Seven months after the American nun who organized the settlement was shot to death, the conflicts over land ownership that led to her killing not only remain unresolved but are intensifying. Roman Catholic church leaders and peasant residents her maintain.
Dorothy Mae Stang, 74, born in Dayton Ohio, who belonged to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is buried at the spot on the rutted road where on a Saturday morning in February gunmen opened fire, shooting her several times in the chest.
But the Brazilian government's pledges to make land distribution fairer while it establishes its own authority in this violence-ridden corner of the Amazon have proved hollow.
The above is from Larry Rohter's "Brazil's Lofty Promises After Nun's Killing Prove Hollow" in this morning's New York Times. Eli, Charlie and Kara e-mailed to spotlight this article.
For background on Stang from this site, you can start with "This morning's Times: Nuclear site, Dorothy Stang, threats against judges, the Coast Guard, etc." and "Democracy Now: the death of Dorothy Stang . . .; ACLU; Goodman; BuzzFlash."
Note Democracy Now!'s "Murder in the Amazon: A U.S.-Born Nun and Environmentalist is Gunned Down in Brazil For Opposing Rainforest Logging" for a comprehsive look at Stang.
Rod e-mails to note the scheduled topics for today's Democracy Now!:
We talk with journalist Naomi Klein about how New Orleans could house a large number of the city's poor evacuees without having to build a single new structure. We also talk with Democracy Now correspondent Jeremy Scahill about private security firms patrolling the streets of New Orleans.
We're running late. Elaine, Rebecca and I have been going through the e-mails and the paper. We've got another entry almost completed but Kat just arrived. (We're all staying at ____'s house to be in D.C. for the protests. Thanks to ____ for that.) In the usual, "How was your trip?", et al., we're a little less focused and the next entry will go momentarily. Elaine will be responding to Laurie Goodstein's latest article (that's already in the post) and will be noting some things outside of the Times as well. (Jim's driving with Ava, Dona, Jess and Ty and if they arrive before we get the next post up, it could be even later than 15 minutes from now.)
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
