Our planet is in a dramatic ecological situation. Since 1992, tropical forests have lost hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, wildlife has fallen by almost a third, industrial pollution is spreading everywhere, greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures are breaking records.
In spite of these alarming realities, the plan of the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, of his government and its industrial partners and lobbyists is simple: to increase ever more the industrial exploitation of the lands to satisfy their power and their enrichment. For this, they do not hesitate to perpetuate the devastation of the largest rainforest in the world and to apply a policy of intimidation and terror to the Amerindian populations and all those who oppose it.
We consider Amazonian primary forest and fragile Brazilian ecosystems as a common good of indigenous peoples and, beyond that, as a common good of all mankind. By absorbing from 25 to 30 % of carbon dioxide that human activities release into the atmosphere, forests, and a fortiori the largest of them, play a role of climatic regulator on the surface of the Earth. While the scientific community keeps warning of the risks of global climate change, the ravage of tropical forests is a criminal act for the living and suicidal for humanity itself.
Boycott is an eminently political weapon, a means of pressure available to citizens
We also intend to respond to the call made to international opinion by the Coordination of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil. Its president, Sônia Guajajara, declared in April 2019: " We are asking consumers to boycott Brazilian agribusiness products until the government takes into account the issue of land demarcations and violence against natives. Because we want peace and our people want to finally live a fair and dignified life. " In the face of indigenous peoples, President Bolsonaro has never hidden the racism that haunts him. So he declared in 2015: " The Indians do not speak our language, they do not have money, they do not have a culture. They are aboriginal peoples. How did they manage to get 13 % of national territory ? " (Campo Grande News, April 22, 2015).
New areas for agri-food and biotechnology lobbies for meat and soybean production and mining concessions are not the only ones responsible for fires and deforestation in Brazil and other parts of South America. These damage to the environment is also partly due to poor farmers who often have no choice but to use burning practices to live or survive their work. This is why our action is also guided by the questioning of liberal economic logics and the appalling social inequalities they generate.
In 1955, the refusal of the African-American Rosa Parks to give up her bus seat to a white passenger as she was required to do according to the legislation in force at the time, triggered the bus boycott of her city of Montgomery , Alabama. This boycott culminated in the Supreme Court's decision to put an end to this practice of racial segregation. The boycott is an eminently political weapon, a means of pressure available to citizens to express the values and aspirations that drive them and reverse a balance of power. With the boycott, the citizen does not have to wait for a future and hypothetical decision to be taken by a parliament or a government, his action places him as an actor of the political decision. Boycotter is for the citizen to say no right now.
As a result, we are boycotting and calling for a massive and immediate boycott of all the products marketed by companies that support Jair Bolsonaro's government policy.
The barcode of products made in Brazil starts with 7.89 or 7.90
Our action does not target the Brazilian people but the political, economic and financial actors. Many foreign banks, companies and investors, including European and North American, are indirectly involved in the destruction of the environment and the violation of peoples' rights. Fair trade actors and Brazilian companies that meet stringent standards with respect for human rights and the environment are not affected by our actions. On the contrary, we assure them of our support.
Specifically: the barcode of products made in Brazil starts with 7.89 or 7.90. We invite everyone to learn about the origin of meat, including beef and poultry, cooked meat dishes and the origin of animal feed. According to FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization), 91 % of the nowadays destroyed area of the Amazon rainforest is to free up space for grazing or soybean production that will be exported to feed livestock in different parts of the world. It is also a question of knowing where soybeans, corn, fruits and juices, coffee, cocoa, cane sugar, cosmetics, wood and furniture come from. In general, we encourage citizens to avoid buying in supermarkets and to focus on short-circuit organic farming products and fair trade products in associative distribution networks.
The Green Vests Collective is organizing a rally for the Amazon in front of the Brazilian Embassy in Paris on Tuesday, September 3rd at 6:30 pm. Our collective invites citizens and organizations to express our common determination to defend human rights, respect life and the fight against climate change and to stop the predation and commodification of the world.
Photo :
. chapo: a soybean plantation in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. (Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil)
– In the galleries, the authors express their own point of view, which is not necessarily that of writing.
– Title, chapo and intertitles are from the editorial staff.
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