Social Movements in Cuba and Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social Movements in Cuba and Brazil - Essay fountThere are definite trends that social movements in the Americas face, issues that perplex united them. U.S. imperial aggression have increased, with the expansion of U.S. military bases, the revival of the U.S. Navys 4th Fleet, and an increase in covert trading operations by the U.S. against South American nations like Venezuela and Bolivia. Social movements have had to fight bilateral trade agreements by the U.S. and the EU in individual nations throughout the region. Cities and towns throughout the Americas have been under attack for the exploitation and master (through trade, energy, and security agreements) of natural resources such as grunge, water, and energy this has resulted in global warming, as wellhead as other worsening environmental and health impacts. The most serious impact of the gap left by multinational organizations is the criminalization of social movements. Internal security laws, modeled after the U.S. Patri ot Act and commonwealth of origin Security department, have been adopted by Latin American governments. In other words, political impedance to neoliberal strategies has been violently repressed, in the form of interrogations, the monitoring of social organizations by national governments, and political assassinations. As Hector de la Cuerva of the Mexican Network Against Free Trade (RMALC) has stated, The face of neoliberalism is now militarism. In 1996, well before 9/11, Brazil used these kinds of tactics to suppress social movements. On April 17, 1,500 families of landless peasants devising up unmatchable of these movements, the Movement of the Landless (MST), gathered near the town of Eldorado do Carajas, demanding land reform because in Brazil, only 1% of the population owns 50% of farmable land.3 The police opened fire on the protestors, killing almost two dozen and wounding dozens more. Ever since, the MST has worked for justice for victims of the massacre. One modality was declaring April 17 as International Day of Peasant Struggle and by fighting for agrarian reform, equality, justice, and stillness for both the landless peasants in Brazil and throughout the world. In Cuba, the situation for social movements is a catch different. The fact that the Cuban government is socialist and shares many of the same values and beliefs as many of the countrys social movements helps the situation for these organizations. Fortunately for Brazil, Cuban-Brazilian relations have been excellent in May 2008 and Brazilian President Lula da Silva expressed desire for Brazil to be Cubas number one partner.4 One of the worst things that could have happen to social movements in Cuba was the collapse of the Soviet sexual union in 1989, which as political scientist George Zarur has stated, represented a national catastrophe for Cuba.5 Up to that point, Cubas economy was entirely dependent upon the Soviet Union, which subsidized the Cuban economy between four and sextet billion dollars per year, making up 20-40 percent of its GNP. It also enjoyed a monopoly for sugar production for