Development and involvement: Popular resistance

Resistance and popular involvement are central points to facing the impacts of rampant development in the Amazon that directly contribute to climate change and environmental racism. In Maranhão, five entities are mobilising to build collective processes of resistance together with different voices from the territories, peoples, and traditional communities of the state through the creation of the Popular Observatory of Socio Biodiversity and Climate Policy of Maranhão.

To structure the initiative, the coalition Agroecology for the Protection of the Forests of the Amazon, composed of the Agroecology Network of Maranhão – RAMA, Justiça nos Trilhos, Tijupá, ACESA and GEDMMA, held the 1st Seminar on Development & Involvement, Climate Change and Popular Resistance in Maranhão, in December 2022. With representatives of territories and entities of social movements from the countryside and the city, the event aimed to reflect on climate changes that affect both urban and rural areas. At the space of CUT (Central Workers Union Confederation), in São Luís, the discussion placed the major developmental projects, which continually disregard the territorial and environmental rights of traditional peoples and communities in the state, as the primary causes of conflicts. On the other hand, it is these peoples and communities that mostly maintain the natural environment conserved through their traditional way of life.

Through the different speeches and experiences from various territories, the meeting provided the exchange of knowledge and reflection on climate change and reinforced the importance of the union of diverse social actors in the fight to preserve the environment.

The climatic consequences of contemporary capitalism

At the opening table, the debate revolved around the tendency of neoliberalism to turn everything into a commodity, including nature, and how climate change has directly impacted communities’ production periods.

Cintia Brustolin, professor at the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA) and researcher at GEDMMA, highlighted that capitalism makes us think that nature and human beings are separate. Faced with this crisis, we are entering a new climate regime where nature is seen as a political actor.

“It is necessary to change the mentality that nature is cheap and negotiable and understand that the Earth is our common home, which implies preserving the environment and protecting the communities that depend on it”.

The capitalist advance in the Maranhão Amazon

In contrast to the frantic development of agribusiness and enterprises, Máxima Pires, leader of the Rio dos Cachorros community in the rural area of São Luís, declared that her community does not consider land as a commodity and defends the sacred territory because it has a sense of belonging and respect that must be preserved for future generations.

Máxima also highlighted the importance of community unity in the fight against these developments and affirms that it is essential to trust each other to be able to resist. “The struggle to protect the environment and the earth is vital for life”.

Horácio Antunes, professor and researcher at GEDMMA, stated that it is necessary to change the thinking of managers about traditional communities, who consider their ways of life as something archaic, and emphasized that we cannot face climate change without changing this thinking.

“We do not want to go extinct. Not only as individuals but also as a form of social organization, as it ensures the planet’s survival. The destruction of ways of life is a sign of the destruction of the planet”.

Forms of Resistance and Organization in Maranhão

In the last round, women were in focus. Female leaders of traditional communities, such as coconut breakers, ‘quilombolas’ Indigenous peoples and fisherwomen, highlighted how they have resisted violence, racism, and environmental degradation in their territories.

Maria Alaídes, coconut breaker and general coordinator of the Interstate Movement of Babaçu Coconut Breakers – MIQCB, reported how they managed to organise themselves and resist privatisation and oppression within the capitalist system. Through political battle with mobilisation in public demonstrations, articulation with other social movements and advocacy and creation of spaces for dialogue, the breakers succeeded in strengthening and creating production alternatives, such as the cooperative.

Vanusa Guajajara, Indigenous from the Pindaré IL, in Santa Inês (MA), reflects on how the resistance against the privatisation of coconuts shows that organisation and cooperation can be meaningful to combat the interests of capitalism. Furthermore, valuing spirituality and ancestry is crucial in strengthening the identity of communities and their relationship with the land.

“When we go to the meeting with Vale [do Rio Doce Mining Company] and sing our chants, they are afraid of us. I tell our relatives that we do not need licenses because the territory is ours, they are the ones who need a license”.

A possible future

During the two days of the meeting, representatives of quilombola and urban Black communities, coconut breakers, extractivists, fishermen and Indigenous people pointed out the different ways they feel climate change in their territories and the consequences on the quality of life with changes in the soil, in the air, rivers and seas.

The rains, floods and landslides do not affect everyone equally. These climate tragedies mainly affect Black, traditional, and Indigenous communities, victims of invasions of their territories, unstoppable consumption of natural resources and environmental racism. However, these very communities, based on their traditional knowledge, care and management of the land, are the possibilities for a future.

Capitalism fragments the struggle and subsequently dominates. A green economy is a form of usurpation of territory. Expanding the range of voices and discovering spaces where demoralization cannot affect us. Finally, it is necessary to think about processes that guarantee greater autonomy, especially in a State that often does not allow this. Only in this way can we achieve climate justice closer to the reality of the territories.