Leaked documents show Brazil’s Bolsonaro has grave
plans for Amazon rainforest
DemocraciaAbierta
had access to PowerPoints from a meeting between members of the Bolsonaro
government. The slides show that the current government intends to use the
president's hate speech to diminish the power of minorities living in the
region and to implement predatory projects that could have a devastating
environmental impact for the Amazon. EspañolPortuguese
21 August 2019
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DemocraciaAbierta had access to
PowerPoints from a meeting that took place earlier this year in the state of
Pará between members of the Bolsonaro government. The slides show that the
current government intends to use the president's hate speech to diminish the
power of minorities living in the region and to implement predatory projects
that could have a devastating environmental impact for the Amazon.
The Bolsonaro government has as one of its
priorities to strategically occupy the Amazon region to prevent the
implementation of multilateral conservation projects for the rainforest,
specifically the so-called “Triple A” project.
"Development projects must be
implemented on the Amazon basin to integrate it into the rest of the national
territory in order to fight off international pressure for the implementation
of the so-called 'Triple A' project. To do this, it is necessary to build the
Trombetas River hydroelectric plant, the Óbidos bridge over the Amazon River,
and the implementation of the BR-163 highway to the border with Suriname,"
one of slides read.
One of the tactics cited in the document is to redefine the
paradigms of indigenism, quilombolism and environmentalism through the lenses
of liberalism and conservatism
In February, ministers Gustavo Bebianno (Secretary-General of the Presidency), Ricardo Salles (Environment) and Damares Alves (Women, Family and Human Rights) traveled to Tiriós (Pará) to speak with local leaders about the construction of a bridge over the Amazon River in the city of Óbidos, a hydroelectric plant in Oriximiná, and the expansion of the BR-163 highway to the Suriname border.
During
the meeting, the ministers used a PowerPoint presentation that detailed the
projects announced by the Bolsonaro government for the region. The presentation
argues that a strong government presence in the Amazon region is important to
prevent any conservation projects from taking roots.
The
slides are clear. Before any predatory plan is implemented, the strategy begins
with rhetoric. Bolsonaro's hate speech already shows that the plan is working.
The Amazon is on fire. It's been burning for weeks and not even those who live
in Brazil were fully aware. Thanks to the efforts of local communities with the
help of social networks, the reality is finally going viral.
The
online reaction is far from being sensationalist. This year alone, Brazil had 72,000 fire outbreaks,
half of which are in the Amazon. The National Institute for Space Research
(Inpe) reported that its satellite data showed an 84% increase on the same
period in 2018.
The Amazon rainforest provides
20% of the world's oxygen. People are deliberately starting fires in effort to
illegally deforest land for cattle ranching. President Bolsonaro is letting
this slide!! #AmazonRainforest
#PrayforAmazonas
Attacking non-governmental organizations is part of the Bolsonaro government's strategy. According to another of the PowerPoint's slide, the country is currently facing a globalist campaign that "relativizes the National Sovereignty in the Amazon Basin," using a combination of international pressure and also what the government called "psychological oppression" both externally and internally.
This
campaign mobilizes environmental and indigenous rights organizations, as well
as the media, to exert diplomatic and economic pressure on Brazilian
institutions. The conspiracy also encourages minorities – mainly indigenous and quilombola (residents of settlements
founded by people of African origin who escaped slavery) – to act with the
support of public institutions at the federal, state and municipal levels. The
result of this movement, they say in the presentation, restricts "the
government's freedom of action".
Those are, according to
a slide, "the new hopes for the Homeland: Brazil above everything!"
So it is
unsurprising that Bolsonaro's response to the fires comes in the form of an
attack on NGOs. On Wednesday, August 21, Bolsonaro said he believed
non-governmental organizations could be behind the fires as a tactic "to
draw attention against me, against the government of Brazil.".
Bolsonaro did not cite names of NGOs and, when asked if he has
evidence to support the allegations, he said there were no written records of
the suspicions. According to the president, NGOs may be retaliating against his
government's budget cuts. His government cut 40 percent of international
transfers to NGOs, he added.
Part of the government's strategy of circumventing this globalist
campaign is to depreciate the relevance and voices of minorities that live in
the region, transforming them into enemies. One of the tactics cited in the
document is to redefine the paradigms of indigenism, quilombolism and
environmentalism through the lenses of liberalism and conservatism, based on
realist theories. Those are, according to a slide, "the new hopes for the
Homeland: Brazil above everything!"
(From Open Democracy) 21 August 2019
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