Brazil port blocked over Amazon law /Veto parcial mantém florestas sob risco

Greenpeace temporarily blocked a freighter from being loaded at a northern Brazilian port in protest over a partial presidential veto of a land-use bill seen as harming the Amazon

The environmental group said on its website on Saturday that activists ferried by its Rainbow Warrior vessel occupied a giant pile of pig iron on the dock while another team scaled two cranes to stop them from loading the raw material of iron and steel onto the US-bound Clipper Hope.

The activists then unfurled banners proclaiming “Amazon Crime” and “Dilma’s dirty secret,” in protest at President Dilma Rousseff’s partial veto Friday of 12 controversial articles of the new code regulating the use of land on rural properties.

“The Amazon turns to Charcoal, Brazil Stop the Chainsaw,” said a huge banner tied to a crane by the activists. Continue reading “Brazil port blocked over Amazon law /Veto parcial mantém florestas sob risco”

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Imperiled Life theorizes an exit from the potentially terminal consequences of capital-induced climate change. It is a collection of reflections on the phenomenon of catastrophe—climatological, political, social—as well as on the possibilities of overcoming disaster.

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Related articles Javier Sethness “Imperiled Life” @SubRosa Santa Cruz, CA 5/26 6pm (revolutionbythebook.akpress.org)

Police and media send OCCUPY underground

What happened to the Occupy movement?

Although media coverage has dwindled, Occupy cells are alive and well all over the United S

tates – and beyond.

Occupy Wall Street was at the pinnacle of its power in October 2011, when thousands of people converged at Zuccotti Park and successfully foiled the plans of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloombergto sweep away the occupation on grounds of public health. From that vantage point, the Occupy movement appears to have tumbled off a cliff, having failed to organise anything like a general strike on May Day – despite months of rumblings of mass walkouts, blockades and shutdowns…………

“Compared to a year ago, the level of activity is amazing today. There is a whole new generation of high school and college students being radicalised.”

Others note that protests did take place in more than 110 cities on May Day in recognition of worker resistance and solidarity, no mean feat given the hostility to labour among the ruling elite i the US. Continue reading “Police and media send OCCUPY underground”

Dilma vetoes bits of Amazon Law

Brazil’s Rousseff vetoes part of controversial Forest Code revision

mongabay.com
May 25, 2012

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff today rejected 12 of 84 articles in a controversial bill that aims to relax restrictions on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The Brazilian government will announce the full

250px-157716main_forest_burning_lg — Burning and deforestation of the Amazon forest to make grazing lands. Source: (NASA LBA-ECO Project)

details of the cuts on Monday.

Environmentalists had pressured Rousseff to outright veto the measure, which they said could reverse Brazil’s progress in reducing its deforestation rate. But a presidential veto could have been overruled by Congress.

The revised version of the Forest Code raised concerns among greens and scientists for provisions that

would have granted amnesty for illegal deforestation and reduced the amount of forest landowners are required to protect. The looser Forest Code seemed to be opposed by the general public, according to surveys conducted by environmentalists. The Forest Code revision was pushed by agroindustrial interests in the Congress. Continue reading “Dilma vetoes bits of Amazon Law”