Interview with peasant and family farming leaders
ISPN spoke with peasant and family farming leader in the state of Ceará, *Maria Silva, about Provisional Measure 910. Maria, who is currently following debates in the Chamber of Deputies on land regularization and family farming production, expresses concern about the direction of these issues in Brazil and denounces the increase in violence in the countryside since President Jair Bolsonaro signed, in December of last year, the MP of Land Grabbing, as MP 910 has been called.
Check out the full interview:
*For security reasons, the interviewee's name has been changed.
ISPN: From the perspective of small farmers, what is the historical overview of the land issue in Brazil?
Mary: In the so-called "discovery of Brazil," the crown appropriated all the country's land. As a result, thousands of indigenous people were exterminated or expelled from their territories and confined to a few regions. All this land became the property of the crown, and distribution was made to those who had some connection to it. From 1850 onwards, with the Land Law, private property was established, so anyone who wanted land had to buy it. In that year, the lands of those who already owned large areas of the Sesmarias (land grants) were also regularized, and these people paid negligible amounts for it. The lands that were not transferred, as well as those that reverted to the Crown, became vacant lands. In recent years, some of these rural areas have begun to be irregularly invaded by commodity companies. Large condominiums have also begun to invade areas around major capitals, such as Brasília: a large part of the public areas around the city are being appropriated by real estate speculation and becoming large private landholdings. The same thing happens in the Northeast: federal lands around riverside regions, near stretches of the sea, have also been irregularly appropriated for large-scale plantations or unsustainable tourism.
ISPN: What does Provisional Measure 910 have to do with this history you outlined, and why has it been called the "Land Grabbing Provisional Measure"?
Mary: During the Temer administration, Provisional Measure 759 was created, which by the end of 2017 had become a law that already benefited land grabbing processes.
It turns out that Provisional Measure 910 is much more cruel; it introduces a process that redefines deadlines and expands the limits of land to be regularized.. In fact, it's a Provisional Measure (MP) that legalizes land grabbing in Brazil. One of its articles states that the appropriation of this land must be peaceful, non-violent, and tranquil; in other words, there must be a certain concession to enter the land. Those who entered this land peacefully were the companies and large landowners; all the small producers are always under pressure: there is pressure against quilombola communities, indigenous people, and small farmers. This only proves that the MP is unaware of our reality. Since the arrival of the Portuguese, the poor, Black people, and indigenous people of this country have always been prevented from accessing land, and the MP reaffirms this. Therefore..., This law will only legitimize the process of irregular appropriation. The federal constitution guarantees that federal lands will be transformed into policies that serve the thousands of families who currently want land, and this provisional measure will not do that.
ISPN: A Provisional Measure is created when there is a sense of urgency. Do you think the previous laws justify the urgency of this new measure?
Mary: Even previous laws, such as Law 13465, did not truly address the needs of small farmers, but it still contained obstacles for land grabbers. Therefore, I understand that Provisional Measure 910 came to debureaucratize the previous law, that is, to make the law more flexible in order to favor land grabbing and large producers who deforest. Provisional Measure 910 makes it very clear that this process is for the big players.
ISPN: Your statement contradicts the proponents of Provisional Measure 910 who claim the measure is an instrument to benefit small businesses. Can you elaborate on this point?
Mary: The Provisional Measure (MP) will greatly hinder the regularization process for smallholders, as lands currently designated for agrarian reform will be regularized for those who have illegally appropriated them. MP 910 effectively legalizes land theft in Brazil and will prevent peasants from accessing these lands, because large companies and speculators will be the ones appropriating them. Therefore, MP 910 regularizes land for the wealthy, not for the poor. It will not solve the problem of the poor; many poor people will even lose possession of the land they currently own once this regularization process is complete.
ISPN: From its historical perspective, we have observed several instances of violence. Could the Provisional Measure exacerbate this situation?
Mary: The government's discourse already reflects a refusal to recognize and favor dialogue with smaller countries, and a clear alliance with large ones. 
Producers have been transforming the violence in the countryside to a much greater extent. Now, with Provisional Measure 910, all the big land grabbers are overjoyed and are attacking Indigenous people, quilombola communities, and small farmers with much more security, because they know there is a law protecting them. It is the right of Indigenous people, quilombola communities, and farmers to produce on these public lands, but now these lands will be expropriated for the benefit of the large landowners, as this process is designed to benefit them. Imagine the lands where peasants live and, at the same time, a large producer is disputing this space? The large landowners now have a license to kill and attack the workers. We are concerned because more and more laws are being made to prevent small farmers from accessing land. Therefore, violence has indeed increased, more than before. We are suffering from this violence and we are afraid of what lies ahead.
ISPN: What is your assessment of the environmental impacts resulting from this Provisional Measure?
Mary: It's not true that small farmers are the ones who destroy the environment the most. I am the daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of farmers, and I am a farmer myself. And we have always been careful not to burn where we shouldn't, to tend to our crops responsibly. The big farmers set fires to burn everything, anywhere and indiscriminately. It's the big farmers who open up large areas for planting and use large volumes of pesticides, contaminating the water and the environment. So, with large areas ceded to large producers, what are they going to do? Deforest first, set fire, and then graze cattle or raise their crops. If the legalization of land grabbing is actually implemented with this Provisional Measure, the strong tendency is that deforestation in Brazil will increase.
ISPN: What would a law look like that would legitimately meet the land regularization needs of small farmers?
Mary: First, there would have to be a serious property limit, a maximum of 4 fiscal modules for regularization without prior inspection, which is the number of modules for family farming [MP 910 expands the limit to up to 15]. Another point is that a broad registration should be carried out, starting from the recognition of the demarcation of indigenous lands, the titling of quilombola territories, and the recognition of the expropriation of large areas to meet agrarian reform. A regional study would also be necessary. It is impossible to create a Provisional Measure today at the national level thinking that it will cover the entire scope of the Brazilian territory. In the Northeast it's one reality, in the Amazon it's another, in the South too, etc… It needs to be discussed and debated with the peasants and their organizations; there should be a broad debate with civil society about access to land. And it shouldn't encourage large concentrations of land in the hands of a few. The government doesn't want to create a Provisional Measure that meets the demands of the people.
ISPN: Do you want to leave one last message?
Mary: We cannot give up in the face of all this dismantling, because this too shall pass; it will be difficult, but it will pass. We cannot become complacent in the face of this dismantling. We need to believe in the struggle, because the way out is through struggle and the organization of those who believe in a just and sustainable country.
Learn about the #MP910NO campaign.
ISPN has joined other civil society organizations in supporting the #MP910NO campaign, which aims to block the #LandGrabbingProvisionalMeasures. To support, visit [website address]. www.saldaodaamazonia.org.br and put pressure on lawmakers in a simple and quick way.
The Campaign brings together: Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), Socio-environmental Institute (ISA), WWF Brazil, Akatu Institute, Climate Observatory (OC), Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc), Institute for Democracy and Sustainability (IDS), Collaborative Advocacy Network (RAC) and the Infrastructure Working Group (GT).