O Pais | 30 July 2013 | Português
Mozambican civil society announces campaign against the privatisation of land
(Translated by GRAIN)
(Press release in Portuguese- PDF)
More than 30 civil society organisations have decided to unite their forces in defending lands and natural resources. The organsiations, which include peasant movements, will launch a national campaign this year against the privatisation of land, and at the top of their list is the Prosavana project.
The information was made public Monday at a joint press conference given by the Human Rights League, Fórum Mulher, União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC), Justiça Ambiental, and the Centro de Estudos Sociais, who were also there representing other organisations..
The decision to launch the campaign came as a result of in depth discusssions and reflections held at the office of the Popular University of Social Movements (Universidade Popular dos Movimentos Sociais).
"After much reflection, we concluded that land is an issue for all sectors of society . . . and we identified ProSavana, a programme for agribusiness millionaires, as an issue that requires a collective agenda, says Graça Sambo of Fórum Mulher.
UNAC joins this initiative, two months after having addressed a letter to the President of the Republic, Armando Guebuza, the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, outlining its concerns with the implementation of the ProSavana project. The peasant union has yet to receive a response to the letter from the three Heads of State.
According to the representative of the peasants, the campaign will demonstrate to the Mozambican government that civil society is united in the struggle for justice and for an equal distribution of land.
The ProSavana project is the main concern of the peasants. They believe that it will cause irreversible negative impacts to their families by increasing the numbers of landless families and communities in Mozambique through their dispossession and resettlement, by generating more social problems and social environmental conflicts within the Nacala Corridor area; and by worsening poverty among rural communities by destroying their livelihoods.
Mozambican civil society announces campaign against the privatisation of land