As the fires rage on in Brazil, the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) stands in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon as they fight back against the war being waged on them by Brazilian President Bolsonaro. His racist and unapologetically illogical positions are a dangerous mix for all peoples of the world and Mother Earth. Now is the time to respect and honor our planet and the Indigenous peoples of her land, rather than destroy them.
We stand together with our brothers and sisters who continue to fight to protect their land, their traditional knowledge and practices, and struggle for a better world. Returning to local and place based solutions, like agroecological farming, to combat the climate emergency is the only pathway forward. Opening up the Amazon to capitalists and developers for increased plunder, as Bolsonaro desires, will only cause more fires, more mayhem and push us to the brink of climate catastrophe.
The fact that, just yesterday, President Bolsonaro announced that accepting global assistance to fight the fires would require an apology to stroke his ego, is further proof that he’s putting profits above people and above the planet. It’s a pernicious irony that at a time when Bolsonaro has signaled that the Amazon is “open for business,” that he accused nations who have signaled their willingness to assist with the fires as having a “colonist mindset.”
That’s why CJA stands behind the Indigenous peoples of Brazil who are valiantly fighting back against racist attacks while trying to protect their land and peoples from false climate “solutions”, including market-based schemes such as carbon offsets and REDD and REDD +. These do nothing more than commodify forests and enable big industry to keep on polluting through a colonization process that encroaches on sovereign Indigenous territory.
We must stop placing the burden of global white supremacy, disaster capitalism and environmental injustice disproportionately on poor communities and nations. CJA demands that our lawmakers take responsibility through just policies, just recovery and Just Transition in lieu of bigoted greed and violence.
CJA will continue to stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples as expressed in our recently passed resolution during CJA’s National Member Convening held in Albuquerque, NM in March 2019. For more information read the recent joint statement by CJA member, Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Rainforest Action Network.
To directly support leaders of the Amazon fighting these attacks, we suggest you support Chief Ninawa, President of the Huni Kui Federation of the Brazilian Amazon in the State of Acre. He is a long time leader in protecting the forests and land of Brazil, and all of Mother Earth. More information is available here.
