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Article

9 Nov 2016

Author:
Marcel Gomes, Repórter Brasil (Brazil)

Brazil: Repórter Brasil celebrates 15 years of fighting against slave labour, exposing companies that benefit from exploiting workers & the environment

“Repórter Brasil at 15-Article written on the occasion of Repórter Brasil’s 15th anniversary argues that a civil society organization working with media should promote human rights, identify victims and perpetrators and, above all, expose the system”, 4 Nov 2016

...One cannot conceive journalism unless it is guided by advocacy of the rights denied to people...That is what Repórter Brasil tries to do...[:]...interview people in the outskirts, villages and communities...historically forgotten...[. R]eport on the humanity of those who have been systematically dehumanized...[:]...people from...Maranhão who were enslaved in cattle ranches in Pará;...Indians who lost their land to large soy farmers in Mato Grosso do Sul;...Bolivian women nursing babies while sowing at workshops in São Paulo...[T]raditional media has not been able to extend its critical coverage of governments to large companies. Perhaps their need for advertising funds is a hypothesis...[C]ivil society organizations that work with journalism and do not depend on ad money have the potential to place corporations at the center of the human rights debate. Repórter Brasil is such an example...[R]eports have revealed connections of major global brands such as Coca-Cola and Zara with cases of slave labor; of Bunge and Raízen with the purchase of raw materials in areas claimed by Indians; of JBS and Brasil Foods with deforestation in the Amazon...that benefited from exploiting workers or the environment...[T]here are plenty of cases...[not isolated]...where States and transnational corporations operate together to violate people’s rights, playing the villain’s role in class struggle...[T]hat’s how the system works, often supported by State funding and...legislation...[W]e need to identify victims and abusers. Not just describing cases, but exposing the system – that’s what I hope Repórter Brasil will be able to do even strongly in the next 15 years...

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