July 25, 2021

13:07

Linda Almeida – from Cenarium

MANAUS – In another act against the federal government, protesters were present at Praça da Saudade, in Manaus downtown, on Saturday afternoon, 23. Among leftist groups, student movements and teachers, even parliamentarians like the state congressman Jose Ricardo (PT) were in the act that went through the streets of the capital.

According to the Popular Brazil Front and the People Without Fear, national organizers of the event, the Out Bolsonaro Campaign has 426 confirmed acts in 405 cities and 15 countries around the world, as in Berlin, Germany, and in Vienna, France.

According to the coordinator of the Popular Brazil Front in Manaus, Yann Evanovick, dissatisfaction with the current management in various public policies of President Jair Bolsonaro was what moved the act, especially, actions in dealing with the pandemic of Covid-19.

He tells that, during this demonstration, black bags in the shape of bodies were arranged around the square, in a symbolism for the lives lost in the pandemic, lives that, for him, could have been saved. “It’s for justice, it’s for those who died without oxygen,” he told. “Here in Amazonas there is this keynote, we cannot forget that they took away the right to breathe from countless people. We are here in defense of the vaccine, of SUS, of food on the plate,” he said.

‘We can’t take it anymore’

For many protesters, the pandemic ended up uniting several groups in a single dissatisfaction, but without forgetting the daily protests they hold for each cause, whether online or in the streets of the country. During #24JForaBolsonaro, another major highlight was Bolsonaro’s possible case of prevarication, exposed in the Pandemic CPI. Where the president is being accused of ignoring the communication of irregularities in the purchase of the immunizer Covaxin.

Therefore, they ask that the president of the House of Representatives, Arthur Lira (PP), or the vice president, Marcelo Ramos (PL), read any of the requests for Bolsonaro’s impeachment that are piling up in the House’s collection. “We can’t do it anymore, we can’t take it anymore. He has no conditions to conduct the country the way he is conducting it,” says teacher Ian Toledo Lemos, who represented the capital’s public servers.

Government that accumulates controversies

n the same way, besides the economy and Paulo Guedes’ constant attacks on the Manaus Free Trade Zone, such as the 10% import tax reduction on electro-electronics, machinery and equipment, the unemployment of more than 14 million Brazilians (IBGE) and the refusal to buy vaccines, the indigenous agenda is another reason for indignation.

Indigenous Kokama and Sateré-Mawé were in great numbers this Saturday in the center of Manaus. In addition to the PL 490, which provides for changes in the rules of land demarcation, currently forwarded to the House of Representatives, they exposed the lack of attention from the Bolsonaro government to these peoples. The request, simple as it is, for them is far from being granted. “The whole indigenous agenda in Congress is wrong, in fact non-existent for us. Only the Temporal Framework, for example, will take away what is ours,” said a Sateré-Mawé protester.

‘Abandoned by the Federal Government’

Representative of the Workers’ Party in Amazonas, Federal Congressman Jose Ricardo was present at the ‘Out Bolsonaro Campaign’ this afternoon. Aware of each agenda being addressed by protesters at the act, the parliamentarian quoted the main claims made against the Federal Government, which he accused of “abandoning” the Amazon.

“It’s a government that is privatizing public assets for foreign private interests, cuts in federal studies, indigenous people who are losing the right to their lands… There are countless motivations,” he stressed. “Likewise, we have a Congress that supports the government, even the Amazonas bench that supports this government of death. The people want change,” said the PT politician.

For José Ricardo, these demonstrations represent the pressure of the population in Congress, with regard to an evaluation of at least one of the 123 requests for impeachment awaiting review of Lira and also against the approval of laws that symbolize a “regression” in the country.

The demonstrations continued peacefully in downtown Manaus until early Saturday evening. The organizers advised about the use of mask, hand sanitizer and social distancing during the acts. A new movement is scheduled to occur nationally in August of this year.