MST act has redress for Genoino and Palestinians – 01/27/2024 – Power

Ministers of the Lula (PT) government paid tribute to José Genoino, former president of the PT, in a political event this Saturday morning (27) in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement).

Minister of Labor, Luiz Marinho expressed “tribute and solidarity” to Genoino and said that he is suffering “persecution” for defending the cause of the Palestinian people.

Paulo Teixeira, Minister of Agrarian Development, also expressed solidarity with Genoino and the Palestinians, calling for an end to the war in the Middle East. “That is cruel and we will protest against that cruelty in every way,” he said.

The event took place at the Florestan Fernandes National School, in Guararema (SP). The MST was founded in January 1984, at the movement’s 1st National Meeting, in Cascavel (PR).

Last Saturday (20), Genoino participated in a YouTube program on the left-wing website Diário do Centro do Mundo. In it, he defended the boycott of Jewish companies in Brazil when asked about the support given at the beginning of the year by President Lula to the complaint presented by South Africa to the International Court of Justice for Israel’s alleged genocide in the war against the terrorist group Hamas.

Genoino’s speech was repudiated by Conib (Israeli Confederation of Brazil). “It is anti-Semitic speech, and anti-Semitism is a crime in Brazil,” said the entity, which asked the government for moderation in relation to the conflict. Genoino then repudiated Conib’s note, denied being anti-Semitic and stated he had an obligation to denounce the “genocide of the Israeli government against the Palestinian people.”

This Saturday, throughout the event, MST leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the slow progress in agrarian reform settlements in the first year of Lula’s third term.

Teixeira stated that the government and the MST will establish a “climate of mutual criticism” — that the MST will criticize the PT administration and that the government will criticize the movement when it diverges from the adopted strategies. He also said that both will build an environment of partnership to “put agrarian reform to work.”