BLOOD IN THE AMAZON! BOYCOTT BRAZIL SOYBEANS AND BEEF IMPORTS.
Joseph Raglione
June 13, 2011
Gentle readers of this American Chronicle, the Amazon Rain Forest is one of the most important Oxygen producing areas on Earth! The Rain Forest has been described as the lungs of the planet and its destruction is a crime against humanity. The only way peaceful people can protest this horrible destruction is by boycotting the products sold from Brazil...>
Blood in the Amazon: Brazilian Activists Murdered as Deforestation Increases
Wednesday 1 June 2011
by: Benjamin Dangl, Truthout | Report
Early in the morning on May 24, in the northern Brazilian Amazon, Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva got onto a motorcycle near the nature reserve they had worked on for over two decades. As the couple rode past the jungle they dedicated their lives to protecting, gunmen hiding near a bridge opened fire, killing them both.
Brazilian law enforcement officials said that the killing appeared to be the work of hired gunmen, due to the fact that an ear was cut off each of the victims. This is often done to prove to whoever paid for the killings that the job was carried out.
The murder took place the same day the Brazilian Congress passed a change to the forestry code that would allow agribusinesses and ranchers to clear even more land in the Amazon jungle. Deforestation rose 27 percent from August 2010 to April 2011, largely due to soybean plantations. That number will likely rise again if the changes to the forestry code are passed by the Senate.
Stay informed with free Truthout updates delivered straight to your email inbox. Click here to sign up.
Ribeiro knew he was in danger of being killed for his struggle against loggers, ranchers and large-scale farmers who were deforesting the Amazon. In fact, just six months earlier, at an environmental conference in November 2010 in Manaus, Brazil, he told the audience, "I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment ... As long as I have the strength to walk, I will denounce all of those who damage the forest."
The life and death of Ribeiro has been rightly compared to that of Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, union leader and environmentalist who fought against logging and ranching, winning international attention for his successful campaigns against deforestation. In 1988, Mendes was murdered by gunmen hired by ranchers.
Just two weeks before he was killed, Mendes also spoke hauntingly about the likelihood that he would be murdered for his activism. "I don't want flowers, because I know you are going to pull them up from the forest. The only thing I want is that my death helps to stop the murderers' impunity."
Yet, since the murder of Mendes, impunity in the Brazilian countryside has become the norm. In the past 20 years, over 1,150 rural activists have been killed in conflicts related to land. Of these murders, less than 100 cases have gone to court, only 80 of the killers have been convicted and just 15 of the people who hired the gunmen were found guilty, according to Comissao Pastoral da Terra, a group monitoring land conflicts. Impunity reigns in rural areas due to the corruption of judicial officials and police and the wealth and power of the ranchers, farmers and loggers who are often the ones who order the killings.
The recent murder of Ribeiro and Santo combined with the danger posed by changes to the forestry code are devastating indications of the direction Brazil is heading in the Amazon. For some, the expansion of logging, ranching and soybean operations into the Amazon are inevitable steps toward economic progress. But for others, a different kind of progress is necessary if the planet is to survive. As Mendes explained just days before his death in 1988, he wanted to "demonstrate that progress without destruction is possible."
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
AND NOW AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM GREENPEACE!
Please help me protect the Arctic.
Dear friend,
I am writing from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza off the coast of Greenland.
Recently, Hannah and Luke, our two brave climbers, were removed from the Arctic survival pod that had been suspended under the only oil rig on the planet destined to begin dangerous new deep water oil drilling in the Arctic this year. Their actions stopped Cairn Energy's rig drilling for nearly four days.
This little-known oil company is spearheading a new Arctic oil rush, even though an accident in the frozen waters off Greenland would devastate this unique environment.
Despite repeated demands, Cairn Energy has refused to make its oil spill response plan public.
The crackdown on our activists was only the first step. Cairn is now applying for a legal injunction to shut down our campaign by demanding 2 million Euros for every day we stop them from drilling. The case will be heard in a Dutch court next Monday.
Early this morning, Greenpeace activists have once again scaled the oil rig. This time 18 people left the Esperanza in five inflatable speed boats, dodged the navy warship circling the rig, and climbed on to the rig. Their mission - to find Cairn's elusive oil spill response plan. Cairn is hiding it, so we're going to the one place where there must be a copy of it!
We would like to ask for your help. Tell Bill Gammell, CEO of Cairn Energy, that he needs to stop trying to infringe on the right of peaceful protest, and to publish his oil spill response plan. We will present this petition to Cairn Energy.
Please take action by signing this petition now...
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/help-us-protect-the-arctic
The time window for intervention is very short, as we believe that the injunction could be served next Monday, June 6th.
Thanks for your support,
Iris Cheng
Energy campaigner, on board the Esperanza
http://www.greenpeace.org
Facebook
Twitter
Blood in the Amazon: Brazilian Activists Murdered as Deforestation Increases
Wednesday 1 June 2011
by: Benjamin Dangl, Truthout | Report
Early in the morning on May 24, in the northern Brazilian Amazon, Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva got onto a motorcycle near the nature reserve they had worked on for over two decades. As the couple rode past the jungle they dedicated their lives to protecting, gunmen hiding near a bridge opened fire, killing them both.
Brazilian law enforcement officials said that the killing appeared to be the work of hired gunmen, due to the fact that an ear was cut off each of the victims. This is often done to prove to whoever paid for the killings that the job was carried out.
The murder took place the same day the Brazilian Congress passed a change to the forestry code that would allow agribusinesses and ranchers to clear even more land in the Amazon jungle. Deforestation rose 27 percent from August 2010 to April 2011, largely due to soybean plantations. That number will likely rise again if the changes to the forestry code are passed by the Senate.
Stay informed with free Truthout updates delivered straight to your email inbox. Click here to sign up.
Ribeiro knew he was in danger of being killed for his struggle against loggers, ranchers and large-scale farmers who were deforesting the Amazon. In fact, just six months earlier, at an environmental conference in November 2010 in Manaus, Brazil, he told the audience, "I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment ... As long as I have the strength to walk, I will denounce all of those who damage the forest."
The life and death of Ribeiro has been rightly compared to that of Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, union leader and environmentalist who fought against logging and ranching, winning international attention for his successful campaigns against deforestation. In 1988, Mendes was murdered by gunmen hired by ranchers.
Just two weeks before he was killed, Mendes also spoke hauntingly about the likelihood that he would be murdered for his activism. "I don't want flowers, because I know you are going to pull them up from the forest. The only thing I want is that my death helps to stop the murderers' impunity."
Yet, since the murder of Mendes, impunity in the Brazilian countryside has become the norm. In the past 20 years, over 1,150 rural activists have been killed in conflicts related to land. Of these murders, less than 100 cases have gone to court, only 80 of the killers have been convicted and just 15 of the people who hired the gunmen were found guilty, according to Comissao Pastoral da Terra, a group monitoring land conflicts. Impunity reigns in rural areas due to the corruption of judicial officials and police and the wealth and power of the ranchers, farmers and loggers who are often the ones who order the killings.
The recent murder of Ribeiro and Santo combined with the danger posed by changes to the forestry code are devastating indications of the direction Brazil is heading in the Amazon. For some, the expansion of logging, ranching and soybean operations into the Amazon are inevitable steps toward economic progress. But for others, a different kind of progress is necessary if the planet is to survive. As Mendes explained just days before his death in 1988, he wanted to "demonstrate that progress without destruction is possible."
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
AND NOW AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM GREENPEACE!
Please help me protect the Arctic.
Dear friend,
I am writing from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza off the coast of Greenland.
Recently, Hannah and Luke, our two brave climbers, were removed from the Arctic survival pod that had been suspended under the only oil rig on the planet destined to begin dangerous new deep water oil drilling in the Arctic this year. Their actions stopped Cairn Energy's rig drilling for nearly four days.
This little-known oil company is spearheading a new Arctic oil rush, even though an accident in the frozen waters off Greenland would devastate this unique environment.
Despite repeated demands, Cairn Energy has refused to make its oil spill response plan public.
The crackdown on our activists was only the first step. Cairn is now applying for a legal injunction to shut down our campaign by demanding 2 million Euros for every day we stop them from drilling. The case will be heard in a Dutch court next Monday.
Early this morning, Greenpeace activists have once again scaled the oil rig. This time 18 people left the Esperanza in five inflatable speed boats, dodged the navy warship circling the rig, and climbed on to the rig. Their mission - to find Cairn's elusive oil spill response plan. Cairn is hiding it, so we're going to the one place where there must be a copy of it!
We would like to ask for your help. Tell Bill Gammell, CEO of Cairn Energy, that he needs to stop trying to infringe on the right of peaceful protest, and to publish his oil spill response plan. We will present this petition to Cairn Energy.
Please take action by signing this petition now...
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/help-us-protect-the-arctic
The time window for intervention is very short, as we believe that the injunction could be served next Monday, June 6th.
Thanks for your support,
Iris Cheng
Energy campaigner, on board the Esperanza
http://www.greenpeace.org
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