 Over the past week, thousands of landless women workers in Brazil took part in mobilizations in defense of land, biodiversity, and the rights of the working class. These women, who were organized by the landless workers movement, the MST, were agitating against the pro-corporate policies of the government and its alliance with imperialist international capital that threatens not only their livelihood but the very planet itself. In this episode of Around the World in 8 Minutes, a show by People's Dispatch. We look at this mobilization as well as protests in France and Algeria. The most significant protest in Brazil took place on March 9, Monday, when women workers occupied the Ministry of Agriculture in the capital, Brasilia. 3,500 workers from 24 states in Brazil participated in the protest, which was part of the national days of struggle of the landless women. The workers condemned the distribution of individual titles for plots of land that are meant to be settlements as part of agrarian reform. They also condemned the far-right-wing Jair Bolsonaro government for cuts in public investment and the unchecked spread of agrotoxin. The issue of individual titles is significant as it regularizes the selling of plots that have been redistributed as part of agrarian reform, thus hitting at the heart of the process. It also enables the National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform, INCRA, to control collective areas in the settlements, where schools and centers of political education are organized. The MST for decades has been in the forefront of the land reform process by organizing land occupations by collectives, where a lot of emphasis is placed on community efforts and spaces. Schools and community centers are an integral part of these occupations and the settlements that come around them. And a step by the government is being seen as an attack on the community-based nature of land reform that has been pioneered by the MST. The protesters also condemned the sharp dip in investment in various social programs. This sharp dip is about 46 billion rears in about six years. The MST pointed out that during this period, unemployment has led to steep rises in the number of people without homes and food in Brazil, and the country has returned to the hunger map, a study done by the FAO. The situation has been worsened by laws such as the one that weakens the National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform. Similarly, the decree also ends the national program of the education of agrarian reform, PRONERA, and other programs that give incentives to people living on settlements and self-sustaining communities. A similar fate awaits the program of food acquisition, which is likely to see a budget cut of around 80 million rears according to the MST. This year, the budget is estimated to be only rears 101 million. The MST also condemned the determination of the Bolsonaro government to privatize land in a manner which will promote environmental destruction. A recent law, for instance, excludes from environmental protection 4,745 hectares of flora in the states of Amapa and Urima, thus opening the wave of mining in these lands. The law will also make rules about regularization more flexible, which would enable large-scale land grabbing where criminal elements the MST pointed out. Similarly, according to the Ministry of Agriculture itself, 474 agrotoxins were liberated in 2019. This is the greatest number released in the past 15 years. The landless women workers of Brazil are said to continue these struggles in the coming months, standing firm against the anti-people government of GER Bolsonaro. In our next story, researchers in France have initiated a massive protest against a new multi-annual research programming law or the LPPR that has been proposed by the French government. The national coordination of the faculties and labs in struggle started a research strike from March 9th. More than 100 universities and schools, nearly 300 laboratories and 145 scientific journals in the humanities and the social sciences have expressed support for the protests called by the National Coordination Committee of Researchers. So what is this LPPR? The law aims to convert research vacancies in the country into limited period posts based on the duration of the projects carried out by research institutions. Such a move is likely to affect those who work in regular posts and has also created widespread discontent among tens of thousands of researchers and students who currently work in contract and temporary vacancies. This is because with this law, there will be no possibility of regular or permanent jobs in the future. Before the strike on March 9th, another protest on March 5th saw tens of thousands of researchers launch a mobilization against LPPR across the country. 20,000 people participated in the protest in Paris on March 5th. The law was first announced by Prime Minister Edward Philippe last year. The ministerial consultations for the law have concluded and the government is expected to introduce a draft bill soon. The secretary of the Union of Communist Students, Anais Fili, told People's Dispatch that the law sought to bring about neoliberal reform to the university space. She said that it would deepen inequalities, increase competition between researchers and degrade working conditions of both teacher researchers and students. She pointed out that a key aspect of the law was to anchor contracts only on projects while not funding public research or allowing these projects to be spread over a long time. Research work would thus become more precarious, she pointed out. The student activists drew connections between this protest and the massive countrywide movement over pension reform and added that faced with this scientific and social regression, the French university community is mobilizing with university staff, doctoral students and professors on the front line. It is clear that this blatant neoliberal reform from Macron will face stiff resistance from the students and the faculty of France. In our final story, the Algerian police on March 7th arrested at least 10 anti-government protesters, including Samir Ben-Larbi, a prominent activist who was part of the Iraq. The arrests were made during a protest march in the capital Algiers, which saw the participation of around 300 people. The police attempted to disperse the protesters in a heavy crackdown, preventing them from marching. Protests were also organized in cities like Constantine, Anaba and other larger cities in the eastern part of the country. The protesters condemned the endemic corruption plaguing the country and the government's attempts to curtail the citizen's right to free speech and expression. They also criticized the media, both the state-owned and the private channels, for not covering the protests fairly under governmental pressure. Protesters were seen waving the Algerian flag and carrying posters with the portrait of jailed political activist Karim Tabou. Tabou has been charged with contributing to weakening the army's morale and has been jailed for the past five months. People also demanded the release of Youth Action Rally President Abdel Wahab Farsoui and express concern for Taufiq Hassani, a policeman who was arrested for supporting the Iraq movement and could be dismissed as per police laws. Hassani was released last week and is now facing trial. After his release, he participated in the protests in Mauriz Adin Square and expressed his solidarity with protesters. Algerians have been on the streets for over a year, demanding drastic changes in the political and social systems. The massive protests known as the Iraq were successful in overthrowing long-time President Abdul Aziz Butafleqa in April last year. However, while the president resigned, his regime continues to wield power and his close associates occupy key posts in the country. The Iraq has been demanding that all vestiges of the Butafleqa regime give up power. That's all we have in this episode, around the world in eight minutes. To know more about these stories, visit our website, peoplesdispatch.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for watching.