On Tuesday November 23, the São Paulo Court of Justice authorized the eviction of 450 families living in the Marielle Vive camp of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), in Valinhos (SP). The decision is in response to a repossession suit filed by El Dorado Empreendimentos Imobiliários Farm, which holds the property records of the area.
The court order contradicts Law 14.216/21, enacted by Congress in October of this year and which suspends forced removals until Dec. 31 due to the health crisis.
The families of the camp have been living there for more than three years and seven months. In 2018, when the area was occupied, the farm was kept abandoned and unproductive by its notary owner.
In response to this eviction order, Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad stand in solidarity with the residents of the camp and call for the evictions to be halted:
Four hundred and fifty families are at risk of being evicted from the Marielle Vive Camp by local authorities in Valinhos (Brazil). This camp is named after the socialist Marielle Franco leader murdered in March 2018. The residents of the camp – organized by the Landless Workers Movement (MST) – have transformed the abandoned land of a real estate speculator known as El Dorado into a genuine community with housing for the residents, a school, a community kitchen, and with agro-ecological farms. They have done all this over the past three years with minimal resources apart from their own ingenuity, their love, and the assistance from the MST. The local judiciary had offered the residents protection till 3 December 2021. After it expires, the residents live under the threat of expulsion.
The residents of the camp have a hashtag that tells you how they feel – #NatalSemDespejo or Christmas Without Eviction.
We join them, but then say further: No Eviction, Ever.
To show your support with the Marielle Vive Camp sign here.