-grant (which distributes money on a per-child basis), food staples and special schooling. Imported products (from Uruguay), such as rice, follow these violent groups. But their hard liquor is made-in-Brazil. Invasions are carried out using the money taken from each one of us, through taxes and contributions, to maintain and conserve these so-called "social movements". Workers must pay taxes, while invaders are the beneficiaries of these transfers of assets and properties. Do not forget: in each invasion, you get to see your own resources being used!
Now, in a brand new act of “generosity” with other people’s resources, the government plans to grant invaders social security coverage. Indirectly, landowners are paying for the violation of their own property. The MST (Landless Workers’ Movement) and similar organizations are able to offer one more “service” to their “affiliates”. That is, a revolutionary organization, trying to destroy the foundations of a free society, ensures social security coverage to their militants and members, as long as they follow all orders and instructions whenever they are told to do so.
If this senselessness march goes on, the next step could be to consider the relationship between invaders and invaded (or kidnappers and kidnapped, in cases of violated property, an increasingly usual practice) as an “employment relationship”, in which bandits have rights and can even claim workers´ compensation. It is not excluded the possibility that certain judges might even issue judgment in favor of the plaintiffs! In senselessness, there is no such thing as something impossible.
Just picture the situation. MST invades a property and its members establish themselves for over a year on the land. This is common in the state of Paraná, for example, where governor Requião disobeys court orders for possession reintegration. Invaders would pretend to work, harvesting some produce. Under the prism of senselessness, an “employment relationship” would then be in effect. The landowner, having lost possession of his or her property and suffered all resulting losses could then be held “responsible” by invaders who could well turn to courts seeking “justice”. However surreal this might seem, the reality is that we are moving towards such disregard to the primary rules of democratic society and to the rule of law.
Today, landowners are often forced, by court order, to pay for the transportation of the landless people to their places of “origin”. Besides their losses, farmers must bear the invasion costs. And who is paying for the bus tickets, paying for very logistics of invasions? You are!
[THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT ENGAGES IN THE SAME PRACTICES CONCERNING BRAZILIAN & FOREIGN PATENTS AND TRADE SECRETS: JUST ASK THE U.S. & EUROPEAN LIFE SCIENCES COMPANIES]
[Brazil Charged with Leading a World Gang of Intellectual Property Predators, Brazzil Magazine:
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8071/54 ]
[Lula Desrespeita A Propriedade Privada ‘Tomando’ OS DPP De Investidores Estrangeiros
http://www.itssd.org/Publications/artigosentrevistas_rev(2)-KoganarticleIEERevistaLeader-June2007.pdf (P.47) ]
[Lula Disrespects Private Property, ‘Taking’ Foreign Investors’ DPP
http://www.itssd.org/Publications/LulaDisrespectsPrivateProperty,TakingForeignInvestors_DPP.pdf ]
[Forced Licensing of Drug Patents Reflects ‘IP Counterfeiting’ Efforts on World Stage
http://www.itssd.org/Publications/ForcedLicensingofDrugPatentsReflectsIPCounterfeitingEffortsonWorldStage-WLF06-22-07kogan.pdf ]
