Nelson de Sá: The New Yorker interviews Lula and says that ‘the future of the Amazon and perhaps the planet’ depends on him

On the day of Lula’s arrival at the climate conference in Egypt, The New Yorker magazine publishes “his first interview” since his victory, held in São Paulo, under the title “The future of the Amazon, and perhaps of the planet, depends on the president-elect of Brazil, Lula” (below).

“Lula, who turned 77, looked his age, also tired,” writes Jon Lee Anderson. “As he spoke, however, his famously high energy levels returned. Soon he was sitting on the edge of his chair and enthusiastically picking me up to expound his ideas.”

The first question was about the way to fulfill the promise of zero deforestation, suggesting that he had a great “moral responsibility”, because “people around the world are expecting you not to save the Amazon, but to save the world” .

Squid:

“Yes, I know, and it scares me, because people are very optimistic about our administration. I spoke with President Biden and I just spoke with Josep Borrell [chanceler da União Europeia]🇧🇷 People are waiting for something to change, and it will.”

AMAZON

“As for the Amazon, I intend to make a speech in Egypt to show what the Amazon will be from now on. We don’t want to transform the Amazon into a sanctuary for humanity. What we want is to study, research the Amazon. a place where you cut a tree for no reason. If you want to start a logging company, you must have a policy for afforestation, to plant new trees, so that you can cut them later. You have to have a replacement plan.

“I want to discuss this very seriously, first because we have to respect the millions of Brazilians who live there. Second, we will have to talk with Bolivia, with Peru, with Venezuela, with Ecuador, with Colombia. Talk with Congo and Indonesia.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

“The problem is that we don’t have global governance, it’s weak. In 1948, the UN had the strength to build the State of Israel; in 2022, the UN doesn’t have the strength to build the Palestinian territory. Global governance is needed. It’s necessary to aggregate new countries to the Security Council, end the right of veto, and he has to be representative in a correct political way.Today’s geopolitics is different.

“There has to be an international decision. Let’s give an example: we signed the Kyoto Protocol, and the United States did not comply. For a change in the UN – and the UN has to change – you can’t just have those five on the Security Council.”

VICTORY FOR THE PLANET

Also in Time magazine, this time without an interview, “Lula’s victory in Brazil gives the Amazon a fighting chance”, adapted from his online text “Lula’s victory is a victory for the planet”. In short, “it was the best news the global climate fight has had in a long time”.