October 2003 Archive 

Crunch time for Lula "We are following the example given to us by Lula," said Joao Paulo Rodrigues - one of the leaders of Brazil’s powerful Landless Movement (MST). "He taught us how to organise the people and to struggle. He is our reference point." Rodrigues was addressing thousands of people marching for agrarian reform in Pontal do Paranapanema, a huge area of disputed land to the extreme west of the state of Sao Paulo. He was defending the MST against accusations of "lawlessness" made by enraged landowners.

Lord Hutton and all that Anyone who comments on the proceedings of the Hutton Inquiry, and the mountain of documentation it has produced, is in danger of succumbing to the same loss of a sense of proportion that the inquiry itself represents. So, to keep things in perspective I think it would be useful to recall some basic facts.

Sacking the Ministry of Truth "People here are concerned with the real issues," said the minister glowering at us, as if to say "not the issues you want to ask me about".