By Dov Winter

The so-called “wildcat” miners in Amazon Forest, represent a reactionary segment of the working class in Brazil. Their task is to enter the areas of the Amazon that are allocated to indigenous people, burn the people housings, rape the women, and kill as many people as they can. They already have started to burn houses and kill indigenous people. They are not a legitimate part of the working class. We must call on the Brazilian working class to defend the indigenous people against these reactionary hooligans and use all necessary means to defend the indigenous towns against these barbarians.

These are Bolsonaro’s allies. If Bolsonaro find a way to institute a fascist dictatorship he will not hesitate to establish such a dictatorship. If this were Russia in 1917, Bolsonaro’s hooligans would be part of the Kornilov affair, attacking the Russian revolution.

The other issue in regard to these reactionaries, is the Amazon Forest itself. Bolsonaro’s agenda is to destroy the Amazon, and convert it into soybeans, coffee and other crops directly controlled by imperialist corporations such as Cargill, a US-based company that has a long history of Amazon destruction, BlackRock Wilmar International Ltd, Walmart, JBS, IKEA, Korindo Group PT, Yakult Honsha Co. etc.

The Gaudian reported Associated Press that:

“Miners raided a village of the Munduruku people and set several houses on fire, including one that belonged to a prominent mining critic and indigenous activist, Maria Leusa Munduruku.

“The attack followed clashes farther north in Roraima state, where miners in motorboats have repeatedly attacked and threatened a riverside Yanomami settlement known as Palimiu. There, miners also clashed with federal officials investigating the incidents.

“Júnior Hekurari Yanomami, president of a Yanomami association, said two of the group’s children drowned while fleeing during a particularly violent confrontation on 10 May that also resulted in three miners being killed. . .

“Clashes around the Palimiu community have intensified since 24 April, when Yanomami men took fuel and some equipment from wildcat miners they accused of encroaching on their land, Hekurari and state prosecutors said.

“Hekurari said miners had been driving their motorboats past the village almost daily, shouting threats and sometimes firing their guns.” [1]

Clashes between miners and indigenous people in the Amazon have been occurring for decades, but have increased  since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, came to power in 2019 and supported mining in protected lands, . 

Gold and diamond mining in the Amazon is a lucrative activity, but is extremely harmful to the environment. A Supreme Court ruling said the government must “immediately adopt all the necessary measures to protect the life, health and security of the indigenous people.”

Amazon Watch reports:

“Brazil’s Indigenous peoples have suffered a campaign of terror and violence for weeks and Bolsonaro’s federal government has done nothing effective to protect them from the well-financed criminals brazenly invading their territories,” said Christian Poirier, Program Director at Amazon Watch. “We express our full solidarity with the Munduruku people and their representative organizations resisting the destruction of Munduruku lands and waterways by illegal miners. Today’s criminal and brutal reaction to the police operation underscores the importance of instilling security measures and enforcement in an increasingly precarious environment, in order to stop the violence against Indigenous leadership and preserve these vital Amazonian ecosystems.”

At some point, if the destruction of the Amazon continued at the current speed, the Amazon Forest will collapse, transforming into a savanna. This could speed up Climate Change dramatically, with dire consequences to the human race and all life on the planet.

In this respect it is critical to bring down the proto-fascistic Bolsonaro’s government.

Next year there will be critical elections in Brazil. As long as Lula da Silva runs as a candidate of the Workers’ Party, it is necessary to give him critical support. But ultimately only a real workers government in power can defend the indigenous people against attacks by these reactionary “miners”. Such a defence is a critical first step in the restoration of the Amazon Forest.

Notes

[1] Associated Press in Rio de Janeiro, 28 May 2021, Brazilian wildcat miners attack police and burn indigenous homes in Amazon, https://tinyurl.com/2vfn6kn

[2] Amazon Watch, Camila Rossi at crossi@amazonwatch.org May 26 2021, Illegal Gold Miners Attack and Burn Munduruku Village in the Brazilian Amazon, https://amazonwatch.org/news/2021/0526-illegal-gold-miners-attack-and-burn-munduruku-village-in-the-brazilian-amazon ▲