A group of artists led by singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso is carrying out this Wednesday (9), in Brasília, an act against bills that loosen environmental legislation.
Alongside leaders of socio-environmental movements, they were received by ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).
After the meetings, the artists would give speeches and a show on stage set up in front of the National Congress.
The protest was called “the act for the land against the package of destruction”. The idea is to oppose the approval of projects that loosen legislation on indigenous lands, pesticides, land grabbing and environmental licensing.
In addition to Caetano, artists such as Daniela Mercury, Lázaro Ramos, Emicida, Criolo, Maria Gadú, Letícia Sabatella and Seu Jorge participated in the event.
“The importance of coming here is that this is no longer a matter of the political game, what is at stake is life. The destruction of these packages that are being voted on in the dead of night. I am not an artist, I am a citizen, a grandfather and it makes me desperate to see such serious issues being treated in an irresponsible way”, said singer Nando Reis, at the ceremony in the Senate.
Caetano made a brief speech and handed over a group demonstration to Pacheco. “The hope is that the Legislative Power wakes up to its possible role in leading Brazil to light up the world,” said the singer.
With the support of the Jair Bolsonaro government (PL), most of the proposals that are targets of the protest have already passed through the Chamber. Now the Senate can have the final word on changes on pesticides and land grabbing.
The protesters were received by Pacheco in the Black Hall of Congress.
Singer Daniela Mercury said she asked for mobilization to stop the projects. “We are here to prevent these PLs from moving forward, even if we have to sleep in front of Congress. We will stop this, we will not let it happen”.
President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the Speaker of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), have used the war in Ukraine as a pretext to accelerate the vote on the project that allows mining in indigenous lands. Lira did not participate in the act with the artists.
Among the targets of the protest are bills 490/2007, which makes it difficult to demarcate indigenous lands, and 191/2020, which regulates mining on indigenous lands.
The bill that facilitates the registration of pesticides (PL 6,299/2002) is criticized for taking powers away from Ibama and Anvisa and also for allowing the registration of substances hazardous to health, such as carcinogens. It had been sitting in the Chamber since 2018 and was approved by the plenary last February.
Approved by the deputies last year, the project for the general environmental licensing law, which is being processed as PL 2,159/2021 in the Senate, exempts most projects from the environmental license, including mining dams, making an exception to the process that is now the general rule. .
The so-called PL on land grabbing also depends on the Senate. Although it has been the subject of protests from artists, companies and even the international community in the last two years, the PL was approved by the Chamber last August and attached to a similar proposal by the Senate, PL 510/2021.
Along with his wife and producer, Paula Lavigne, Caetano Veloso decided to hold the protest in Brasília to draw attention to the proceedings in Congress. The articulation was made in partnership with environmentalists.
The bridge with political leaders was facilitated by the Climate Observatory, which brings together 56 environmental organizations.
