A-Infos (en) Brazil, OSL: National Note 09/2024 - Climate and social tragedy: rains in the state of Rio de Janeiro (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

This week, the state of Rio de Janeiro was hit by yet another heavy rain 
that highlighted the incompetence, neglect and criminal omission of 
governments in dealing with the climate crisis and storms that are 
already expected during this period. There have already been more than 
12 deaths and it is estimated that more than 600 families are homeless 
throughout the metropolitan region. The cities of Rio de Janeiro, 
Belford Roxo, São João de Meriti, Nova Iguaçu, Duque de Caxias and 
Mesquita were the hardest hit - not by chance, poorer places with less 
social investment.
Many residents lost all their possessions and their homes were 
completely flooded. At this moment, the hypocrisy of the bourgeois press 
plays into the hands of the system, repeating the litany of 
"unpredictable" nature or hypocritically calling for investments in 
prevention, while on the other hand it waves the flag of neoliberalism, 
with budget cuts.

While Governor Cláudio Castro was having fun on vacation at Disney, the 
population suffered with little concrete support. The growth and 
intensity of climate events has been plaguing the entire world, being 
yet another effect of the ecological destruction generated by the 
capitalist system. We know that it is always the poorest who are 
affected by its effects.

The most vulnerable areas from an environmental point of view, not by 
chance, are the areas where there are a majority of poor and black 
people, as a result of the history of class society and the economic, 
racial and political domination to which we are subjected. Given this 
scenario, we have seen in recent years a dehydration of the federal 
budget for disaster prevention.[1]As an example, in 2022 the State 
government reduced the budget foreseen for environmental management by 
54%, the area responsible for planning public policies in basic 
sanitation and environmental preservation[2]. The privatization of 
Cedae, which handed the company over to the greed of the private sector, 
yielded the State more than R$14 billion and basic maintenance works 
were not even carried out on the rivers that flow through the city.

Although the federal and state governments have announced a small 
increase in the 2024 budget for environmental management and disaster 
prevention, the maintenance of the fiscal framework by the Minister of 
Finance, (the left liberal) Fernando Haddad, continues with an austerity 
policy that makes investment in social services hostage to large 
speculators in the financial system.

Breaking with the austerity policy is a necessary step to ensure that 
such tragedies do not occur again or are minimized, but we know that 
within the capitalist system, they will only be completely avoided with 
a radical transformation of this economic and political system.

Let us remember that many resources destined for works that benefit the 
population are consumed or diverted in the clientelistic and corrupt 
machine (present throughout the state of Rio de Janeiro), which involves 
professional politics and their financiers (businessmen). Limiting our 
horizon to punctually changing these managers, through elections, means 
not touching the heart of the problem. As long as the most precarious 
working class is forced to live in places without basic sanitation, 
without infrastructure, next to slopes, rivers and under the control of 
professional politicians, the threat of climate tragedies will remain. 
Today the extreme right governs in the state of Rio de Janeiro and in 
many municipalities in Rio de Janeiro. It is also territorialized in a 
large part of the region through its articulated network of 
neo-Pentecostal churches, militias, drug trafficking, police and their 
elected representatives in bourgeois democracy who occupy positions in 
the executive, legislative and judiciary. The governor is another part 
of this system that can only be faced by popular organization and 
mobilization.

In this time of crisis, the actions of mutual support by the population 
itself and organized popular movements stand out positively, with 
campaigns to collect food, clothing and solidarity with those affected. 
It is necessary to ensure that this type of practice points to a new 
horizon of social transformation, where politicians, the bourgeoisie and 
their defenders are seen as part of the problem, not the solution.

It is only with the collective control of the oppressed classes and 
popular self-government that we will be able to truly confront the 
climate crisis and its effects!

OSL January 18, 2024

[1]In 2023, the federal budget for disaster prevention foreseen by the 
Bolsonaro government was the lowest in 14 years. Available at 
https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2023/02/20/verba-prevista-para-prevencao-de-desastres-e-a-menor-em-14-anos.ghtml

[2]Available at 
https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2022/02/18/estado-do-rio-reduziu-em-99-orcamento-destinado-a-prevencao-de-tragedias-afirma-deputada

Source: 
https://socialismolibertario.net/2024/01/18/tragedia-climatica-e-social-as-chuvas-no-estado-do-rio-de-janeiro/

Libertarian Socialist Organization

https://socialismolibertario.net/2024/01/18/tragedia-climatica-e-social-as-chuvas-no-estado-do-rio-de-janeiro/
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