Protest in Wellington to protect the Amazon

Organise Aotearoa (OA) will be joining a rally outside the Brazilian Embassy in Wellington to protest the devastation of the Amazon rainforest by ongoing fires. The rally will be led by the Brazilian expatriate community, with support from solidarity groups such as OA.

The rally against the desecration of the Amazon, as well as Bolsonaro’s other crimes, will be held at 12.30pm at the Brazilian Embassy on Customhouse Quay.

In January, our members held an occupation at the Brazilian Embassy following the inauguration of Brazil’s fascist president, Jair Bolsonaro. We and many others predicted that his presidency would have disastrous consequences for the Amazon, and for indigenous people living there. This has proven to be true.

In light of recent events in Brazil, we repeat our demand that New Zealand end diplomatic relations with the Bolsonaro administration.

Leaked documents have proven that the burning of the Amazon was no accident, and that Bolsonaro’s government has always planned to allow rural landowners to destroy what was once pristine forest.

Bolsonaro has made statements that are tantamount to calls for indigenous genocide, and denies the impact his government’s actions may have on climate change. He has even gone so far as to blame the fires on environmental NGOs.

The burning of the Amazon threatens one fifth of the planet’s ability to absorb carbon, and may prove to be the tipping point in the global fight against climate change. It also threatens long-suffering indigenous nations, already massacred by the military dictatorship of 1964-85, which Bolsonaro openly admires.

Bolsonaro’s rise to power was not achieved democratically. He would never have come to power without a series of judicial coups that led to the arrest of former Presidents, Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

An investigation by The Intercept later proved that the imprisonment of Lula, who was leading in the polls prior to his arrest, was the victim of a conspiracy by Brazil’s top prosecutors to ensure Bolsonaro’s election.

“Bolsonaro is a right-wing dictator who represents an existential threat to the wellbeing of our planet and the people living on it. New Zealand must cut all diplomatic ties with Brazil until his regime ends,” says OA spokesperson Kate McIntyre.

ENDS

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