The contemporary political history of Brazil under President Cardoso (October 1994 to October 1998)

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Speech delivered by Herbert de Souza (Betinho)
At the Plenary of the United Nations during the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for the Social Summit, New York, August 23, 1994. The Citizens Action Against Misery and for Life in Brazil movement and social ethics. Equality and democracy. Global inequity. Brazil a major country with great social problems.
Brazil: A Salon Democracy
By Frei Betto, [11 April 1995]. On March 22, the Caravan of Popular Movements, which mobilized more than 15,000 people to demand the right of civil society to present proposals for public policies, met with President Cardoso. Brazil is governed by a sociologist, but does not give priority to the social question; fascinated with democracy, it fears the organization of civil society and, especially, its right to participate in governmental decisions.
Review of Sue Branford and Bernardo Kucinski, Brazil Carnival of the Oppressed: Lula and the Brazilian Workers' Party
By Roberto Jorquera, Green Left Weekly, 24 September 1995. Since its formation in August 1980, the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT) has grown to become the largest left party in Latin America. A very useful companion to the earlier book by Sader and Silverstein, Without Fear of Being Happy. An evading of the issue of just what socialism means today may have helped the party gain mass support, but it has also meant that its future is unclear.
Agrarian Reform proposed to end violence
From NAFTA & Inter-American Trade Monitor, 3 November 1995. The Movimiento dos Trabalhadores Sem-Terra (MST), an organization of landless campesinos, says 4.8 million families—12 million people—have no land; more than 1,000 campesinos have been assassinated in the past 10 years in the struggle for land. Therefore Cardoso has ordered his cabinet to make land reform a priority.
No more massacres
Statement by the Brazilian Pastoral Land Commission, 18 April 1996. The massacre in Eldorado do Carajas, in the state of Parao, which took place on 17 April, in which the Military Police killed at least 22 landless rural workers, injured at least 40, and left a large number unaccounted for, is the thirteenth in the state of Par in the last ten years, with a total death toll of 87.
Letter on Brazil Massacre
By Marcos Arruda, Institute Alternative Policies for the Southern Cone of Latin America, 22 April 1996. The Eldorado dos Caraja's massacre of rural workers and the violations of human rights in Brazil. Link between government and large landowners.
Brazil Faces Nationwide Protest at Government
NewsHound, 25 July 1997. Leftist parties and trade unions call for nationwide protests in Brazil against the government and its reformist, free-market policies. The government shrugged off the protests, noting that recent attempts to call national strikes had been largely unsuccessful.