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They came from the deepest forest, gathered
at the two harbors of Porto Velho in Rondônia and Belém
in Pará and finally reached the center of Amazonia, Manaus.
They came together to celebrate the 20th anniversary at the annual
conference of the Conselho Nacional dos Seringueiros (CNS), organization
of the famous Chico Mendes that until today is fighting for the
rights of the rubber tappers and traditional populations of the
rainforest. More than 350 representatives of the Amazon's reserves
met to take stock and unite to riseto the existing
and new challenges ahead.
Much has happened in those
last 20 years. When Chico and his companions founded the CNS
under military rule in 1985, nobody thought about sustainable
development. When he was assassinated in 1988, there didn't exist
a single extractivist reserve in the Amazon; in fact, the idea
itself was revolutionary and met with fierce resistance.
Chico was the first to promote
Extractivist Reserves (RESEX). In these reserves small communities
live and work collectively according to a well designed plan
of use and extract the forest's resources sustainably and without
harm to the environment. The land remains property of the union,
however, its use is defined by an association of local communities
and government agencies. The RESEX offer a variety of products
including rubber, coco and other nuts, the açai fruit,
alternative medicine, fish and beautiful handicraft made of seeds,
left-over wood and other natural material. The profits go directly
back to the communities.
Today, about a third of the
Amazon has been declared protection area, most of it indigenous
reserves. Moreover, 19 extractivist reserves and 14 marine reserves
have gained legal status, their number constantly increasing.
Atanagildo "Gatão" Matos, one of the early activists,
is happy to see more and more communities organize themselves
independently to protect their land and work collectively and
sustainably. The reserves have become an integral part of the
Brazilian government's Amazon policy: the annual conference in
Manaus 2005 welcomed among others the governor of the state of
Amazonas as well as the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva.
Thus, there is reason to celebrate
in Manaus. Gatão stands with tears in his eyes when his
companions announce that in 2005, two decades after he began
to fight for the creation of protection areas, his own home community
was finally granted reserve status. Dona Raimunda, the grand
lady of the movement, is happy to see her work of years bear
fruit and women strengthened and confident to fight for their
rights and participate in the process.
Joy is not all that you see
at the event, however. It is mixed with rage and sorrow. The
world saw Chico Mendes and Sister Dorothy murdered brutally because
they lived and worked for the preservation of the rainforest.
The world didn't see the more than 700 others die; die because
they believed in a sustainable way of living with nature; die
because they believed in our responsibility to the community
and future generations. They had neither international fame nor
a foreign passport. But here, they know them, they know their
pain, their strength and their courage. To this day, activists
are being threatened, persecuted and killed. The black list of
big farmers, soy producers and their "pistoleiros"
contains hundreds of names. Three weeks after the conference,
on Christmas day, another name was crossed off the list. João
Batista died in Rondônia with four bullets in his chest;
the police have yet to start investigations. Rondônia is
the state with the highest clearcutting rate in Brazil.
There is still a long way to
go. It is not only the wood workers that pursue the destruction
of the rainforest. A whole industry is profiting from the radical
exploitation. After the trees are cut and sold, the meat industry
takes over the land to raise its cattle. When all is grazed and
the ranchers move on, the soy farmers finally exhaust the soil.
After that there isn't much left that could grow on this land.
It is hard to imagine that once there has been thick forest with
millions of insects, birds, wild cats and other species, some
of which we haven't even discovered yet and might never know.
In numbers it looks like this:
In 2004, 27,200km2 forest were
clearcut (about 4.5 million football fields), much of it illegally.
This is the second highest deforestation rate in the history
of Brazil. And there is more: Mega projects such as hydro dams
and the transamazonian highway seldom consider social or environmental
aspects and threaten communities, wildlife and the forest.
Even those living in the already
created reserves have to defend themselves continuously against
illegal invasions, the state authorities react slowly, if ever.
The northern state Pará is still in the hands of big land
owners, its justice system corrupt and a life easily lost.
Challenges are also encountered within the reserves. Many lack
adequate schools and access to health care and communities have
difficulties with market access, administration and budgets.
Not a few have to work in small huts without electricity, let
alone luxury items such as computers, etc.
Thus, apart from joy, pride,
hope and memory the conference is full of mainly this: things
to do! The participants learn about biopiracy and bioprospection
and develop a strategy to confront the issue in the reserves.
They work on petitions, make suggestions and claim rights. There
is a lot of text and information that wants to be processed,
in many cases by people that barely know how to read and write.
It would be an impossible task, were it not for the CNS leaders
who have an amazing ability to combine urban brainstorming with
amazonian tradition and culture. Like nobody else Gatão
knows how to translate complex issues into the language of his
people. "Hey folks, this is a topic that's difficult for
all of us, let's pay some real attention. I want you to go get
all the stray cats, sit down and focus."
Dona Raimunda gets up in front
of the crowd and sings the songs that they all have in their
hearts: "This is a hard struggle, but it's our struggle
and together we will prevail!" They dance, they sing, they
clap their hands and tell jokes to the audience. I have never
worked so productively and had so much fun at the same time.
20 years of CNS also mean 20
years of convincing outsiders that Amazonia's people are not
poor, uneducated farmers that have no idea what development and
politics are all about. They know very well, if not best of all,
what is good for the communities and the forest they live in.
They don't need our sympathy and pittances; they deserve our
respect, recognition and our support to continue the service
they have been providing Brazil and the rest of the world: they
protect and preserve this wonderful, unique source of life called
the Amazon Rainforest.
CounterPunch
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CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair
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