Between November 24 to 27, in Humaita, Amazonas state, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) unleashed the "Thin Gold" Operation confiscating and destroying working tools and 37 rafts used by gold prospectors in Madera river. as a response, the masses of gold prospectors organized a demonstration in November 27 afternoon. The masses attacked the IBAMA office, damaged some of their vehicles and threw stones in IBAMA´s functionaries homes. The same day, the military police and the National Force engaged in conflicts with the demonstrators. Also a boat from IBAMA was burned in the morning of November 28.
The gold prospecting activities in this region is a result of the backwardness of the latifundium and is an important economic complement to the low rentability of the artisan fishing, ruined peasant agriculture activities and vegetal extrativism. This activity has a sazonal character, due to the low water level of the river during the months of May until November. The fishermen, peasants and vegetal extrativists are involved, directly or indirectly with this activity.
The old State considers this activity ilegal and puts a lot of effort, through police and environmental institutions to dirupt the economy of the poor peoples, to displace them from the land, with the pretext of "protecting the environment". But the class character of such "protection" is made clear when we see no actions against the hydroelectric plants and mining enterprises in the Amazon region. Not even the biggest social and environmental crime in the country history, in Mariana, 2015, is being dealt with, on the contrary, there are already projects to resume the mining activities in the region.
The "green ideology", specially widespread among the petty bourgeoisie intellectuality, serves to help the State to combat the poor peoples that lives from the land, to support the vile actions to displace and to oppress the poor peasants, indigenous and quilombola peoples and artisan fishermen, at the same time helping the imperialist companies, latifundium and bureaucratic bourgeoisie to occupy the area and plunder the resources of the Amazon Region.
These combative actions shows that the crisis is each time more acute and the people is each time more radicalized. The rebellion is already taking place, although the various uprisings in the country seem isolated, they are all part of the crisis of the semifeudal and semicolonial situation of the country. The people in Brazil need a New Democracy Revolution, led by the proletariat in alliance eith the peasantry, uninterrupted to socialist revolution, this is the only way out of the crisis for the people.
IBAMA office and cars burned after people uprising.
