#Brazil Populism Amazon Indigienous

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Special Issue: The Lungs of the World are on Fire

Image: Heat map dissecting regions in the Amazon that are under fire due to deforestation throughout the last ten years. Credit: (2018 Human Rights Watch)

The Amazon, home to hundreds of wild species, indigenous groups, and robust ecosystem is under fire. Thousands of fires are burning across the southern swath of the Amazon. The fires themselves are destructive, but their primary cause is more concerning. Most of the fires in the Amazon are due to deforestation. However, why are the amazon fires so important now, and how bad is it compared to the past?

 In a recent study done by Herton Escobar, a scientist in Brazils National Institute for Space Research (INPE) argues that deforestation is shooting up again in the Brazilian Amazon according to satellite monitoring data. In the image shown below, satellite data suggest 4,200 square kilometers of forest were burned in Brazil so far this year. Additionally, more than 50% more than in the same period last year.

   In America, when we experience a wild-fire within the country, we usually believe it is an accident and hope that rescue is on its way to calm the fire. However, in the Amazon, fires in the ecosystem are not regular, instead they have become intentional. 

The land in the Amazon has not changed; the heat has not changed; however, what has changed is the president in power. More specifically, President Jair Bolsanaro, who fired the head of Brazil’s space and research institute after he presented data and research  showcasing how deforestation had grown in the last year. Bolsanaro defends that that statistic is wrong, and that "environmental agencies are making up this information to make him look bad." ( BBC, 2019)

During his first year in office, President Bolsanaro showed little interest in preventing environmental catastrophes for his country. Bolsonaro rolled back environmental laws, weakened federal environmental agencies, and harshly convicted citizen organizations and individuals working to preserve the rainforest. (Human Rights Watch, 2019)

Amazon burns, but at what cost? 

Credit:  https://theintercept.com/2019/07/06/brazil-amazon-rainforest-indigenous-conservation-agribusiness-ranching/

"You have to understand that the Amazon is 'Brazil's, not yours," Bolsanaro said on Friday. "If all this devastation you accuse us of doing were done in the past, the Amazon would have stopped existing, and it would be a big desert." (Guardian, 2019) 

This quote above was taken from an article from the Guardian where Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro is speaking during a press conference about the international conflict of the Amazon. First, as an outsider, I found this quote to be rather odd. Why would a President have to prove his loyalty by defending his country's economic sovereignty over international laws? Secondly, what is the interest regarding the Amazon and who benefits from deforestation? 

Deforestation and illegal logging did not just begin with Bolsanaro. Corruption and greed play a significant role in Brazil's socioeconomic politics. As noted in the Human Rights Watch article titled, "Rainforest Mafias," deforestation and illegal logging date back to decades killing almost 300 people over the conflict of the use of land and resources in the Amazon- many of them by people involved in illegal logging, according to the article. ( Human Rights Watch, 2019)

Illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is driven largely by criminal networks that have the logistical capacity to coordinate large-scale extraction, processing, and sale of timber, while deploying armed men to protect their interests. Some environmental enforcement officials call these groups “ipe mafias,” referring to the ipe tree whose wood is among the most valuable and sought-after by loggers. These loggers’ ultimate goal is to clear the forest entirely to make room for cattle or crops.( Human Rights Watch, 2019)

 Displacement of Indigenous Groups 

Indigienous Children photographed within the forest during Zaitchick visit to the Amazon. Photo Credit:  Gabriel Ulchida

In the same article mentioned above by the Guardian, Bolsonaro continues, ""You want the indigenous people to carry on like prehistoric men with no access to technology, science, information, and the wonders of modernity,"" he continues, ""Indigenous people want to work, they want to produce, and they don't. They live isolated in their areas like cavemen. (The Guardian, 2019) 

In a short book titled  Populism by Cas Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, Mudde and Kaltwasser explain the issue of Producerism within Latin America.  Due to anti-imperialist sentiment, many populist leaders created the issue of “ the pure people” where majority were defined as virtuous mestizo communities composed of peasants and workers, therefore neglecting the citizens of indigenous and African descent. In relation to the quote mentioned above by Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro reflects on the Indigenous of groups who do not wish to conform to societal norms; therefore, not a greater benefit to society. 

In an article titled, "Rainforest on Fire" by Alexander Zaitchik,  Zaitchick argues that Brazil's Indigenous population dropped from estimates of the low millions at the start of the century to around 200,0000 at the end of the 1980s, increasing in the present day. (The Intercept, 2019)

Zaitchick makes the point that indigenous groups that find sanctuary within the Amazon create nationalist paranoia within the Brazilian government. The fear that these groups do not assimilate to "the pure" Brazilian society brings both racial and social-economic fear. As mentioned in the quote above, deforestation brings division within the rainforest for profits in mining, logging, oil, and agribusiness concessions that have troubled the country for decades. As the crisis continues, several nonprofit groups continue to represent and bring hope to the indigenous groups suffering from this environmental and human rights violation. ( The Intercept, 2019)