Today (5th), World Environment Day, we launched the publication “From the countryside to the city: stories of struggle for the right of people to land and life“. The material, edited in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, tells the stories of the struggles of communities from different parts of Brazil that have as a connection the resistance to the advance of capital over their territories and the threat to their ways of life, building an exchange of struggles in the popular defense of territories. Documenting and retelling the stories brought in this publication is a way to eternalize this resistance and strengthen the communities and peoples who fight for collective rights and, through the sharing of experiences, inspire for the resistance.
The report follows the last 3 years of struggle against transnational companies and the resistance of Vila Nazaré residents to the false promises of the company Fraport, such as the removals caused by the expansion of Salgado Filho international airport in Porto Alegre (southernmost state capital of Brazil), which violated basic rights of the community. We understand, in a little more detail, the advance of mega-mining in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the consequences of extending this frontier that has already killed part of Brazil.
We recount the history of the siege of the Amazon and the articulation of the transnationals to exploit more and more the common goods and the people of the region. We also talk about how companies used the marketing of false solidarity during the pandemic of COVID-19 to exploit the most vulnerable territories, while solidarity connections were created and strengthened in the heart of social movements.
We tell the stories so as not to forget the struggle, we share experiences to remember unity. From violations of rights to land and life, to the conquests that are made. Each movement to build a popular solidarity network is a step on the path of just recovery post COVID.
The launching of the publication “From the countryside to the city: stories of struggle for peoples’ right to land and life” also marks the 50th anniversary of Friends of the Earth International. Five decades of struggle and resistance in defense of the Environment, of peoples and territories for Environmental Justice.
Check out the publication in english.
Read the update chapter by chapter:
