Lonesome death of Dorothy Strand.
A small example of a media story where the varying coverage of
it seemed to have a meaning all on its own was the murder of
Dorothy Stang last Saturday. The Washington Post gave this
77 words,two column inches, on page A29 the next day. The Washington
Post that invincible Sword of Justice's coverage: a 79 year old
American nun, a missionary of the order Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur,
was shot to death a close range by two gunmen near the town of Anapu in
Para Brazil.
The BBC ran a piece on this, Reuters ran a piece, the CS Monitor
ran a piece. All several times more in depth than the Posts "in brief"
coverage. It may be a murder but all these article indicate it's no
mystery. From Reuters American Nun Shot Dead in Brazil's Amazon:
"The logging companies work with a threat logic. ... They elaborate a
list of leaders, and then a second movement appears to eliminate those
people," Stang told the magazine. "If I get a stray bullet ... we know
exactly who did it." The Monitor article adds that "1,379 rural workers
have been killed in land conflicts in Brazil since the commission began
keeping records in 1985... Over the past 20 years, only 80 people have
been convicted on charges stemming from the killings." (Death of nun shows peril of Amazon activism | csmonitor.com)
Later in the week the Post did cover the funeral. As well Amy Goodman
Democracy Now! Headlines for February 18, 2005
reported the President of Brazil cut short a trip out of the country,
and sent in 2000 troops to restore order, admitting that that isn't
enough to restore justice. In that part of Brazil its all about the
land straight enviro's are safe, land reformist are not. The 37
biggest landowners own more land than the 2.5 million smallest ones
I suppose someone will step forward to point out that the
agriculural workers in Brazil live above bare substinance survival and
ought to be content with this victory of their class.
4:47:40 PM  ;;
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