Meu café da manhã geralmente não consiste em uma explicação sobre o poder de salvar sementes como uma forma de resistência contra o desenvolvimento da agricultura para o lucro em vez do povo, ou a necessidade para lutar contra a atrocidade da barragem hidroelétrica Belo Monte, que está forçando mais de 20 mil indígenas na Amazônia a sair de suas casas e comunidades. Meu café da manhã tipicamente não é seguido por uma caravana de bici-pé de dois dias percorrendo comunidades do sertão no nordeste do Brasil, que inclui duas pessoas que andavam de bicicleta mais de 8 mil kilômetros para ajudar a expôr os efeitos devastadores dos agronegócios no documentário. Mas neste dia foi. // My breakfast doesn’t typically consist of an explanation behind the power of seed saving as a means of resistance against agricultural development for profit rather than people, or the need to fight against the atrocity of the Belo Monte hydro-electric dam that’s displacing more than 20 thousand indigenous people in the Amazon. My breakfast isn’t then usually followed by a two-day bici-pé caravan to communities in the sertão of Northeastern Brazil that includes two people who rode more than five thousand miles to help expose the devastating effects of modern agriculture in a documentary. But on this day it was.

Sunset in Barra do Leme

[Bici-pé: Um termo usado por Inácio para definir o ato de andar alternadamente a pé e com uma bicicleta, como meio de transporte] //
[Bici-pé: A term used by Inácio to define the act of interchangeably riding and walking a bicycle for transportation]

Nossa caravana de bici-pé pedalava-caminhava saindo do assentamento Barra do Leme, por uma descida conduzindo até um açude brilhante com água usada para beber a nossa esquerda, com uma verde agrofloresta florescendo a nossa direita. Um caminho vermelho alaranjado entre as duas paisagens, com areia estalando ao nossos pneus-pés, debaixo de um sol forte palpitando constantemente. Eu me sentia absolutamente eufórica. Meu nível de energia quando começamos a caravana só era comparável ao movimento que fazia para a frente na bicicleta verde escura, amava profundamente, e sem freios; o que quase me atirou ao chão pelas ladeiras do sertão, e me guiando com um brilho imparável. // As our bici-pé caravan pedal-walked away from the land settlement Barra do Leme, a slope leading to a glistening lake for drinking water on our left, flourishing verde permaculture to our right, separated by a red-orange crunchy path of sand perpetually pounded by the scorching sun, I was absolutely giddy. My energy level was only comparable to the forward motion of a dark green, thoroughly-loved bicycle sem freios that was about to throw me down the hills of the sertão, and guide me with an unstoppable brilliance.

Viktor Pereira helps prepare the bikes for the carravan

[Sem Freios: Literalmente, uma bicicleta sem freios; movimento para a frente, sem a capacidade de parar] //
[Sem Freios: Literally, without brakes; forward motion without the ability to stop.]

–

Depois de 10 dias revigorantes no encontro de Ciclovida, alguns de nós dos Estados Unidos que estavam há mais tempo no Brasil, voltamos para nossas barracas no assentamento, depois de passar algum tempo em Fortaleza. A caravana de bici-pé era uma continuação e conclusão das duas semanas passadas, onde eu tive o privilégio de aprender, andar de bicicleta, cozinhar, conversar, construir, conhecer pessoas, e dançar com um grupo incrível de aproximadamente 60 ativistas – incluindo Inácio e Ivania do Ciclovida: Lifecycle, aqueles/as que são de verdade algumas das pessoas mais inspiradas e dedicadas que eu encontrei – das várias regiões do Brasil, e dos Estados Unidos no encontro de Ciclovida. // After an invigorating ten days on the Ciclovida encontro, a few of us from the United States who were staying in Brazil longer, returned to our tents at the settlement, after some time back in the city of Fortaleza. The bici-pe caravan was an incredible continuation and conclusion of those two weeks, where I had the privilege of learning, biking, cooking, conversing, building, connecting, and dancing with an incredible group of about 60 activists – including Inácio and Ivania from Ciclovida: Lifecycle, who are truly some of the most inspirational, dedicated people I have ever met – from various regions throughout Brazil, and the United States for a Ciclovida encontro.

One of several natural-building projects in its beggining stages: a health and healing house

A primeira parte do encontro consistia em visitas de solidariedade a comunidade indígena de Jenipapo-Kanindé, a comunidade rural do Chapada do Apodi, um assentamento do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra e a Comunidade do Trilho em Fortaleza. Durante estas visitas nós aprendemos sobre as várias lutas que estas comunidades estão travando concernente direitos da terra, poluição da água de empresários grandes como Ypióca, e uso intensivo de pesticidas dos agronegócios. Também a deslocamento criado por projetos do Copo do Mundo acontecendo na cidade. // The first portion of the encontro involved solidarity visits to several communities, such as the indigenous community of Jenipapo-Kanide, the rural community of Chapada do Apodi, a Movement of Landless Rural Workers settlement, and the train-track community in Fortaleza, Comunidade do Trilho. During these visits we learned about the various struggles concerning land rights, pollution from large companies like Ypioca, which primarily produces the sugar cane rum Cachaça, agro-businesses’ intensive use of pesticides and water pollution, as well as displacement caused by numerous World Cup projects happening in the city.

Looking out from a dune at the indigenous community of Jenipopa-Kanide. Above, a water source for the community that has been largely polluted by Ypióca.

A segunda parte do encontro convergiu na Barra do Leme, no assentamento do Ciclovida, uma ocupação de terra, onde se mantém um banco de sementes com fim de preservar-lás e um lugar de resistência coletiva contra o monopólio e controle que grandes empresas do agronegócio (como Monsanto e Cargill) sobre as sementes, e assim das vidas dos humanos. Na Barra do Leme, nós experimentamos uma vivência coletiva, aprendendo com os companheiros por meio de oficinas e conversas, fazendo bio-construção – tal como uma casa de médicos construída de argila e cana de açúcar, também uma cisterna grande, um gerador de “bike-power” (energia de bicicleta), com a ajuda de pessoas muito legais. Também houve um intenso intercambio entre idiomas, discutimos movimentos sociais, colaboramos com esforços de mídia, e, ultimamente, como o movimento de Ciclovida pode continuar (para mais detalhes, lê o blog post na escrita ótima de Ashley Trull: http://ciclovidatour.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/resistencia-convivencia-creatividade-e-solidariedade-at-the-ciclovida-encontro-in-brazil/). //
The second portion of the encontro converged at Barra do Leme, at the Ciclovida settlement, or land occupation, which acts as a seed saving bank and a place of collective resistance against the monopoly and control that large agro-businesses (like Monsanto and Cargill) exert over seeds, and thus the lives of human beings. At Barra do Leme, we lived collectively, learned from each other through workshops and conversation, did some awesome natural building – such as a medical house built from clay and sugar cane, as well as a large cistern, and bike-powered generator with the help of natural building folks. We shared languages, discussed social movements, collaborated media efforts, and, ultimately, how the Ciclovida movement can move forward (for more details, read Ashley Trull’s beautifully-written blog post: http://ciclovidatour.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/resistencia-convivencia-creatividade-e-solidariedade-at-the-ciclovida-encontro-in-brazil/).

–

Quando uma amiga e colega de trabalho me deu um email sobre o encontro de Ciclovida, eu sabia, imediatamente, que queria participar, já que estava planejando uma volta ao Brasil. Tenho um interesse forte em agricultura sustentável e direitos da terra, especialmente depois da programa que eu fiz com o School for International Tranining, dois anos atrás no região. Antes de me encontrar com as pessoas, eu não poderia ter idéia, e nem teria como verdadeiramente saber da rede incrível de pessoas que eu encontraria e passaria a fazer parte. //
When a friend and co-worker of mine passed along an email about the Ciclovida encontro, I immediately knew I wanted to participate as I was already planning a trip to Brazil, and have a strong interest in sustainable agriculture and land rights, particularly after the School for International Training program I did two years ago in the region. Before meeting up with folks, however, I did not, and could not, truly understand the incredible network of people I was about to meet and become a part.

Ivania explains natural remedies involving clay

Eu sinto que entrei em algo muito maior que eu mesma, uma família, uma rede internacional, lutando pelos mesmos valores que defendo: vida humana, meio ambiente e a libertação desse sistema destrutivo. Até pouco tempo eu me sentia pessimista, antes de vir para o encontro, quando eu estava nos Estados Unidos. Mas esse pessimismo que eu sentia foi superado, e eu me senti revigorada pela paixão, altruísmo e dedicação das pessoas que participavam do encontro. Eu aprendi muito sobre viver coletivamente, sobre permacultura, a possibilidade real de criar espaços por fora do capitalismo, movimentos sociais, remédios naturais, e enfim, o mais importante, nas palavras de Ivania: “uma relação nova com a terra.” //
I feel like I’ve entered something so much larger than myself, an international family, a network fighting for what I value: human life, the environment, and liberation from a destructive system. My recent cynicism in the United States was quickly forgotten, and I was reinvigorated by the passion, selflessness, and dedication of those participating in the encontro. I learned an extensive amount about collective living, permaculture, the real possibility to create spaces outside of capitalism, social movements, natural remedies, and ultimately, and most importantly, in Ivania’s words: “uma nova relação com a terra.”

["Uma nova relação com a terra": uma relação explicou por Ivania como a recuparação da relação que foi perdido quando capitalismo interviu no campo; um relação em que agricultores tem autonomia e controle das sementes (e não estão usando sementes modificados), comunidades compartilha sementes naturaís, e um entendimento das sementes é parte da cultura]

[“Uma nova relação com a terra”: a new relationship with the land; a relationship explained by Ivania as essentially a recovery of the one that was lost when capitalism intervened in the countryside; one in which farmer have autonomy and control over their seeds (and aren´t using genetically modified seeds), communties share natural seeds, and understanding seeds is part of the culture] 

–

Screening and discussion of Ciclovida: Lifecycle in the rural community of Erva Moura

As imagens do documentário do Ciclovida passavam na tela da televisão em amarelo e cinza nos contornos da América do Sul durante a caravana nas vizinhas comunidades rurais. Duas imagens de Inácio e Ivania sentados ao lado um do outro – uma delas na televisão, e a outra imagem com eles em pessoa – na escola da comunidade Macacos e na casa da presidente do assentamento Erva Moura. . // Images of the Ciclovida documentary flashed on the television screen in yellow and gray outlines of South America during our caravan to the neighboring rural communities. Dual images of Inacio and Ivanha sat beside each other — one on the television screen, and the other in person — in the school of the Macacos community, and in the settlement´s president´s house in Erva Moura. 

Depois de bater nas portas das casas, convidando as pessoas para assistir a projeção do filme e discussão, nas duas noites, muitas pessoas deram seu tempo para sentar com a gente e discutir o papel da agricultura na comunidade, assim como o uso de agrotóxicos, a monocultura e a modificação genética das sementes. Nossa caravana não precisava viajar muito longe – aproximadamente 30 kilometros de viagem total – para ter conversas poderosas e interessantes com as pessoas. Pessoas abriram suas portars numa maneira para que eu estava consistentemente agradavel  durante este encontro. //
After knocking on doors and inviting people to come to a screening and discussion, on both nights, numerous people took the time to sit with us, and discuss the role of agriculture in the community, as well as the use of agro-toxins, monoculture, and genetic modification of seeds. Our caravan didn’t need to travel far – about 30 kilometers round trip — to have powerful, interesting conversations with folks. People opened their doors to us in a way that I have been consistently grateful for throughout this trip.

Second film screening and discussion in the rural community of Macacos

O sete de nós sem duvida levou a energia coletiva e entusiasmo do encontro com a gente, como as rondas de nossas bicicletas girou em uníssono, nossas correntes quebraram e vizinhos amáveis repararam, nossos corpos suar até mergulhou no lagoas passando, e nosso português fluiu e teceu em conversa tanto quando poderíamos esticá-la. Eu fui atirado em baixo das ladeiras do sertão sem freios, e eu era guiado com uma energia imparável, a crença de que alternativas realmente são possíveis – todo com a preservação do “Ciclo de Vida.” //
The seven of us undoubtedly carried the collective energy and enthusiasm of the encontro with us, as our bicycles wheels spun in unison, our chains broke and were repaired by kind neighbors, our bodies sweat until we dove into passing lakes, and our Portuguese flowed and wove into conversation as far as we could stretch it. I was thrown down the hills of the sertão sem freios, and guided along with an unstoppable energy, a belief and an actuality that alternatives really our possible – all with the preservation of the “lifecycle.” 

Our caravan -- pronto para começar

–Taylor Miles; Portuguese translation a collaborative effort with the generous help of Viktor Pereira

In Barra do Lemme, the home of the Ciclovida farm in northeast Brazil, it is not uncommon to find yourself surrounded by the buzzing, humming, zipping energy of bees. They seem to be everywhere: swarming around freshly cracked-open cane, curiously crawling into cups of juice, hovering over the bright colors of shirts and plants and skin. And it was that sort of bee-like buzzing energy, curiosity, and sense of community that for me was characteristic of the Ciclovida Encontro. It was a 10-day gathering of activists and ecologists of all ages: 35 coming from Brazil, 23 from the United States, 2 from Chile, and 1 from the Netherlands to learn together, exchange ideas, and take action for environmental justice, autonomy, and a new relationship with a land. For me, it was an incredible gathering that pulled together an incredible (and incredibly large) group of various overlapping values, visions, and passions, but all with different paths and forms of action. Looking back, for me it was mainly an experience of resistencia, convivencia (co-living), creatividade, and solidariedade.

Building – Construindo
Um novo mundo
Juntos
With our minds and our hearts and our hands
We stand
In a pit of mud
A mired mess
Of sticks and clay and cane grass
Of capitalism and oppression
Of injustice

We learned about many different communities in struggle and the different forms resistance is taking here in Brazil. During the first half of the Encontro we had the incredible privilege of visiting various communities here in the northeast of Brazil in the state of Ceará. Our first stop was Jenipapo-Caninde, an indigenous community south of Fortaleza that has been struggling for a long time for a right to their land. They have lived on the land for generations and generations, and only in recent decades suddenly had contact with capitalism and development projects that tried to move in on their lands. The people of Jenipapo-Caninde organized against a resort development project that was going to be built on their land, struggled to have their land demarcated by the state as protected, and continue to resist against Ypioca, a huge sugar cane alcohol (cachaça) company here in Brazil that is using up and polluting the lake water of the Jenipapo-Caninde community. We got to speak with members of the community here and Chief Pequena, one of the only woman chiefs in the network of indigenous communities in the Northeast.

Raquel, one of the youth at Jenipapo-Caninde, showed us the community museum, explaining the history of her community and their struggle

The struggle of Jenipapo-Caninde is closely connected to another community we visited, the Tomé community in Chapada de Apodi who live on a plateau where it is difficult to get water. Agribusiness has moved in and started pumping water up the plateau, not for the people, but to irrigate vast plantations. The water resources of people in Tomé are being poisoned by the company´s pesticide use and pollution. They have been organizing for years against agribusiness´ crimes there and have been a strong force. One of the leaders in resistance from the community, Zé Maria, was assassinated for his prominent role in fighting against the companies destroying his community.

The third community we visited was the Comunidade do Trilho, the train-track community here in Fortaleza. The community here is organizing in resistance to World Cup development projects that are intended to displace thousands of people living along an already-existing train track. The community is a struggling, poor community that has been marginalized by the city and the state, which have given the people living here no voice and no say in the development happening in preparation for the World Cup in 2014. The plan, for which construction is expected to start shortly in a couple weeks, is to build a passenger train alongside the existing freight line, requiring the demolition of the houses of all these people, rather than the demolition of high-rises and commercial centers on the other side of the existing train tracks.

Talking with folks at the Comunidade do Trilho (train track community), about the World Cup development projects

In all of these visits, we had the incredible opportunity to talk with people on the frontlines of organizing against these injustices of agribusiness, capitalism, and the state. I personally took away a deep sense of courage and admiration for people and communities who are living resistance, every day, together with the people around them, because that is what they must do to live. I felt an incredible sense of shared history, shared identity, and tightly-knit community within the communities we visited and hope I can carry that sense back with me when I return to the United States, to my community, where resistance, for me and people of my racial and class background, often is viewed as more of a choice than a necessity.

But we dig our feet deep
And we reach our hands in
Because we see beauty
And potential
In the changing form
This brown muck could take

An afternoon meeting

The second part of the Encontro was spent at Barra do Lemme, a land settlement that the Ciclovida farm is part of, where we had the incredible experience of the culture of convivencia there on the farm. I´ll never forget the incredible feeling of the first night at the farm when we had our first opening circle, 50 people sitting in our opening circle, with that sort of buzzing energy, finishing dinner as Ivania opened up the Encontro on the farm saying, “We are here to live together, learn together, and work together, sharing in our resistance and building a new world in resistance to and outside of capitalism.” I felt this surge of excitement to think that this could be possible and all of the faces, all of these people, would share with me in doing that. The following 5 days were spent living an ideal sort of life, all sharing the work of constructing projects that foster autonomy, sharing in the tasks of cooking and cleaning, sharing food, exchanging ideas, sharing poetry, songs, and music, celebrating together, and taking care of each other. Every day we would wake up, have breakfast together that was prepared by a group of people who started their day´s work 2 hours prior, make announcements about the projects and activities of the day, break off to do work for 4 or 5 hours (each person free to go to projects as they desired), regroup for lunch mid-day, take an hour or two to rest, jump in the reservoir, take a nap, take a walk during the hottest hours of the day, then gravitate back to the projects to work more in the afternoon, re-group for workshops and discussions early evening, have dinner, then have activities after dinner like workshops, presentations, discussions, open-mics, and even a foho dance one night!

We can make
Beautiful creations
From the scraps and wreckage
Of a broken system
We hold it in our hands
Even as it cuts us
Breaking our skin
There is pain
And courage
In the act of
Building something new

Working together on the natural building "healing house"

For me one of the main sentiments I experienced during the Encontro was the incredible sense of creativity. Together we physically accomplished constructing a cistern and filter system that will catch water and then filter it so it is potable. We completed a bike-power system that uses 3 pedaling stations to produce energy stored in a battery.  We constructed a healing house out of all natural materials found on the land there that will be a place for people in the community to receive and share natural therapy and treatment. Less tangibly, we built incredible strong connections between ourselves and our movements and our projects. I was incredibly inspired by the creativity of folks working on media during the Encontro: capturing stories, experiences, and moments with video, photo, and recording. As well as folks who created poetry, music, food and drawings; all of these things created using the resources at hand.  We talked about our movements and what we hope to create in the future moving forward together; we surely have built an incredible foundation for collaborating and working in solidarity with each other.

But our actions
Are rooted in love
And we will heal
Ourselves
The world
Each other
Taking care of one another
Through pain
Through borders
Through the hurt we feel in division
Forced upon us by capitalism
We are cut
We bleed
But together will heal
And grow
Like this wild forest
Bringing life and wonder
And resistance
In what others have deemed a dry forsaken place
But in it we see
Fertility
Potential

And to me, this experience of solidarity is much deeper than any I have ever talked about before because it is rooted in the personal relationships and friendships we built during this experience. It is the power of understanding more deeply that there are people organizing and struggling in other parts of the world at the same time and with shared purpose. The power of knowing we are organizing and struggling for each other and with each other. In general I just feel so grateful to have had this experience of connecting with folks from different parts of the world to openly and explicitly share in the struggle against capitalism and for autonomy, horizontalism, and a new relationship with the land and with each other. This experience has built a strong network of solidarity and shared resistance that will continue to build as we move forward together, overlaying this new set of connections with the other movements and connections we all already have. I hope you´ll be a part of this with me as we continue to work together!

Against all odds
We will take root and reach upward
In spite of beating sun and crippling heat
Dryness wearing at our feet
We will take what has been tossed away
And make art of it
We will revive what we can
And evolve as we can
Taking lessons from the ants
And the plants
And the snails
And the fungi
And the fish
Because we all wish
To be whole again
Part of the cycle
The ecology
Exchange
Interchange
Interdependence
We are descendants
Of a long-time-life
We are ripe
For change

-Ashley Trull

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