On Wednesday, several thousand of Brazilian demonstrators assembled outside the Brazilian Congress to protest against bills backed by President Jair Bolsonaro calling it a historic assault on the Brazilian environment that is bound to weaken the environmental protection of the Amazon by allowing mining on indigenous lands. It will also lead to jeopardizing the land rights of countless indigenous people.
The demonstration has been named ‘Ato Pela Terra’ which means ‘Stand for Earth’ and was held in BrasÃlia to oppose the five environment-related bills that are being considered by Brazil’s Congress. The activists call the bills a ‘death combo’.
While the senate will be voting on three of the bills in the coming weeks, the other two bills are expected to be voted on in the lower house.
If the bills are approved by the senate, the proposals would mean a go ahead for commercial mining on the native lands and will put at risk the land rights of the thousands of indigenous people. The bill will ease the environmental licensing requirements and the current regulations over pesticide use.
The deforestation and land exploitation has reached new heights under Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and now the bill will give a boost to the land grabbers and illegal loggers in the Amazon.
The ‘Stand For Earth’ call was made by the popular singer Caetano Veloso and other Brazilian musicians to call on the legislators to stop what they term as the “destruction” of the Amazon rainforest.
Under a giant inflatable capybara and a penguin, indigenous Brazilian people wearing feathered headdresses, people carrying banners against the use of pesticides in agriculture and children dressed as bees could be seen in the crowd.
Veloso, along with other musicians met Rodrigo Pacheco, the head of the Senate, to ask for his help in blocking the bills from being passed.
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