Breathing a huge sigh of relief in the Office this morning with the amazing news that the people of Brazil have rejected the wanton destruction of their nation at the hands of international finance capital and it proxy puppet criminal partner, the loathsome and moronic Flavio Bolsonaro.
I remember turning on the TV a few years ago (a quick search through old news stories online dated this time to Summer 2019), and seeing on the news the startling images of vast tracts of the Brazilian Amazon up in flames, the smoke blackening out the sun across major Brazilian cities, and satellite imagery revealing an immense, continental scale to the destruction. I could´t bring myself to google estimates of how many animals might have been killed or had to flee their homes in terror -somethings are just better not to think about, when you’re so powerless to do anything to do anything- but suffice to say it would be an enormous number, a mind-numbing amount of fear, pain and suffering, just so that a selfish, vain and stupid man, could control the reigns of government for a few years, and some degenerates could accumulate personal wealth through dispossession of animals, nature, and indigenous communities.
During the tenure of Flavio´s father, Jair Bolsonaro, as Brazilian President-and following his signals that such crimes would go unpunished- rainforest arsonists cleared approximately 3.4 million hectares (38 times the area of Los Angeles) in the Amazon. Deforestation hit a 12-year high in 2020, with 11,088 square kilometers destroyed, and this continued climbing through 2021. Around 52,300 hectares were deforested inside the Jamanxim National Forest alone during his term as President, which was nearly double the amount recorded in the preceding four-year period. Brazils´ carbon emissions also doubled during this time.
Flavio himself consistently demonstrated his commitment to his father´s agenda, which is essentially the wish-list of the large corporate and financial interests that fund his campaign, and which basically promises permanent fiscal austerity, de-regulation of industry and employment, the removal of environmental protection and an assault on state agencies tasked with monitoring compliance, as well as the further opening of the country to extractive capital, a more militarized and repressive police force, and an expansion of the private prison-industrial-complex (as a necessary adjunct to all the inequality, poverty and deprivation which will inevitably result from the wholesale removal of social, worker and environmental protections planned), in add to a pardon for the putschist criminals headed by Jair Bolsonaro himself.
In the end of course -and despite an alarmingly close first round of voting in the Brazilian Presidential election- Lula won by nearly 5 million votes (or about a 3.5% margin), which isn’t particularly close in terms of outcome when considering a 2 horse race. But what is amazing is how many people will vote against their own best interests, as even in the most narrow consideration of immediate gains to material well-being, the vast majority of Bolsonaro supporters would have been worse off by every conceivable metric under his political leadership, than that of his rival´s.
Under a Bolsonaro government, everybody loses. This is because when a criminal such as he is, is in power, in the largest country -by size as well as population- within the Amazonian basin (being of such importance to a healthy global climate that its described metaphorically as being the lungs of the world), the resulting environmental vandalism is on a potentially unprecedented scale, and we all pay the price of a degraded planet with more pollution, more extreme weather events, more natural disasters, droughts, flooding, crop failures, etc, and greater numbers of environmental refugees. And really, there are no winners. The mindless, soul-less arsonists which support Bolsonaro and care not for the destruction they wrought upon the planet -they´re not going to win with his election (or that of the forces he represents); in their ignorance they might imagine that a Bolsonaro victory would have benefited the cattle ranchers and GM soy producers, their limited apprehension preventing them from realizing the terrible karma they must necessarily be bringing upon themselves for a short-term profit; and however selfish and simple minded such as this type has to be, they must at some point realise their folly, and have to suffer the consciousness of their own actions -whether indirectly by voting for this scum, or directly by setting a fire themselves- safe in the knowledge their crimes would go legally unpunished, but understanding not the law which ultimately will make them account for their crimes and demand payment in full.
The world most definitely could not have afforded four more years of this evil ignorance systematically destroying the heart of the rainforest and the lungs of the world, and Brazilians could definitely have done without the promised increase in poverty, inequality and displacement which a Bolsonaro government would have entailed, along with the militarized police response and social and democratic repression that is its natural and inevitable corollary.
Under Lula De-Silva, deforestation dropped dramatically, year after year, while environmental regulations were tightened, social protections enhanced, indigenous peoples´ rights were articulated and respected by the Brazilian state, inequality fell, living standards improved for everybody, and there was definite progress toward a slightly more egalitarian society, with opportunities for all. Whilst not being perfect – after all, no-one is- Lula De Silva was nevertheless, the only sensible choice, his opponent being the personification of mindless, senseless, ignorant greed. Lula by contrast, much more honest, thoughtful and humane.
Make no mistake, the world dodged a bullet last night. The dark forces of rapacious finance capital which that idiot Flavio Bolsonaro represents -they’re not going away. They´ll be back, and better organized and financed than ever before. All right-thinking people can do its to keep making the case for human decency, for the protection of the environment and for the progress of society as a whole.
That said, Lulu’s victory celebration last night is one which the whole of humanity can partake in. Indeed, it was a victory, not just for progressives, or indigenous communities, or the poor. It was victory for common sense; it was a victory for the planet; and it was a victory for humanity -and there´s far too few of those these days. There will be many more battles, large and small, which must be won, along the way to the Ecological Society, and a more just world.