Jair Bolsonaro, a threat to democratic values, indigenous people and environment, not welcome by Indian People

New Delhi, January 25 : The Brazilian President, Jai Bolsonaro is on a four day visit to the country, starting January 24th. He has been invited by the Indian government to be the chief guest at the 71st Republic Day celebrations. This is a special day that we cherish and reassert the values of freedom, equality, plurality and diversity, the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution, adopted after a long fight for Independence and firmly defended by us ever since. As we mark this day, millions across the country are on the streets protesting the divisive agenda being pushed in the name of rabid nationalism and the process of ‘othering’ being planned through new citizenship laws.

We the signatories of this letter would like to state that President Bolsonaro is the guest of the Indian State and as Indian people we are opposed to his misogynistic, homophobic and anti-people views and actions as witnessed in his term as President of Brazil. We condemn the actions of the Brazilian President and many regressive measures he has undertaken since the time he became President in January, 2019.

Mr Bolsonaro has been openly homophobic, racist, made crude jokes about rape and over the time been responsible for targeting environmental and human rights NGOs and have attacked the freedom of expression and dissent. He has denied climate change and changed the Brazilian environmental laws owing to his pro-business policies, and allowed Amazonian forest fires in June – August 2019 and only acted after huge international pressures. His actions have only contributed to already worsening climate crisis.

It also needs to be noted that Brazil’s Human Rights Advocacy Collective (CADHu) and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for Human Rights (Arns Commission) including six former government ministers are seeking to indict the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro at the International Criminal Court for encouraging genocide against Brazil’s indigenous people. The briefing note to the ICC notes that since taking power in January, Mr Bolsonaro has repeatedly denigrated Brazil’s indigenous people – comparing them to animals in zoos and “prehistoric men” – and overseen efforts to dismantle Funai, the already underfunded agency supposed to protect Brazil’s more than 300 tribes. As part of his Global neoliberal agenda, he has also pushed to open up indigenous reserves to mining companies. As a result the living conditions and lifestyles of the indigenous peoples are being destroyed by massive river pollution and invasion of their lands by wildcat miners, loggers and land-grabbers, noting the recent 29% increase in annual deforestation – the highest rate in a decade. Mr. Bolsonaro said after those devastating numbers emerged that Amazon fires and deforestation were cultural and would never end.

The invitation to the Brazilian President by the Government of India is outrageous too because as the President Mr Bolsonaro has dragged India to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) dispute settlement body, contending that India’s commitments to some binding rules in the WTO have been violated. If the dispute panel upholds the complaint of Brazil (and other countries which have joined subsequently), Indian sugarcane producers’ future looks bleak. Already reeling under the agrarian crisis Indian farmers are feeling indignant that by inviting Mr Bolsonaro as the chief guest, the Indian government appears to be giving a message to them that their lives and livelihoods do not matter much for the government.

It is no coincidence that current BJP led government at the centre finds common cause with the Brazilian President because on many of the issues they have similar views. The current Indian government is following similar anti-people policies, is promoting discrimination against minorities, attacking the freedom of expression and association, criminalizing dissent and weakening environmental and labour laws. Coming together of these two similar fascist and anti people leadership is determinantal to the progress of a progressive politics and democratic values which advocates building of mutual solidarity and people’s power.

We extend our solidarity to the struggling indigenous people of Amazonia, the Brazilian working people and the environmental and rights groups in Brazil who have been protesting against these policies of Mr Bolsonaro. The rise of the right wing forces in our country and in Brazil is detrimental to democratic norms and we vow to continue fighting against this and build real people to people solidarity between India and Brazil.

Issued Jointly by Organisations and Individuals below :

Organisations

All India Kisan Sabha All India Union of Forest Working People Bargi Bandh Visthapit Evam Parbhavit Sangh Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha Bhumi Adhikar Andolan Centre for Financial Accountability Chutka Parmanu Virodhi Sagarsh samiti Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai Coalition for Environmental Justice in India Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch Delhi Solidarity Group Environment Support Group Financial Accountability Network, India Focus on the Global South Fridays for Future, India India Climate Justice MAUSAM Network Mines, Minerals and Peoples National Alliance of People’s Movements National Domestic Workers Union Teachers Against Climate Crisis Trans Rights Collective Working Group on International Financial Institutions

Individual Endorsements

Afzal Anish Aloka Kujur Altamas Ansari Amitava Mitra, NAPM West Bengal Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, Parth, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Gujarat Anant, Anil TV, Delhi Solidarity Group. Anita Kapoor, Delhi Shahri Mahila Kaamgaar Union Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri, Satark Nagrik Sangathan Arun Jena Aruna Rodrigues, Activist, Mhow, MP Aruna Roy, Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM India Arvind Murti Aryaman Jain Ashalatha, MAKAAM Ashish Kothari, Pune Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan Ashok Verma, NAPM Jharkhand Aziz Minat Balakrishna Sand, Balu Gadi, Bapji Juvvala, NAPM Andhra Pradesh Basant Hetamsaria Bharat Jambucha, NAPM Gujarat Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan Sangharsh Vahini Bilal Khan, Jameela, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan Binayak Sen, Kolkata Chakri, Samalochana Chetan Salve, Narmada Bachao Andolan CR Neelakandan Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha Samiti Dev Desai, Gujarat Divyansh Khurana Leo A. Singh Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Durga Nayak Evita Das Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar, Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha Gautam Modi, General Secretary, New Trade Union Initiative Geetanjali Chavan, Maharashtra Geetha Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation Gurwant Singh, NAPM Punjab Hannan Mollah, All India Kisan Sabha Harsh Mander, Rights and Peace Activist, New Delhi J S Walia, NAPM Haryana Jabar Singh, Rashtra Seva Dal Jagriti Rahi Jeevan Kumar, Hyderabad Jipal Murmu K Ramnarayan, Uttarakhand Kailash Meena,NAPM Rajasthan Kaladas Dahariya, RELAA Kalyan Anand Kamayani Swami Kaushika Draavid, IIT Kanpur Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Kiran Kumar Vissa & Kondal, Rythu Swarajya Vedika Krishna, Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika-TVV, Lakshimipriya Mohanty Lalita Sharma Linda Chakchuak, Journalist Lingaraj Pradhan Lingraj Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Venkatayya, Telangana Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Union-TVVU, Madhuresh Kumar NAPM Magline, Kerala Mahendra Yadav, Kosi Navnirman Manch Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, NAPM Karnataka, Majeendran, NAPM Kerala Manas Patnaik, NAPM Odisha Manesh Gupta Manorama Khatua, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti Mashiuddin, NAPM, Uttar Pradesh Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) Meera Sanghamitra, NAPM India Mujahid Nafees, Minority Coordination Committee Mukta Srivastava, Roji Roti Adhikar Abhiyan Nakul Singh Sawney, Chal Chitra Abhiyan Nanhu Prasad, National Cyclist Union Nidhi Jain, Concerned Indian Citizen Nikhil Dey, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Nita Mahadev, Mudita Vidrohi, Lok Samiti Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union-APVVU, Shankar, Dalit Bahujan Front Pasarul Alam, TASO Pradip Chatterjee, NFF Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan Prasad Bagwe, Mose Khore Bachao Andolan Prasad Chacko, Gujarat Priti Ranjan Dash Priya Pillai Priyanka Singh Kusumam Joseph, NAPM Kerala Radhika Menon, All India People’s Forum Rajeev Yadav, Rihai Manch Rajendra Ravi, Institute for Democracy and Sustainability Rajesh Serupally, NAPM Telangana Rajkumar Sinha, Chutka Parmaanu Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti Ramakrishnam Raju, United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Ramesh Tadvi Ravi Kanneganti, Rythu JAC, Richa Singh, Rambeti, Sangatin Kisaan Mazdoor Sangathan Samar Bagchi, NAPM West Bengal Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party of India Sanjay M G, NAPM Maharashtra Sanjeev Kumar, Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch Satya banchor Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, Anhad Sharanya, Nayak, Farmer and activist, Koraput, Odisha Sharath Cheloor, Dynamic Action Sister Celia, Domestic Workers Union Sister Dorothy, Aashray Abhiyan Srikanta Aguan Suhas Kolhekar, NAPM Sujato Bhadro, Kolkata Sunita Rani, National Domestic Workers Union; Suniti SR, NAPM Maharashtra Suresh Rathaur, Mahendra, MNREGA Mazdoor Union, UP Sushma Biruli Suthanthiran, Arul Doss, NAPM Tamilnadu Syed Bilal, Human Rights Forum Tapas Das, River Protection Forum Tara Murali, Chennai Trilochan Punji Uma, NAPM, Uttarakhand Vijayan M J, General Secretary, PIPFPD Vijayaraghavan Cheliya, NAPM Kerala Vilayodi Venugopal, Activist Kerala Vimal Bhai,Matu Jan sangathan Xavier Dias, Editor, Khan Kaneej Aur ADHIKAR, (Mines minerals & RIGHTS) Yuvraj Gatkal, Pune Zainab Khatun