The holocaust of the Amazon puts civilization on alert | Internationale

When, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the night fell on the city of São Paulo – one of the possible causes was the meeting of a cold front with the smoke from the fires – many people were frightened by what seemed to be an end-time announcement It was something similar, if we found the original meaning of the word, to a holocaust: "all burned", in the sacrifice among Hebrew. With two differences: one, that the Holah of the Jewish sacrifice he had the sense of reparation; he sought a general atonement for sins; another who after Nazism sacrificed millions of Jews, this word acquired a more sinister meaning and was used for any systematic and far-reaching destruction – whatever the cause – until extermination. And that is what is happening today: the holocaust of the Amazon.

From an early age, I devoted myself to thinking about the meaning of the jungle, beyond the economy and the material dimensions. On July 15, 2008, when I returned to the Senate as soon as I left the Department of the Environment, I published an article entitled Behind a blue butterfly, in which I remembered my irreducible identification with the millions of people born and living in the jungle. He said, "Forests are not just statistics. Neither simple objects of negotiation, political differences, theses, ambitions, crying. First, they are forests, a complex and creative life system. They have culture, spirituality, economy, infrastructure, people, laws, science and technology. It's such a strong identity that it remains a kind of radar infused with perceptions, looks, and feelings, no matter how far you go, regardless of the degree of learning, knowledge and skill. Admiration of the things of the world. "More than a decade has pbaded, but I keep the same feeling.

Now, I see fire again killing the beauty of the Amazon and destroying the perfection of her nature. I regret the loss of every smell, every color, every root, every animal, every plant, every texture that ever comes back. And, although I do not expect the sensitivity of those who do not know the lost wealth, I believe that it is necessary to alert everyone and protest against a government that gives way to destruction, which causes uncontrollable damage and considerable damage for all.

We are living a moment of environmental barbarism in Brazil, promoted by the Bolsonaro government. Even if he is alerted, no matter the evidence presented, no matter the claim to avoid environmental, economic, political and social chaos, the government shows no signs of worry, but complicity with destruction.

With which it is necessary to face the environmental emergency in Brazil with the courage and sense of urgency that the situation imposes on us, in order to avoid that we arrive at a place without return, which should in no case be achieved: that of the systemic infeasibility of the Amazonian forest because of predatory actions that unbalance its living conditions. It is necessary to mobilize all those who do not want to have, in their genealogies, the DNA of barbarism: academy, social and environmental movements, entrepreneurship, state and municipal governments, young people, political leaders. In a plural and supra-partisan way, without politicization, it must be said that this is enough once and for all. Predatory and clandestine mineral extraction, illegal appropriation of public land, timber theft, logging and burning, violence against indigenous and local people, the economic, political and social damage we have already suffered, inside and outside Brazil.

The Amazon is burning with a mixture of ignorance and truculent interests. The government is inaugurating a free crime period, where one can attack nature and communities without fear of being punished. We do not ignore this hypothesis, as in the past, because what threatens to be redone, it is for both the result "all burned" and for the systematic character of the destruction, of tragedy tragedies: the Holocaust.

The Brazilian people, its sensitive and conscious core, must respond to the name of ancient peoples and future generations, the Amazon and all of Nature. In response to the legitimate interests of society, the economy and human civilization, declare Brazil in a state of environmental emergency.

This article was originally published on the site of Marina Silva, who was Minister of the Environment of Brazil.