Search results

By Mirna Wabi-Sabi [1] Photo by Alice Hsieh During the isolation of the pandemic, I had more time to observe my garden, its movements, growths and beings. This led me to start an experiment with developing mini ponds without pumps or filters to accommodate frogs, dragonflies, etc. In the process, I not only learned a lot about the lives and behaviors of different beings, but also about the existence of different living beings, including plants, and their functions for a balanced ecosystem. The city, today, is not a balanced ecosystem. Just as our knowledge about the animals and plants around us, or which are no longer around us because of urban imbalance, is insufficient. Can mini ponds not only remedy our lack of knowledge by exposing us to certain aspects of nature in an accessible and daily way, but can they also influence the urban habitat to mitigate the greenhouse effect and the damage caused by global warming? Cities and Weizi Settlements A recent study, from July 2022, called 'Impacts of Water Bodies on Microclimates and External Thermal Comfort ' describes how small artificial ponds relate to sustainable environmental revitalization in a human settlement. Using as reference a Chinese village of Weizi tradition (or Wei zi) called Xufan, an analysis is made on the influence that urban characteristics, such as asphalt and tall buildings, have on microclimates, in contrast with the characteristics of human habitats that use aquatic resources. A Weizi village "is a typical model of traditional Chinese human settlement that combines human habitat with farmland and water conservancy." It adapts, transforms, and utilizes an aquatic environment through the intersection of climatic conditions, local natural resources, rural culture and Fengshui — where ancestral and environmental science merge. Xufan, in the Guanweizi village, in the municipality of Guangshan in Henan (China), was listed as one of these traditional settlements in 2017. There, it was possible to analyze how water bodies affect the temperature and humidity of the environment, and influence human coexistence and production. The study reveals that bodies of water absorb heat during the day and release heat at night, maintaining the stability of their microclimates. They also affect humidity, which through winds and breezes connects with microclimates of other bodies of water in certain radiuses of distance. This densifies the region's vegetation, regulates the climate and sustains local agriculture. These effects are interrupted when approaching the urban center. In cities, buildings shield wind and breezes, interrupting the flow of humidity between different bodies of water and its cooling effect on the local temperature. It may be instinctive to understand asphalt and car engines as things that heat up an environment, and buildings that in turn shield the microclimate created in their streets. The main function of asphalt is waterproofing, and the engine operates on the basis of small explosions burning fuel. The rising of temperature and decreasing of humidity are microclimates in themselves — urban ones. Images: “Research on the Forms and Changes of Jianghuai Shuiwei Settlements — Take the Western Jianghuai Area as an Example". What are Microclimates? Water not only satisfies needs of agroecosystems, but also regulates thermal comfort, which is a specific effect of microclimates. The PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature) “is an index based on the thermal balance of the body ”, and represents the thermal comfort or discomfort in urban or non-urban microclimates. As such, microclimates are nothing more than the atmospheric conditions of a certain environment, resulting from certain elements of that environment. Vegetation, bodies of water, asphalt and buildings are examples of geomorphological elements that influence microclimates. The urban microclimate is sometimes referred to as a “heat island” as a result of what I would call exogenic relief agents. City infrastructures are, in a way, exogenic geomorphological elements that significantly alter the Earth's surface, among other things. With the undeniable damage that the industrial revolution caused to the planet and to the levels of pollution in urban centers from the mid-19th century onwards, many damage mitigation strategies were developed, with perhaps mediocre results. Combating urban pollution The coal industry, which has been responsible for much of the industrial pollution since the mid-19th century and also for decreasing human life expectancy , is in decline in the US, as are deaths associated with coal mining . On the other hand, in China, coal production is on the rise . Another strategy to combat pollution in cities has been to make cars more efficient. Electronic injection, for example, is effective in reducing pollution by mixing air and fuel more economically than manual regulation. The catalytic converter neutralizes the harmful gases that enter the atmosphere as they leave through the exhaust system, with effect on up to 98% of them. The Driver Training Manual (Brazilian Edition 2022) states that Brazil “started to produce one of the best fuels in the world from an environmental point of view”. By adding ethanol to gasoline, emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and other harmful gases are reduced. It is said that, compared to 1986, the average CO emissions per vehicle today is half a percent of what they used to be (from 54g/km to 0.3g/km). That all sounds good, but on closer inspection, one-off issues seem to be partially resolved while others come up simultaneously. CO is just one of the harmful gases emitted by cars, many of which have not declined on such a scale. The numbers differ depending on the source because they vary with the car's year of manufacture, region and regulations. Regulations are not properly enforced. And even if the laws were imposed and followed, the adaptation of the legislation aims to protect the environment when it is also in the interest of the “development of the automobile industry” ( Art. 2: I—Vetoed ). So, to say that pollution in cities has improved compared to 100 years ago through technology is not saying much. A holistic view of how to deal with the environmental harmfulness of urbanization would overcome the limitations of national laws and the car industry, as the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect do not operate according to financial and legal logics. The financial and legal logics, in fact, operate according to the population's set of beliefs, even if they are often manufactured by the financial and legal sectors themselves. Do city dwellers want to live in places like São Paulo, where traffic and money never stop pulsing? Images: “Vernacular Ecological Architecture — Weizi Folk Houses in the Southeast Henan". Is the heat island inescapable? The city's microclimates alienate animals and plants. But with a reconfiguration of belief systems about what city life can or should be, creating urban microclimates that invite animals and plants to thrive is feasible. Green terraces reduce the effects of urban heat islands, and vegetation is concentrated around water bodies naturally. Therefore, bodies of water can and should be introduced in urban gardens, community gardens and terraces where there is already vested interest in landscaping. To take advantage of the cooling effect of plants and ponds in urban contexts, a self-sufficient structure that minimizes the use of resources such as public water and electricity is not only affordable and accessible, but also ancient. As Weizi villages are described, “the water-adaptive space presents ancestors’ wisdom to adapt to and moderately transform the water environment and utilize water resources in a low-technology, low-cost, low-maintenance, and sustainable way.” Wei, in addition to having been an illustrious territory in ancient China, also means housing that uses water trenches to satisfy a variety of community needs such as irrigation, drainage, washing, thermal comfort and protection. Buildings facilitate the passage of breezes, trenches serve as defense walls, water and animals nourish the agriculture and, as such, vernacular architecture and urbanism express valuable ancestral and scientific knowledge. In the modern urban context, adapting to water can mean collecting rainwater, which in turn encourages awareness of rainfall frequency and air quality (which influences rainwater quality), as well as minimizes the use of city water supply. The increase in humidity of microclimates, with the presence of a breeze between each body of water, can help regulate the frequency of rainfall (since we know that humidity and rain are mutually favorable). To control mosquito proliferation, small fish can be introduced into the water body. A well-planted pond, with an adequate amount and type of fish, does not need a pump or filter. A partial water change is sufficient, and the nutrient-rich pond water can be used for watering plants. Animals such as lizards, beetles, dragonflies, ants, and birds contribute to the maintenance of these natural elements and minimize the need for human maintenance. By inviting these beings, we observe and understand them better. Part of understanding them better means understanding that the prosperity of these beings means our prosperity, the human future. Knowledge about nature teaches us to appreciate, respect and, in turn, protect. And it teaches us about urban microclimatic contexts, whose affronts to human existence we often fail to identify, denounce, and modify. The researchers of the article 'Impacts of Water Bodies ' state that the impact of different formats of water bodies will be the focus of their next research. This indicates a lack of data regarding the diversity of possibilities to mitigate the negative impacts of “man-made underlying surfaces” using bodies of water. Therefore, there is still much to be explored. The execution of this proposal presents a sharp learning curve and adaptation of the population's sets of beliefs, apart from a reconfiguration of what private or individual spaces mean in the context of the relationship between urban microclimates and the future of the planet. Gradually, awareness of how each individual deals with their private space, and acts in relation to nature in cohesion, has the power to reconfigure the status quo of urbanization. Who knows, the micro in a cascading effect becomes macro, and the heat island is little by little re-signified by oases. [1] Founding member and director of Plataforma9 , author of Anarco-transcriação .

Read it in English at Sul Books, here . Texto por Mirna Wabi-Sabi, fotos por Fabio Teixeira Tartarugas são criaturas majestosas. Por diversos motivos, elas se tornaram ícones da longevidade. Primeiramente, elas sobreviveram o evento que causou a extinção em massa dos dinossauros. Hoje, elas podem viver por mais de um século. Podem viver, não – deveriam poder viver. A civilização humana está essencialmente por trás de tudo que as ameaça. Poluição de diversos tipos, empreendimentos imobiliários, tráfego marítimo, pesca industrial, elevação do nível do mar e eventos climáticos extremos causados pelo aquecimento global, perda de habitat, erosão de solos praianos e o dano inimaginável dos vazamentos de petróleo nos oceanos parecem ser mais avassaladores do que um cometa ou asteroide gigantesco atirado contra a Terra. Durante milhares de anos, civilizações humanas em todos os continentes têm adorado a figura da tartaruga. Mais de 35 mil anos  atrás ela já era venerada no cerne da Ásia Ocidental (o Levante), sendo considerada o símbolo religioso mais antigo em uma das sociedades mais antigas da nossa história. E até mero meio século atrás, a América do Norte era conhecida como a Ilha da Tartaruga  por povos indígenas locais. A deterioração da mitologia, lenda e folclore centrados em entidades da natureza é recente, mas perdem espaço ferozmente para os que centram as grandes indústrias e empreendimentos globais. O paradigma cultural que surge com a industrialização não parece se preocupar com a longevidade humana ou mais-que-humana, e isso não pode permanecer realidade. Na praia de Itaipu, em Niterói–RJ, o projeto Aruanã há 15 anos monitora tartarugas marinhas no entorno da Baía de Guanabara. Para as biólogas, colaboradores, voluntários e apoiadores deste projeto, está claro que a prosperidade das tartarugas é inseparável da prosperidade humana. Esse animal exerce um papel amplo no equilíbrio do ecossistema natural desse planeta, do qual nós fazemos parte e dependemos para sobreviver. Ou seja, o declínio da tartaruga como espécie desencadeia uma sequência de danos nos ecossistemas marinhos, que por sua vez prejudicam a nossa subsistência. Diversas coisas podem ser feitas para proteger as tartarugas além de denunciar e demandar que grandes indústrias parem de poluir e destruir o habitat delas. Para indivíduos como nós, sem posições de total poder de decisão em multinacionais e corporações, é possível reduzir o consumo de plástico, e quando há consumo dele, reciclar, para garantir que esse resíduo não acabe nos oceanos. A sede do projeto Aruanã em Itaipu recebe embalagens descartáveis limpas de plástico reciclável e esponjas usadas para garantir que o destino desses resíduos não cause danos futuros nos oceanos. Uma iniciativa ainda mais simples e acessível para a população geral é o que o Aruanã chama de “Ciência Cidadã.” Ao observar uma tartaruga em algum lugar, viva ou morta, você pode tirar uma foto e enviar para eles  com local, data e horário. Com esses dados, a equipe da organização monitora o ciclo de vida dessas criaturas, assim identificando desafios e obstáculos que elas enfrentam para completar esse ciclo. Esse ano, o Aruanã renovou seu contrato de financiamento com o Programa Petrobras Socioambiental, e poderá dar início a um novo projeto – o de rastreamento de tartarugas marinhas por satélite (Telemetria Satelital). Com essa tecnologia, será possível acompanhar os padrões migratórios de diversas tartarugas com precisão e eficácia. Para as biólogas do projeto, é sempre emocionante quando uma tartaruga é encontrada novamente, anos depois, numa região distante de onde ela foi primeiramente registrada. Não só porque as chances são pequenas de as encontrar nos vastos oceanos, mas também porque é gratificante ver e registrar evidência de sua prosperidade. Hoje, a identificação de tartarugas pode ser feita pelo número em suas tags , ou pelo desenho das escamas em suas cabeças, que exercem a função de impressões digitais. Com Telemetria Satelital, dados preciosos podem ser coletados sobre locais e temperaturas preferidas  das tartarugas, e como essas regiões interagem com o comportamento humano. Para a tartaruga-verde, por exemplo, que conforme o Instituto Chico Mendes  de Conservação da Biodiversidade “é a única espécie que se reproduz nas ilhas oceânicas brasileiras,” evidências científicas irrefutáveis podem ser registradas sobre elas. Essas evidências podem, por sua vez, ser usadas para “ facilitar o estabelecimento de acordos  multinacionais para a conservação.” Sabemos que alcançar acordos, como os que serão discutidos na COP30 em Belém, e garantir que eles sejam cumpridos no nível institucional e global são desafios esmagadores, por isso cumprir acordos entre nós mesmos e nossas comunidades é um primeiro passo alcançável. Os oceanos não se submetem ao desejo das indústrias, ou das restrições de fronteiras estatais. O que acontece neles é responsabilidade de toda a humanidade. Como membros dessa humanidade, temos o poder ajudar a forjá-la. Enfrentar ameaças antropogênicas aos locais cruciais no ciclo de vida de animais como a tartaruga não só é salubre para a humanidade, é também fundamental para não desencadearmos nosso próprio evento de extinção em massa. O projeto Aruanã faz um trabalho detalhado de coleta e sistematização de dados, desenvolvimento de pesquisas acadêmicas na área de biologia marinha e sustentabilidade, e também de engajar a população local no que eles chamam de “preocupação ambiental relacionada ao ambiente marinho.” Se ‘preocupar’ nada mais é do que fomentar uma narrativa coletiva, comunitária, que visa estimular a prosperidade da flora e fauna no nosso canto do planeta, também porque somos parte dessa fauna. Os avanços tecnológicos e econômicos que testemunhamos nesse último século não precisam se tornar apenas uma fonte de aniquilação ambiental, onde o consumo e descarte só aumentam infinitamente, sem visão de impactos no longo termo. Se a tartaruga nos ensina algo, é que a longevidade é alcançada em pequenos passos decisivos. E todos os dias fazemos escolhas impactantes. Os “Objetivos do Desenvolvimento Sustentável” (ODS) da ONU, especialmente o ODS 14 – “Vida na Água” –, reforçam a urgência de conservarmos e engajarmos com os oceanos de forma sustentável ao longo termo. A proteção das tartarugas marinhas se insere nesse esforço global, nos lembrando que não há futuro possível para os humanos sem o bem-estar ecológico. Projetos como o Aruanã demonstram que, mesmo diante de desafios globais avassaladores, ações locais e cotidianas são fundamentais e eficazes. A tartaruga simboliza a necessidade de desacelerar o consumo, refletir e agir com responsabilidade, sem perder de vista que a mudança é feita, sobretudo, por aqueles que insistem em trilhar o caminho da preservação da natureza. Ao proteger as tartarugas, estamos, na verdade, defendendo a possibilidade de um futuro saudável para todos, onde a natureza possa existir em equilíbrio. Que a humanidade se inspire a seguir a mesma determinação silenciosa das tartarugas, rumo a um planeta mais saudável e digno. Fotos tiradas dia 20 de maio, 2025, na praia de Itaipu, Niterói-RJ, por Fabio Teixeira, do Projeto Aruanã . Fotos tiradas dia 15 de maio, 2025, na Praia da Ilha do Governador, por Fabio Teixeira, do grupo Orla Sem Lixo . Fotos tiradas dia 21 de abril, 2025, na Praia da Ilha do Governador, por Fabio Teixeira, da ecobarreira no canal do cunha .

The Armed Forces waging war against civilians. The Armed Forces War doesn’t happen the way it used to last century. It has evolved into hybrid forms , and it has found new ways to hush up misconduct and facts in general. We might not see the weapons or the soldiers, but every aspect of our lives is affected by the work these people do. Every time we travel, or buy imported food; actually, every time we identify ourselves as having a nationality, it’s because of them. Military defense institutions are the reason why States exist , why borders matter, why we speak a certain language, and why we can’t simply put up a tent at the beach. Still, military presence can become even more prominent in daily life, and during supposedly peaceful times. The possibility of a military regime in Brazil has been floating around in conversation since before Bolsonaro’s presidency. He has notoriously defended the military dictatorship of the 60s, and the man who was responsible for the torture of Dilma, Brazil’s first female president, during this regime. He was a military officer during the dictatorship, and said he wouldn’t accept the outcome of the Presidential election if he didn’t win – Recently admitting to having considered military intervention in 2022. In his 27 years in congress, Rio de Janeiro was a target of 36 Armed Forces operations . The first one in Rio, in 92, was also the first in the country. The cases when the AF are used to control the Brazilian population are called GLO’s, ‘Guarantee of Law and Order.’ Of the total directed at 'urban violence,' 43% happened in Rio. While most other states had 0, seven states had 1, and three had 2 – Rio had 10 (Not counting 1 operation that had 15 phases). Now that he has been president, the hyper militarization of Rio was expected to spread throughout Brazil. There are some predictable implications to military presence in civil scope in terms of public safety, and 'law and order.' The military are used as cops, the public perception of crime drastically changes, and the privatization of prisons makes it all highly profitable. Misogyny Women have been introduced into the AF only recently . There was particular pressure for this to happen during Dilma’s presidency, as there were no high-ranking women yet. When Dilma was impeached, in 2016, the wife of the man who took her place was praised for being “ beautiful, modest, and of the home .” These are passive-aggressive methods to keep women in the domestic realm (and in this case out of the absolute highest office in the country), but there are aggressive methods as well, visible in the consistently alarming figures of hate crimes against women and LGBTQ people . Introducing women into the AF might not be the solution to sexism, but it could bring quick and significant changes to the lives of marginalized women to whom interaction with the AF is inevitable, as well as to the culture within the institution. The demilitarization of humanitarian aid and health resources must follow. And to ensure the long-lasting effects of public health efforts, homelessness must effectively end, with stable housing and running water being provided to all. The first solution is only quicker because it has already been discussed for a few decades, and the change has still happened slowly. While the other solutions unfortunately haven't significantly entered the realm of consideration in public discourse. In 2011, a study was published on the insertion of women into the Navy. This is the opinion of an officer about how this change has been: “Sometimes we see that, because of the co-existence of men and women in the Navy, there are involvements between female officials and soldiers, and officials and female soldiers.  […] I’m referring to intimate extramarital relations, that the man should be looking for out there, and ends up looking for inside the Navy. [… T]he women [also] introduced another language. There are words that are in the Naval tradition, and a lot of things changed […].” – Story on page 90 of a 2011 paper called “ Public Policy of Gender: Inserting women in the Brazilian Navy as soldiers .” It was difficult to pick one quote to analyze; this paper is filled with uncomfortable sexist remarks veiled as not-sexist because they are delivered as compliments or as straight-forward facts. For instance, “it’s great to have women in the Navy because the work environment is much tidier and cleaner” (p. 91), as if one great thing women have to offer is their inclination toward domestic work. This attitude completely ignores the oppressive socio-political conjuncture that has caused women to perceive domestic duties as their (unpaid) responsibility, while the man goes out to do the real (paid) work. The environment is also much “gentler,” “studious,” there is less cursing, and males need to watch their “vulgar language.” Aside from the fact that they find the presence of women in bathing suits “embarrassing” during physical training. Women officials and soldiers are specified as female, while the male ones are omitted and implied. This highlights masculinism as traditional. Maleness is specified only when describing sex as something 'men' look for. As such, treating sex as something men do to women, symbolic of rape culture. “Extramarital” and “out there” are alarming terms that call for urgent and thorough research on how these men treat local women in the regions they settle in for work. If rape culture emanates from a language that is considered traditional, we cannot ignore how this language reveals an attitude that might be acted upon at any moment. Unfortunately, there are no figures or data regarding sexual misconduct by soldiers and officials, only endless stories of men cheating on their wives. Lack of Data There is lack of data regarding sexual assault, harassment, and other gender based moral attacks perpetrated by members of the Brazilian AF. In a report from a meeting of the  Gender Commission of the Ministry of Defense  ( GCMD ) in April 2015, a representative of the  Secretariat of Personnel and Education  states that there is no formal registry of assault cases because the “'system' tends to hush up facts that occurred.” Soon after, a male representative of the  Institutional Organization Secretariat  says that it’s important to establish the purpose of this sort of research, and to manage the expectation of results. He claims to have done the research, finding insignificant numbers of cases, some of which include men as the actual victims. Therefore, he expressed concern for the tendency towards hollow “denunciationism,” meanwhile ignoring more than one person’s affirmation that there are no figures on the topic (and no other clear explanation for why that is). This year, a female Naval lawyer explained to me that these figures don’t exist because they are considered personal information processed by the courts; inside the AF, only Intelligence personnel  has these reports. In other words, reports and figures exist, but in secrecy . On this topic, the public dialogue screams of masquerade, especially when it ends admitting that these meetings are a response to the pressure posed by International Relations to meet standards of gender equality. A Minister’s closing statement described Sweden denying diplomatic agreements with Saudi Arabia over the issue of Women’s Rights. Meaning, one must not damage diplomatic relationships with western countries for lagging in this matter, and Islamophobia is a convenient veil for machismo. The same meeting fostered a debate over the use of the word “equity,” since some worried that it might be taken too literally; as in the expectation of 50/50 participation of men and women in the AF. Would that be so bad? To them yes, because that would mean replacing meritocracy with some type of affirmative action – as if women have had the choice of entering the AF, and when so, have had the psychological will to be molded into a violently masculine environment where not even the facilities are  designed to accommodate  them. The GCMD still assures that female spaces are only granted within a system of meritocracy ( 2017 ). What this means is not so much that women can enter when they are qualified and valuable, but instead when they have effectively lived up to the existing (male) standards that were established by Military institutions 200 years ago. Meritocracy is nothing more than an excuse to marginalize, in this case, women. Their meeting records from 2014 already reveal subtle clashes between the ‘talking about’ women’s issues versus actual female participation in these talks. A colonel announced the workshop The Protection of Women in UN Peace Operations and Maintenance , which was about how to protect a local female population during “peace” missions. However, there were no more spots available for members of the GCMD, which lead a female Tenant, member of the Superior School of War , to immediately lay out the embarrassingly low percentage of women in the educational institution (18%). Usually these low percentages are blamed on the fact that women only sign up for the Army voluntarily, while for Brazilian men it’s compulsory. All long-term Army carriers are voluntary; men are under no obligation to serve more than a year, and the fact that these 9-12 months are compulsory for men only ensures the masculine predominance in the field. Colonialism “Ribeirinha women are easy, but opportunistic, and go after child’s pension. So, make sure not to impregnate them. Don’t even leave the condom laying around – flush it down.” A line officer from the Navy told me about this advice given to newcomers of the 9th, 6th and 4th Naval districts of Brazil – Advice about hushing up evidence of sexual misconduct while off duty. The line officer also told me that he’s seen co-workers spend over 20 thousand reais on a weekend “partying” with local women. Some live extravagant lives in impoverished areas and enjoy being sought after for their wealth. These districts include the most vulnerable population of the country, and also the highest number of indigenous peoples; it includes the Amazonian state, and where the Amazon River meets the ocean. There, river-side populations, called  Ribeirinhos , are considered Indigenous or Quilombola. Main headquarters and bases of the Brazilian Navy (Wiki-Commons Russia). The Navy, as an institution formed during an explicitly colonial period, to this day normalizes the sexual exploitation of women of color (Indigenous and of the African diaspora). Even if sexual assault happened and got reported, neither the perpetrator nor the authorities hearing the case would come close to interpreting it from a perspective any other than one plagued by toxic masculinity and colonialism. “It’s an advice that shows the normalization of sexual abuse often in power over the most vulnerable. The dehumanisation of these women in describing them as opportunistic disregards how their life-conditions have been deeply shaped by ongoing exploitation.” – Jördis Spengler, sociologist. The “Protection of Women in UN Peace Operations” workshop from 2014 seems to not have been fruitful up to now. Could it be because it was predominantly led by, and attended by, men? Have these meetings, groups, or sub-institutional acronyms made significant advances in Women’s welfare in this century, or do they exist as no more than an international relations facade displayed for the West? Prepotency The Maria da Penha Primer , a 40-page informative guide on a groundbreaking law aimed at addressing domestic violence in Brazil, highlights 'prepotency' as a significant trait of a perpetrator. AF members are often drawn to the position precisely because of the power and influence it provides, not just through access to intimidating heavy artillery, but also in terms of prestige, wealth, authority, and access to highly exclusive physical locations. In Brazil, the Armed Forces not only uphold the State's sovereignty but also play a role in civilian control. A large portion of the police force is already militarized, and the Military is also called upon for support in special situations, known as GLOs. Often, these operations involve land and resources, and are directed against populations in favelas, indigenous communities, quilombos, and during protests. The sovereignty of the favela and its population; The access of Indigenous and Quilombist communities to forests, mangroves, rivers, and other sources essential for their spiritual, cultural, and practical needs; Individuals expressing their views and frustrations by protesting in urban areas; All of these are deemed threats to the State and justify waging war on civilians. Article 331 of the penal code grants these armed authorities the power to criminalize contempt. Given that contempt is a vague concept, it allows officers and soldiers to detain individuals for any perceived antagonism. Disobeying their commands is considered an attack on the 'State function,' potentially leading to up to 2 years of imprisonment. If the act was politically motivated, it might be classified as terrorism. This demonstrates their enhanced power and influence, which characterizes prepotency. While this on its own doesn't establish any wrongdoing, it emphasizes the urgent requirement for gender education among members of defense institutions. It mirrors a culture within the AF and highlights the difficulty of transforming this culture within such a strict setting. The Center for Strategic Studies of Defense (CEED), an international and relatively autonomous initiative, started researching the role of women in the Latin American defense sector around 2015. As of now, the outcome remains uncertain, as does the Brazilian defense ministry's willingness to participate . It seems the research questions already called for significant action. Section 5  of the form , focused on Work Environment , inquires about the presence of an office for women's welfare, support for domestic violence, a registry of harassment cases, and sexual education programs. Among the officers I've encountered, none are aware of these programs, this research, or have participated in any related exchanges. Within the last 6 years , the CEED website ceased to exist. Homelessness What happens after a favela community is evicted? The area surrounding the Landless Community ( Sem Terra ) of Parque União in the Maré complex has been dealing with instability and evictions since the 1980s. Although the area was developed in the aim of providing affordable housing for vulnerable communities, vulnerability persists. What is the purpose of evictions and demolitions of irregular buildings? And what happens after families are evicted? The latest eviction in 2024 was justified by authorities, and echoed by the media, as being due to the buildings facilitating money laundering for drug trafficking. Although the structures were technically illegal, they were described as "luxurious." Essentially, the residents of these incomplete buildings were not considered vulnerable because they had access to amenities like a swimming pool; as such, they were seen as complicit with or participating in drug trafficking activities. This narrative is crafted to justify deploying the Brazilian Army against its own population, framing it as an attack on Organized Crime rather than on vulnerable Brazilian citizens who are entitled to basic rights like housing and health. Half a year later, many of the 40 homeless families still have nowhere to go, and live on the streets of the community they were evicted from. Sunk in indignity and obviously without access to the luxuries supposedly provided by Organized Crime, fights break out among themselves, weakening the potential for a cohesive resistance movement. It is impossible to organize against the narrative constructed by the authorities to rationalize marginalization when the extent of their marginalization is so severe that even basic survival is not assured. A few meters from the Landless Community, the S pecial Operations Support Center , a military base, was set up to support security operations, monitoring and combating drug trafficking in the region. The presence of the military base, with the promise of protection and order, ends up being yet another source of tension for the residents of the area. Police violence often escalates, with operations that result in indiscriminate actions and structural violence that perpetuates the marginalization of residents. The narrative of public safety, associated with the fight against drug trafficking, overlaps with the reality of a population that is simply seeking a decent way of life, far from criminalization and violence. The lack of effective public housing and health policies for the poorest population creates a vicious cycle, where eviction and violence become everyday life. And when people are forced to leave their homes, often without any kind of support, they find themselves in a constant struggle for survival. With the disintegration of communities and the lack of a support network, resistance becomes increasingly difficult. The State, instead of acting as a facilitator of social inclusion, positions itself as an agent of control and repression, intensifying the already existing inequality. The eviction of the Sem Terra Community of Parque União is not an isolated incident. It is part of a continuous cycle of forced removals that ultimately dismantle the foundations of solidarity, often the only means of resistance available to the residents. Rather than expanding, the resistance movement becomes fragmented in the social chaos brought about by the lack of effective public policies. In view of this, it is necessary for society to look at these issues with a critical eye, recognizing that true security and inclusion are not found in repression, but in concrete actions to provide access to decent housing and health. Only then will communities be able to reorganize themselves and fight for their rights effectively, without being constantly stripped of everything they have, including the integrity of their own bodies. Conclusion We cannot wait for everyone to agree that the Patriarchy and the State are problematic before starting to implement solutions. There has been, and will continue to be, significant resistance to change. Challenging dominant structures is frightening to those who cannot envision their lives or the world without them. This boils down to a complete lack of creativity and just enough privilege for a range of excuses to keep us on a destructive path. Questioning the belief in meritocracy can significantly contribute to changing the narrative so that the term “marginalized” doesn’t carry a negative meaning. Men losing the right to spout hateful language can go a long way toward empowering women to take up space . This shift could lead to meaningful changes in the Military's approach to women in vulnerable areas. As an anarchist, I anticipated reinforcing my opposition to the notion of anyone enlisting in the Armed Forces . Yet, do women truly require more voices dictating their choices? This might be akin to the issue of gay marriage; we first need to legalize it for gay individuals before we can begin to challenge the institution as a whole. Your rights to independence and freedom from harassment, degradation, violence, sexual assault, exploitation, catcalling, eviction, or any other indignity take precedence over their right to express offensiveness and 'traditional masculinity'. After that, we can begin to become everything we want to be. __________________ text: Mirna Wabi-Sabi Based on a research originally published in 2019 .

For years, we have seen Bolsonaro and his supporters waving Israeli and American flags, calling for their victory in the annihilation they continue to incite in Palestine. This phenomenon has been widely explained theologically, based on evangelical biblical teachings. But this explanation is insufficient. Believing in a revelation about the return of Jesus, the judgment of nations, and the coming of the “end” is nothing compared to the disdain shown toward the Arab world by the Christian West. Bolsonaro's demonstration in Copacabana – April 21, 2024 – Photos by Fabio Teixeira It is worth remembering that the contempt that the Christian world has for the “other” is not only directed at Arabs. There is contempt for Africans, Chinese, Indians, Arabs… and the Jewish people as well. Is it coherent to believe that the creation of Israel as a nation was truly God’s will? Or was it a fruit of this hatred, of the racial supremacy rooted in our Christian society? Yes, it is a question of race, more than religion. Supporting a people who exhibit cultural behaviors and values ​​that are supposedly more ‘aligned’ with ours, what in Europe is called a propensity for ‘integration,’ is code for supporting a ‘superior’ society over another, which is ‘inferior.’ In reality, the assumption of this inferiority, or evolutionary backwardness of certain peoples, is one of the most toxic traits of our Christian societies. And this trait is much more latent than any theological or historical knowledge or understanding that people have about anything. It doesn’t matter that not all Arabs are Muslims, it doesn’t matter if we know what year it is in the Islamic calendar, it doesn’t matter that both Muslims and Jews trace their lineage back to Abraham, or that the largest Muslim nation in the world is not even Arab. What matters to this electorate is the advancement of European domination of the world, because it is believed that Europeans (and their descendants) are the most evolved humans. This is what we see in the United States, where the real ‘American’ is the one of European descent. In Brazil, where the true Brazilian is the one with some visible European descent. Jews have been sent by them to front lines in the war of European domination as it advances eastward. In the theological reading of Christian support for the establishment of the Jewish nation in Israel, the advance of European domination in the east means accelerating the return of Jesus and the beginning of the end of the world. At this point, the Jewish people will be saved based on their willingness to… stop being Jewish. Do people who believe that Zionism, and what is being done to Palestine, are God's will also believe that Nazi Germany supported God's will, simply because it (also) decisively influenced the establishment of the Jewish state? Phobia towards Islam and racism against Arabs are practically unanimous motivations amidst various religious divergences, in interpretation of biblical passages, within Christianity. Is it possible to look at the situation we are in now and see an evolution of humanity, compared to thousands of years of religious history? Are white Europeans not capable of barbarism? Bolsonaro's demonstration in Copacabana – March 16, 2025 – Photos by Fabio Teixeira We are witnessing barbarism, a cultural, geopolitical, and religious legacy of thousands of years, yes. But, above all, we are witnessing a paradigm of disintegration of spiritual values ​​that gave life to all these religions in the first place. It is Ramadan. All over the world, Muslims are observing their human and religious values, practicing, as much as possible, charity, discipline, and honoring this divine gift of being alive thanks to Allah, Alhamdulillah . Meanwhile, barbarism continues, is exacerbated, and Bolsonaro supporters raise flags of complete spiritual decline and obliteration of human values. We, from Christian nations, who on one hand claim to defend values ​​of freedom, justice, penance, and forgiveness, witness members of our communities revelling in the brutality of the massacre. In the face of this disgrace, I personally have faith in the Arab world, in its human integrity and religious discipline to forge its path of resistance. وَقَـٰتِلُوهُمْ حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌۭ وَيَكُونَ ٱلدِّينُ لِلَّهِ ۖ فَإِنِ ٱنتَهَوْا۟ فَلَا عُدْوَٰنَ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ ١٩٣ “And fight them until there is no more persecution and religion is for Allah. But if they cease, then let there be no aggression, except against the wrongdoers.” (2:193 Quran) _ Mirna Wabi-Sabi, Plataforma9.

The Pre-Columbian era means, essentially, anything that came before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, therefore, a human experience in the Americas untainted by European influence. Originally published September 15th, 2023, at A Beautiful Resistance . Mayan ruins in Tulum. (Aaron Huber/Unsplash) Researchers often refer to ancient civilizations of the Americas, or indigenous peoples in general, as ‘Pre-Columbian’. The Pre-Columbian era means, essentially, anything that came before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, therefore, a human experience in the Americas untainted by European influence. The term is used to evoke a matter-of-fact, scientific approach to time in several fields of study; history, biology, botany, geography, anthropology, politics, and the list goes on. But why frame time in this way? Any human experience before 1492 is a period of at least 15 thousand years, across 2 continents. Of the overall time covered by ‘pre’ and ‘post’ Columbian in human existence, ‘Post-Columbian’ amounts to roughly 3% of the total. As such, this system seems even more arbitrary than ‘before’ and ‘after’ Christ. Neither of these men are objectively at the center of any measure of time. Technically, the term ‘Pre-Columbian’ is not incorrect. It’s also not incorrect to describe the US’ Civil War as “Pre-Social Media”, but why would you do that if you are not talking about Social Media? The only point to describing something as “not European” is to center Europe in the conversation, and doing so does nothing to achieve accuracy in the analyses of time. It also fails to achieve accuracy in the analyses of indigenous experiences, because it’s too vague to be useful. At least useful to any intellectual production that aims towards objectivity, and respect towards its subjects. If the subject of research is the Incas, for instance, it shows no respect to categorize them generally as ‘existing before Europeans arrived’. By that measure, the Mayans and Aztecs  were also Pre-Columbian, but were from vastly different regions and eras. Uncountable civilizations, peoples, ethnicities and languages existed in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans, and the broad ‘Pre-Columbian’ category is one of the least remarkable characteristics of each of them. Only Europeans would label the existence of an Indigenous people as ‘before we conquered them’. In the academic field of Human History, which birthed this term, only European historical accounts were taken into consideration. Even when this started to be called into question, halfway through the 19th century by “explorers” like John Lloyd Stephens, these native peoples, and their constructions or artifacts, were still described as having been ‘discovered’. This is perhaps the only objective reason to use the term “Pre-Columbian”, to signify something that was happening or was made before a European discovery. John Lloyd Stephens is often credited as the discoverer of Mayan ruins , but he relied on “ word of mouth ” to get to them, which means, someone told him where they were. Stephens and his entourage were not discoverers, they were well-resourced documentarians, who analyzed the historical documents they gathered and arrived at an unsurprising conclusion that it really was the Mayans who built the monuments. When thinking of the legacy of the Mayan civilization, and what these ruins symbolize, describing them as “Pre-Columbian” is as informative as saying “this was built, not by us”. It has been argued that the term ‘Pre-Columbian’ is an effort against Eurocentrism, as it de-emphasizes his role in the period . However, even as a negation, Columbus, one man, is placed at the center. How can it be that one man, setting foot on one island, instantly and single-handedly ends an era of tens of thousands of years? Magnificent monuments, pyramids, architecture, crafted forests, agricultural and medicinal technologies, possibly 100 million people  scattered across some 40 million square kilometers of land are all placed in the shadow of this one man. This is too unrealistic to be scientific. “Though the data should be pure and straightforward, science is done by people, who are never either.” ( Adam Rutherford , in A New History of the First Peoples in the Americas ) Platypodium elegans, photographed by Riccardo Riccio, for the Seeds and Tales  project. In botany, several plant species are attributed as being first described by Europeans. That is because the process of ‘species description’ as we know today is a European invention – it has nothing to do with which human first encountered the species. The Graceful platypodium , for instance, native to Brazil, is associated with a 19th century German botanist named Vogel. However, the indigenous Xavante people, considered one of the “ founding populations of the Americas ”, already referred to this plant as ‘ wede itsaipro ’, or “foam tree”. Species description is about the first person encountering the specimen, who happens to also operate within the framework of publishing scientific papers. This means that several people, communities, or cultures may well have intimate contact with the plant species, for years or centuries, but not with scientific publications in European academic institutions. The concept of ‘first describing’ new plants is about the building of a database which follows a standard laid out in 1735, in the Netherlands, by a Swedish botanist named Carl Linnaeus. In other words, it is not about discovery, but about a consensus to follow a specific standard, created in a specific place by a specific person. This standard may at any moment be questioned, and the consensus revoked. At the time Linnaeus published Systema Naturae , he believed the world would not house more than 10 thousand species of plants.  Though his method is interesting and useful, it was not exactly equipped to sustain modern levels of data input, and had to be adapted. This adaptation may, and must, be taken further to honor not only accuracy in plant species descriptions, but also the civilizations which have held vast knowledge about these plants for millennia. These peoples have played a part in the genetic development of plants through ancient agricultural technologies and crop domestication, and valuable insights about these plants’ medicinal, dietary and cultural properties will no longer be neglected. Xavante is a name that should be known and spoken about as much as, if not more than, Columbus, Stephens or Vogel. For that, a concerted effort must be put into replacing “Pre-Columbian” with anything more specific, such as a date rage, location, and name of the indigenous civilization or peoples. The documentation gathered by European expeditions may often times be useful, but when accepted uncritically, much more knowledge is lost than gained.  _________ Mirna Wabi-Sabi is a Brazilian writer, site editor at Gods and Radicals and founder of Plataforma9 . She is the author of the book Anarcho-transcreation  and producer of several other titles  under the P9 press.

By Mirna-Wabi-Sabi Read this article in English at: A Beautiful Resistance “Perdemos a ioga para o oeste, tudo bem. Ioga era uma atividade chata e passiva que as pessoas faziam de pijama. E aí os americanos se envolveram. E se tornou um esporte brutal.” (Zarna Garg) É verdade, parte da minha prática de ioga é abordar minha tendência de transformá-la num desafio radical ou numa competição acirrada contra mim mesma. Como ela disse, porém, está tudo bem. Os indianos sabem que não é do interesse de ninguém guardar a ioga ao ponto de ninguém no exterior poder praticá-la. Eles sabem que o ioga tem valor para a humanidade. Não é a única coisa de valor. Mas tem um imenso potencial para nutrir corpos e mentes. Me fascina como a ioga pode alcançar até as pessoas menos espirituais. Ainda estou para conhecer alguém que pense que ioga e meditação são uma farsa. Ou que tratar a mente e o corpo dessa forma é errado. No entanto, ela foi proibida em vários lugares (como no Alabama), mas suspeito que isso seja um sinal da sua eficácia, e não do contrário. Para quem não sabe, provavelmente não será uma surpresa descobrir que no período colonial britânico na Índia a ioga foi proibida. No primeiro encontro com os iogues, os europeus sentiram bastante repulsa pelo que não entendiam – como os iogues eram vistos pelos habitantes locais como iluminados, enquanto para eles parecia que essa condição era o resultado de algum tipo de ilusão. Não os comparar com os bruxos europeus da época foi, contudo, um sinal de respeito. (Página 36 de “Yoga Body” de Singleton, 2010.) Para os britânicos, cuja forma de exercício era trabalhar, cavar buracos, brincar com armas e assim por diante, a Índia deve ter sido um espetáculo e tanto. Um cara nu, de cabelos compridos, coberto de cinzas, meditando com os braços erguidos debaixo de uma árvore. Outro em parada de mão por horas a fio, e alguns carregando correntes. Todos sendo elogiados pelos colegas. Chocante foi o quão doloroso deve ter sido ficar fixado naquelas posições nada naturais. Era uma forma de loucura, certamente. “[O faquir-iogue] assume posições totalmente contrárias à atitude natural do corpo humano” (38). De acordo com a tradição supremacista europeia, presumia-se que os iogues eram tudo menos “seres racionais” (37). Nenhuma distinção foi feita entre as diferentes “ordens mendicantes” (37), pois, aos olhos do britânico, todas eram vegetativas, vagabundas, preguiçosas ou mesmo vaidosas. Como tal, para os cristãos, as posturas de ioga tornaram-se símbolos de quão absurda era a espiritualidade indiana. À medida que a perspectiva ocidental era insidiosamente injetada na sociedade indiana, os iogues eram marginalizados e muitas vezes forçados a fazer de si próprios um espetáculo para a sua subsistência, o que consolidou ainda mais o estigma. Mas nem todos foram subjugados por essa artimanha dos protestantes. “Bandos altamente organizados de iogues militarizados” tornaram-se uma ameaça espetacular à ordem colonial, causando danos financeiros significativos à Companhia das Índias Orientais. “A antipatia europeia pelos iogues não se devia apenas a sensibilidades morais ofendidas: os iogues também eram pessoas difíceis de pôr em ordem.” (39) E foi então que a lei foi usada para acelerar a mudança cultural ocidentalizante que os britânicos precisavam para continuar a lucrar na região. A ioga foi proibida. Além de andar nu e portar uma arma, o que, segundo o autor de Yoga Body, era a estética desses soldados iogues. (40) Apesar da marginalização e das proibições, durante os dois milênios e meio que os humanos praticam ioga (pelo menos), a prática continua a espalhar-se e a prosperar, compreensivelmente. Há uma ciência antiga nisso, que a ciência ocidental ainda está tentando compreender ou sistematizar. Quando uma conexão entre ioga e medicina começou a ser feita no campo médico, possivelmente em 1850 pela publicação A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy, irrompeu uma resistência desenfreada a ela, com queima de livros e tudo (52). De alguma forma, foi considerado ofensivo sugerir que a filosofia da ioga realmente correspondia à realidade da anatomia humana. No entanto, a colonização deu origem a um estudo da ioga a partir de uma perspectiva miscigenada, literal e figurativamente, e já no primeiro encontro. Os anglo-indianos e os britânicos “indianizados” serviram de ponte entre a Índia e o Ocidente, e a influência fluiu em ambos os sentidos. Poucos povos colonizados podem dizer isso sobre sua experiência com seu principal colonizador. A influência que o Brasil teve sobre Portugal, por exemplo, é incalculavelmente pequena em comparação com a influência deles sobre nós. Embora eu saiba que os poderes constituídos na Índia provavelmente adotaram algumas das piores características do modus operandi europeu, nomeadamente a intolerância étnica e religiosa, não posso deixar de observar com admiração a resistência da civilização indiana. Apesar de ter uma prática espiritual distinta, tomo medidas para expressar meu respeito aos porta-vozes indianos do legado do ioga. Porque, sem eles, eu não estaria aqui colhendo os enormes benefícios desse conhecimento. É um pouco como citar suas fontes, em vez de plagiar. A simbiose entre corpo e mente é destacada pelo ioga de uma forma que revela muito sobre quem somos, e também sobre o que estamos passando nesse momento – é filosófico porque é físico, e vice-versa. Aqui estão alguns insights do dia a dia que a ioga me deu nas últimas semanas: Aceitação. De si, dos outros e do mundo. Mesmo que as pessoas e as situações possam nos irritar, ainda precisamos aceitar o que está acontecendo para lidar com isso de forma eficaz. Poder. É uma questão de disciplina e força. Não vamos tirar o poder de alguém ou de alguma coisa, vamos construí-lo para nós mesmos. Paciência. Apenas seja paciente. Algumas coisas levam tempo e melhoram com o tempo. Outras só precisam ser feitas, e a impaciência não ajudará a realizá-las. Combata a hiperestimulação. O tédio não é seu problema. Nessa era digital, somos constantemente bombardeados com conteúdo. A verdadeira ameaça à nossa satisfação não é o tédio. A necessidade de se entreter constantemente com conteúdo aleatório é a ameaça. Você pode ser honesto sem ser cruel. É o que é. Qual a diferença entre “é o que é” e aceitação? Aceitação é abraçar situações, pessoas, onde você está e com quem. “É o que é” é uma aceitação da Verdade, num sentido amplo. Aceite o fato de que a Verdade será e deve ser revelada. O amor é mais importante que a independência. Ser financeiramente independente é um ótimo objetivo. Mas não à custa da formação de laços de amor, onde é natural confiar e contar um com o outro. Não busque a perfeição. Se esforce para melhorar. Não há problema em cometer erros. Então, também não há problema em cometer erros em público. Não leve para o lado pessoal. Mesmo que seja pessoal. Nada existe no vácuo e nada é para sempre.

Leia esse artigo em português aqui. Ocean pollution threatens the survival of all marine animals, and ours too. It’s difficult to understand the magnitude of the impact that litter has on our lives when we don’t see where it’s going, and how the path that leads to the extinction of so many aquatic species affects human life. Indigenous civilizations, that once survived in symbiosis with the fauna and flora of their regions, now don’t see the same diversity of life and mutualism between existences. The world is not the same. The question is how to move forward in this paradigm. A tool to understand which garbage travels which way towards the ocean makes it possible to identify the source and path of the problem of garbage pollution – the eco-barrier. This understanding helps us to act on the source and symptom of the problem caused by floating waste discarded by the urban population. Eco-barriers are barriers at the mouth of rivers, or outflow points in megacities. A 2011 study by Marcos Freitas points out that the accelerated growth of urban centers, increased consumption, inadequate municipal water management systems and garbage collection contribute to an exorbitant amount of garbage being discarded in rivers. In the context of Rio de Janeiro, only 3 eco-barriers in 2008 collected more than 100 tons of plastic, metal, wood and cardboard (M. Freitas 2011). Data like these are expected, but the interesting thing about this research was that it identified the source of the problem as not being so much “the increase in the production of household solid waste” but the increase in the municipal Gross Domestic Product. That is, increased consumption by individuals does not cause pollution in rivers as much as increased imports and exports, government spending and business investments. Government institutions and businesses are more environmentally irresponsible than individual consumers, and this has only become more evident since 2011. Today, there is an eco-barrier at the mouth of the João Mendes river, in the oceanic region of Niterói, maintained by a group of volunteers. It was funded by ecoponte, a company that manages the Rio-Niterói bridge, and is interested in offsetting its carbon footprint. And the barrier is managed by members of the AmaDarcy organization, whose objective is to protect the natural and urban environment through the preservation of ecologically important areas in the Serra da Tiririca region. According to a report developed by the group in February 2023, “The João Mendes (JM) is a polluted river, despite its crystalline source within the Serra da Tiririca State Park (PESET). Although a significant part of the sewage from the JM hydrographic basin is collected and sent to the Itaipu Sewage Treatment Station (ETE Itaipu), which operates with a nominal flow of 164 liters per second, there is a significant amount of sewage that is not yet directed to the ETE Itaipu and flows directly or indirectly into the João Mendes river and, consequently, into the Itaipu lagoon (Marine Extractive Reserve of Itaipu-RESEX Itaipu), generating its pollution.” “The amount of solid waste (garbage) that has been thrown into the João Mendes river weekly (about 250 kg) also contributes significantly to its pollution, evidencing precarious sanitary conditions. Since September 2022, the NGO AmaDarcy has been collecting garbage weekly at the eco-barrier implanted in the João Mendes river, located near the mouth of this river in the Itaipu lagoon. The total amount of garbage collected and bagged by AmaDarcy between September 2022 and January 2023 was more than 6 tons (more than one and a half tons per month), thus avoiding its disposal in the Itaipu lagoon and in the sea (RESEX Itaipu). The garbage is then removed and taken by the Cleaning Company of Niterói (CLIN) to an appropriate final destination.” The relationship between sewage and garbage pollution is evident when we consider uncontrolled urban expansion, without infrastructure and institutions effective enough to deal with this growth. As volunteers, the group's focus on floating litter makes sense when considering the distance this litter travels, and the difficulty of controlling that flow without these barriers – which don't impede the flow of the river, but fix surface debris in place until a team can collect it. This collection takes place weekly, and when possible, waste is sorted by material and weighed, despite sewage pollution in the area posing a threat to volunteers and instigating the need for cautious hygiene. The recorded data includes not only the type and weight of the garbage, but also the brands of discarded products, the height of the river, and the amount of rain on the day before and during the week of collection. Pluviometric Volume or Index is measured by millimeter of rain per square meter in a certain place and time. Source: (A627, from INMET) The materials found are plastic, glass, metal, fabric (plástico, vidro, metal, tecido), among others. Microtrash (Microlixo) is registered as a separate category, and means a mixture of small waste such as cigarette butts, microtubes of narcotics, fragmented Styrofoam, other plastics and plant parts that become entangled with this waste. Tetra pak is also registered separately, because they are those packages with a mixed composition of metal, paper and plastic, often used for products such as milk, juice and tomato sauce. There are other materials identified (outros), but not individually categorized, such as occasional toys, electronic waste, light bulbs, tires, mattresses, etc. While unidentified waste (não identificados) is the closed bags found at the barrier that are not opened because they may contain materials that pose a risk to the health of volunteers – such as syringes, razors, diapers, condoms, used toilet paper, etc. This data helps us identify the source of water pollution, and makes us aware of our own consumption and waste disposal. According to the 2011 research by Marcos Freitas, there is a correlation between the increase in family income and the increase in public waste, while domestic waste remains in the same range. This could mean that the increase in Gross Domestic Product (and perhaps climatic contexts) leads to "greater consumption in public areas". What does this mean for us and our consumption practices in public areas? What do we know about the waste disposal practices of the businesses we visit and the waste collection on behalf of our municipalities? The problem of waste disposal and ocean pollution has many facets. There is an issue of institutional administration, which reflects on the political decisions of a municipality—to overinvest in one thing while neglecting another. Urban expansion becomes harmful because of the failure of these political administrations, and financial interests which are far greater than each family's home. This is why the municipal Gross Domestic Product generates more environmental problems than the accumulation of individual consumption. On the other hand, community awareness and access to information about the environmental situation in our neighborhoods can not only improve personal consumption practices and waste disposal, but can also encourage the population to demand more responsibility from public administrations and more effective use of public funds. In the meantime, preventing literal tons of garbage from ending up in the ocean helps kick-start a rescue of biodiversity and the balance between species on this planet. _____ By Mirna Wabi-Sabi

Text by Mirna Wabi-Sabi and photography by Fabio Teixeira Originally published August 2nd, 2023, in Brazilian Portuguese. Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara bay, July 1, 2023. The Brazilian Sanitation Panel states that more than 30% of the population of Rio de Janeiro does not have sewage collection (2021). Today, 18,000 liters (nearly 5 thousand gallons) of sewage per second are dumped into the Guanabara Bay, with state investment quadrupling in the last 3 years, reaching almost 1 billion reais. The expenditures are monumental, while the results are abysmal, and this fiasco would be easy to explain from the perspective of corruption and incompetence in the management of public resources. However, a cultural and historical analysis would better explain what causes these symptoms in the city's administrative processes. Data on costs and levels of pollution are evident, as well as the dangers of this pollution to public health. It has been known for at least 20 years, for example, the alarming rates of Hepatitis A in children in low-income regions of Rio de Janeiro. But these numbers do not lead to solutions by holders of governmental power. The problem is not a lack of money or awareness of the seriousness of the situation, but the legacy of the Hygienist model. The Hygienist movement was born in Brazil in the late 1800s and at the end of the Industrial Revolution. With the formation of urban-industrial centers during the Revolution, there was a massive increase in the population of Rio de Janeiro, and with it chaos, poverty, pollution and environmental destruction. This movement aimed to mitigate these metropolitan symptoms with the implementation of European urban models, which essentially manufactured ghettos. By utilizing the medical theories of European scientists, initiatives were promoted by hygienists which segregated poverty from wealth and destroyed natural environments through the 'beautification' of cities. The culture of European extractivism deals with the non-European environment as a source of resources for human beings, whether practical or aesthetic. It never promotes the balance of local ecosystems, it only promotes profit and high standards of living for those who profit. Therefore, the manufacturing of ghettos guarantees 'Hygiene', as defined by the movement in terms of education and health, in an insular way. The Hygienist model is the manifestation of the expression 'sweeping under the rug'. As long as urban insalubrity was not seen by elites in city centers, it would be as if it did not exist. In other words, it's as mature a system as a game of peek-a-boo. Since cities came to be, the conditions of urban insalubrity have been a class issue with disastrous environmental and human repercussions. In the article "The Hygienist Movement" on the history of private life in Brazil, Edivaldo Góis says that many of the hygienists saw "the lack of health and education of [Brazilian] people [as] responsible for our backwardness in relation to Europe." Being that numerous diseases, customs, and management models from Europe were responsible for this impropriety. A people that promotes class division does not accept the natural reality that the ecosystem does not respect social segregation. Sooner or later, the pollution of a portion of the ocean or of an urban body of water becomes pollution on prime beaches, and 18,000 liters of sewage per second in the Guanabara Bay is a worldwide problem. In the 1990s, 1 billion US dollars were spent on the Guanabara Bay Cleanup Program (PDBG) after alarming evidence of cases of Hepatitis A in children in Duque de Caxias. Even with massive funding from a global source, the results were horrifying. Sewage treatment centers were built but they were never functional, accountability and late payments pointed to poor financial management by the state, hundreds of millions of US dollars were wasted in interest rates, and this failure cannot be attributed to institutional stupidity alone. Now billions of reais are being spent again on infrastructure projects, which are already delayed, to solve this persistent pollution problem of the last century. Rio de Janeiro, entre 2015 e 2019. Sanitation in low-income regions is a challenge today because for more than a hundred years, the class divide fostered by the legacy of the Hygienist movement has disembodied these geographic spaces from "epidemiological surveillance activity" as well as individual provision of sanitation resources. The idea that what is private exists in symbiosis with the public, rather than resulting in the investment of public resources in improving the private environments of low-income individuals, has resulted in reactionary justifications for eugenics. That is why, instead of investing in improving the structures of family and individual homes in poor regions, they invest in a "belt" for collecting sewage around the bay. This means that the sewage that leaves these areas is captured and prevented from affecting noble areas, but the individual context of the residents remains the same. According to a "conceptual study" on this 'belt', the obstacle to "universal sanitation" is cost. The estimate in the report is 1900 reais per inhabitant, totaling more than 33 billion reais in Rio de Janeiro. Since the financing of 1 billion dollars in the 1990s was equivalent to just over 5 billion reais, the price "far exceeds the contribution of resources to the sector". However, 33 billion refers to the cost for the population of the whole state of Rio (not just the city), and the 1 billion dollar funding was specifically aimed at cleaning up the Guanabara Bay. The rivers that pollute the Guanabara Bay the most permeate the geography of the city of Duque de Caxias, called Sarapuí and Iguaçu. If 1900 reais per inhabitant is a reliable estimate, with less than 1.5 billion reais it would have been possible to bring sanitation to the entire population of Duque de Caxias, which between 1991 and 1994 was made up of less than 700 thousand people. But instead of proposing precise strategies, focusing on contextual and local needs, the report soon makes parallels with European and U.S. American models of sanitation. In doing so, it reveals itself to be a descendant of the Hygienist movement. The organization responsible for the report, FGV CERI, explicitly positions itself as interested in an infrastructural development centered on economic growth. For them, infrastructure regulation in the country, even when it involves the environment and public health, revolves around one objective only: "attracting investment". Thus, sustainability fosters the nation when it is economic and financial. Quantifying a socio-environmental problem such as pollution in the Guanabara Bay is not always easy. How many liters of sewage are being dumped illegally? How much does basic sanitation cost per person? How many children have become ill from polluted water bodies in their areas? In this case, the numbers are evident and the reality is inescapable. What is missing is the analysis of the historical and cultural, or genetic, context that leads to these alarming and persistent results. From the creation of the Hygienist movement in Rio de Janeiro, today we are at least the fifth generation to witness the disastrous development of the metropolis that leans over and suffocates this bay. It is necessary to know what was inherited from the DNA of this city, which was named after this magnificently unusual body of water – Guanabara. _ Text by Mirna Wabi-Sabi Photography by Fabio Teixeira

Written by Mirna Wabi-Sabi Photographed by Fabio Teixeira Photographic series: "Unhoused people work with recyclable waste and are sick", by Fabio Teixeira. May 17, 2024. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A Scottish philosopher once wrote, “a chain is no stronger than its weakest link”. Before that, the Basque had probably already coined the proverb, “a thread usually breaks where it is thinnest”. This sentiment is still very much alive today, and it endures for centuries for one simple reason: humanity has weaknesses. In this dawn of the 3rd millennium, after hundreds of thousands of years humans have roamed this beautiful planet, it’s hard to look around and believe we have been using our abilities to strengthen the links between peoples or to thicken the thread of our humanity. In fact, to roam the streets of Rio de Janeiro, considered by many one of the most beautiful cities in the world, anyone with a heart must divert their eyes often from things that will fill it with despair. Few things reflect humanity’s repeated failure to evolve more than homelessness. At the age in which wealth and technology shoot through the roof, it’s never been clearer that poverty is not about a lack of resources available. Brazil’s homeless population has been consistently growing in the last decades, approaching 300 thousand . In Rio, it is said that there are about 8 thousand people living in the streets. News headlines with impressive numbers are always popping up, “Homeless population grows 211% in the last decade”, “Census identifies 7,865 homeless people in the city”, “ New government program provides assistance to homeless people ”. But to research beyond the headlines, and to engage personally with the subjects reveals a different story. Firstly, not even half of Brazil’s municipalities  count the amount of people who are unhoused in their communities. This means that numbers are wildly inaccurate. Even organizations dedicated to providing services to unhoused populations in Rio de Janeiro, governmental or independent, which are located in areas of the city which are known to have large concentrations of them working or settling, have no significant idea of the numbers, locations and ailments of the people they set out to serve. Around Rio’s Guanabara Bay, it is well known that groups of unhoused people gather, often sorting through domestic and industrial waste. The photojournalist Fabio Teixeira has documented some of the work these people, who prefer to remain anonymous, have been doing, as well as some of the unsurprising health issues that stem from this paradigm. Specifically, he has observed that informal recycling initiatives, done by people without consistent access to privacy, running water and basic sanitation, leads to an epidemic of eye infections. When faced with the realization that they are losing their sight, they help each other with resources at hand. Shelters financed by the municipality are not authorized to speak with the press directly. All communication must go through the city hall’s press office, or the ministry of health’s press office. This office has a copy-and-paste response with numbers about the reach of the newest government program focused on the "re-socialization of the homeless population". These programs  involve sending nurses, psychologists, and social workers to the so-called “streets”. This is the approach where it is believed that if these people’s minds and bodies are treated, naturally, they will be able to reinsert themselves into society by getting jobs and housing themselves. Reality, however, has shown that being on the street is what causes the vast majority of the psychological and physical ailments in the community, not the other way around. Therefore, the only way to successfully address these health issues is to provide housing first and foremost. “The main health issues diagnosed by the Consultório na Rua  teams [Street Clinic] are sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, HIV, viral hepatitis, issues related to mental health and drug use, high blood pressure, tuberculosis, chronic wounds, among others. And the main situations that directly affect the health conditions of these people are food insecurity, difficulty accessing drinking water, sleep deprivation, exposure to heat, cold or rain.” (Ascom press Office) By “directly effect” they mean “causes”. The state of being unhoused is the main cause of these health issues, and yet, the solution remains: treating symptoms as they are encountered on the streets. Independently funded initiatives, NGO’s, are even less equipped to address the root of the issue. One organization dedicated to the “social reintegration of homeless people” in Rio’s city center described their biggest achievement as existing for 8 years, and having won an award once. Reportedly, their biggest obstacle is “fund-raising”, as opposed to achieving what they need the money for. These communication debacles may be indicative of an ugly truth, not about the unhoused, but about the housed. Our cities have human beings who are unsheltered by humanity. The ‘ Secretariat of Social Assistance ’ in Rio de Janeiro needs to specify that they are not legally allowed to engage in the “removal” of a homeless person, and that speaks volumes about what kinds of requests they receive from the general public. While much of the housed population approaches the issue of homelessness as if it was waste management, those in the social work field demonstrate shallow understandings of the reality so many Brazilians in extreme poverty face. To approach homelessness outreach as a “re-socialization” project implies that what these people living in the streets need is to learn certain behaviors in order to return to society. In reality, they’ve never left society, they are the most vulnerable link in it. The unhoused and housed populations are not only sharing spaces in cities, but they are intrinsically connected through the foundation of how our society has been operating. Inaccessible housing is directly tied to the real estate industry and all those who engage with it in order to be housed. The more our society perceives homes as an investment opportunity, as opposed to a basic human necessity in this day and age, the more the unhoused population will grow. And the only reason why this isn’t enough to provoke a shift in this system, is because we, the housed population, have been convincing ourselves that homelessness is a problem caused by the homeless and their behaviors and life choices. Upon further inspection, much of the housed population would realize that almost every waking moment is spent working or thinking about working to keep a roof over our heads, with the exception of those who are born into incredible wealth. Although individuals may not be able to single-handedly resolve the housing issue in their communities, our society, it’s values as well as its resources, is certainly able to. This will require a long-term and large-scale shift in perspective. In the meantime, the least we can do as individuals is separate organic waste  for composting and wash our inorganic domestic waste to prevent infections in people who provide us with the service of informal recycling. The weak link in this chain of peoples of humanity is perhaps the meritocratic and individualistic values of housed populations in late capitalism – one which washes its hands of any human ties with the unhoused. Next time we ask ourselves, the unhoused population is “ whose responsibility ?” The answer is, everybody’s. Only then, will the thin thread of our humanity thicken.

by Mirna Wabi-Sabi Gunvor, one of the biggest crude oil traders in the world, will pay over 600 million dollars in fines for its bribery of government officials in Ecuador. Shell companies and intermediaries were used to pay these officials, who in turn, secured oil purchase contracts. According to the Stand.earth Research Group, such schemes are responsible for devastating oil spills which destroy populated and ecologically fragile areas of the Amazon Forest, and for keeping Latin American countries dependent on fossil fuels and hostage to debt. Continue reading this article in English at A Beautiful Resistance (.org) A Gunvor, um dos maiores comerciantes de petróleo bruto do mundo, pagará mais de 600 milhões de dólares em multas pelo suborno de funcionários do governo no Equador. Foram utilizadas empresas de fachada e intermediários para pagar esses funcionários, que por sua vez garantiram contratos de compra de petróleo. De acordo com o Grupo de Pesquisa Stand.earth, tais esquemas são responsáveis ​​por derramamentos de petróleo devastadores que destroem áreas povoadas e ecologicamente frágeis da Floresta Amazônica, e por manter países latino-americanos dependentes de combustíveis fósseis e reféns de dívidas monumentais. Os graves derramamentos de petróleo causados ​​por rupturas em oleodutos malconservados têm efeitos mortais a longo prazo para as comunidades indígenas próximas, bem como para a fauna e a flora locais. Segundo a Public Eye, uma organização dedicada a denunciar o impacto que as empresas e instituições suíças têm “em países mais pobres”, a “taxa de câncer nessas regiões petrolíferas foi a mais alta do mundo” nos anos em que Gunvor subornou funcionários públicos. A exploração petrolífera da região começou anos antes com a Chevron, cujos locais poluídos foram denunciados por Roger Waters enquanto fazia campanha contra Bolsonaro e a sua abordagem catastrófica ao extrativismo na Floresta Amazônica. Após a transferência das operações da Chevron para a Petroecuador, a nacionalização não proporcionou qualquer proteção à região contra novas catástrofes nas mãos da Gunvor. O Equador, que já estava financeiramente vulnerável após a exploração implacável por empresas estrangeiras e uma tentativa falhada de fazer a Chevron pagar pelos danos que tinha causado, viu-se mais uma vez subjugado pelo capital ocidental. O que os comerciantes petrolíferos multinacionais fizeram foi utilizar a sua própria linha de crédito para emprestar dinheiro à empresa petrolífera nacionalizada do Equador, a taxas de juros predatórias, e, ainda por cima, subornar funcionários para que esses contratos fossem assinados. Essas dívidas de bilhões de dólares com taxas de juros desfavoráveis ​​incluem a necessidade de fornecer petróleo bruto ao comerciante. Ou seja, não só a instituição equatoriana é mantida refém da própria dívida, como também fica dependente da extração de petróleo e da exploração de seus recursos naturais por anos. Em contradição com a ideologia capitalista que justifica essas abordagens extrativistas de recursos naturais em favor do lucro e da estabilização da economia global, não houve competição entre os comerciantes. Juntos, eles “monopolizaram o mercado do petróleo bruto amazônico”. Como tal, em 2009, a Gunvor comprou um dos seus comerciantes irmãos, Castor Petroleum, cujo vice-presidente acabou sendo localizado pelo FBI e implicado no processo judicial que levou à multa de 662 milhões de dólares. A Public Eye descreveu apropriadamente esse desastre como um “círculo vicioso que impacta negativamente as necessidades da população e do meio ambiente” em favor da ruína financeira perpétua, da aniquilação da natureza, e da subjugação dos sul-americanos às instituições ocidentais e aos seus lucros. Essa não é a primeira vez que a Gunvor é acusada de atividade criminosa. Em 2019, ela pagou quase 100 milhões em um caso de suborno de funcionários do governo na Costa do Marfim e no Congo – um caso que a Transparency International usa como exemplo de crimes corporativos ocidentais em “países aparentemente livres de corrupção”. Em 2017, a Gunvor foi acusada de contrabandear petróleo russo através da Bielorrússia para evitar impostos. E em 2010, telegramas da Embaixada dos EUA do WikiLeaks a colocaram como uma das “fontes de riqueza não declaradas de Putin”. Agora que houve maior repercussão, meros 662 milhões para uma empresa que lucra mais de 1 bilhão por ano, com uma receita superior a 100 bilhões, e que continuará a operar normalmente – para onde irá esse dinheiro da multa? Será investido na reparação dos danos causados ​​à Amazônia e à sua população? Logo após o escândalo de suborno ter vindo à tona, em 2021, o CEO da Gunvor, Torbjörn Törnqvist, disse à Reuters que planeava “expandir” as suas operações para a Rússia. Isso foi pouco antes da invasão da Ucrânia, mas não deve ter sido uma surpresa, uma vez que Törnqvist já tinha comprado a parte da empresa do seu parceiro russo em 2014 para evitar sanções devido à anexação da Crimeia pela Rússia. Hoje, ele afirma estar numa “jornada de sustentabilidade”, a partir de 2023 rastreando as “emissões da cadeia de abastecimento” da Gunvor com a ajuda de uma empresa terceirizada dedicada a alcançar os objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável da ONU para bancos e comerciantes multinacionais. Não é de surpreender que em nenhum lugar dessa jornada de sustentabilidade haja reparação de qualquer dano real causado à Floresta Amazônica e aos seus povos. Existe apenas uma declaração corporativa sobre a coleção vaga de dados sobre as emissões de CO2, admitindo que ainda não se recolhem dados sobre emissões de metano ou qualquer outro gás de efeito estufa. Empresas que continuam a expandir mesmo depois de denunciadas como criminosas, como a Gunvor, alcançam a impunidade ao se estabelecerem como indispensáveis. No entanto, eles são dispensáveis. Há dinheiro e tecnologia suficientes para alcançar os objetivos climáticos dos nossos sonhos com dignidade. O Grupo Gunvor agora anuncia que, pela primeira vez, está investindo na geração de energia como uma alternativa à dependência dos combustíveis fósseis que eles endossaram criminalmente e da qual lucraram durante décadas. Essa é uma decisão orientada para o lucro, liderada por mudanças inevitáveis ​​no mercado, mudanças que eles passaram décadas tentando impedir ou atrasar a todo o custo. Essa “jornada” é melhor do que nada? Quais garantias existem de que essas declarações corporativas não sejam apenas mais um esquema que prolongará a vida de um empreendimento destrutivo e ilegítimo? _____ Mirna Wabi-Sabi é editora chefe da Plataforma9.

You can read this article in english here. Por Mirna Wabi-Sabi Originalmente publicado na Le Monde Diplomatique Estrelando Wagner Moura, o filme sinaliza que, mesmo repleta de armas militares pesadas, a narrativa revela-se o elemento mais mortal da história Este mês, o filme Guerra Civil estreou nos cinemas com uma mensagem de nuança, mas clara: a “América” como nós a conhecemos pode, muito bem, chegar ao fim em breve. A escalação da estrela brasileira Wagner Moura é calculada, destacando a ambiguidade e a complexidade das relações raciais nos EUA. O personagem brilhantemente aterrorizante de Jesse Plemons coloca uma questão real ao personagem de Moura quando confrontado com a informação de que eles são “jornalistas americanos”, questionando “que tipo de americano você é, centro, sul?” Não é fácil colocar os brasileiros na narrativa norte-americana sobre o que são os “latinos”. Sendo a população não-hispânica mais substancial da América do Sul, tudo o que um supremacista “americano” precisa saber é que não somos brancos. A narrativa, porém, é uma arma de guerra poderosa, se não a mais poderosa de todas. Há tremenda violência física no filme, como é esperado na guerra. Isso sinaliza duas coisas. Uma delas é: qual é a sensação de testemunhar o horror da guerra, que está atualmente em curso no mundo, mas em vez disso em solo estadunidense? E a segunda é que, mesmo repleta de armas militares pesadas, a narrativa revela-se o elemento mais mortal. A população dos Estados Unidos está dessensibilizada à brutalidade daquilo que o seu governo endossa e perpetra em outros países. Não é horrível testemunhar a destruição de tudo o que você ama? Ver entes queridos morrerem, as suas instituições mais poderosas tornarem-se obsoletas e o seu futuro ser interrompido; é isso que este filme explora. O mais interessante é que o filme explora a dificuldade de abraçar uma narrativa coerente que explique toda essa aniquilação, ou que de alguma forma justifique o derramamento de sangue. Enquanto o presidente continua a espalhar falsidades ao público, soldados supremacistas desprezam (e matam) qualquer um que não tenha nascido e sido criado nos Estados Unidos da América, e os revolucionários simplesmente matam qualquer um que esteja ativamente tentando matá-los. De certa forma, é tão simples quanto isso. Mas, ao mesmo tempo, há pouca ou nenhuma explicação para a violência. Os filmes anteriores de Wagner Moura no Brasil foram notoriamente politicamente ambíguos, e esse segue o exemplo. Ele nunca demonstrou interesse em fazer propaganda esquerdista simplista, mas considera absolutamente necessário desencadear um debate sobre o absurdo das situações políticas em que nos encontramos. Mesmo que isso signifique deixar espaço para interpretações políticas opostas dessas histórias. Não há melhor maneira de transmitir essa nuança de posição do que através do trabalho de jornalistas impossivelmente imparciais. A forma como os jornalistas constroem a narrativa baseia-se na crença de que ela deriva de um ponto de vista neutro. Em teoria, o jornalismo conta a história, não influencia nem endossa os acontecimentos que relata. Esse filme pode não afirmar explicitamente que a Casa Branca deveria ser destruída, mas procura mostrar como ela pode sim ser obliterada. A justificativa para isso poderia ser simplesmente que toda a guerra decretada e executada no estrangeiro acaba chegando nas portas de nossas casas. A personagem de Kirsten Dunst descreve isso como o propósito fracassado de seu trabalho como fotógrafa de guerra internacional – foi um aviso ignorado em casa. Portanto, o jornalismo tem um propósito político, porque sem propósito ninguém arriscaria a vida para fazê-lo. Dominar a arte de criar uma narrativa convincente é demorado, útil, poderoso e consideravelmente mais desafiador quando se busca a verdade. Nunca será uma verdade imutável, porque é uma construção. Mas é verdadeira para alguma coisa; valores, objetivos honestos ou um propósito transparente. O filme Guerra Civil mostra o que pode acontecer quando negligenciamos esses objetivos, perdemos a clareza desses valores e desistimos do propósito pelo qual fazemos o que fazemos. A forma como interpretamos acontecimentos ou justificativas para ações está diretamente ligada à narrativa construída em torno deles. Essa narrativa não é a única e não é suprema. Ela foi criada por alguém com um propósito. Escolhemos, conscientemente ou não, adotar uma narrativa um em detrimento de qualquer outra. A primeira cena de Guerra Civil é uma representação de como a narrativa que a Casa Branca profere, do excepcionalismo norte-americano, já não é mais convincente – nem mesmo para o presidente, cuja função é vender a história. No centro da disputa política, que descamba para a guerra em solo estadunidense, está o fato de que os estadunidenses deixaram de acreditar na imagem da “América” como invencível. Essa mudança na narrativa é o que leva as forças revolucionárias armadas a assumir o controle. No filme, não precisamos saber quem são esses revolucionários, ou qual presidência está supostamente sendo representada. O que importa é o quão frágeis realmente são os Estados Unidos da América, a terra da liberdade. No final, há uma explicação simples para tudo o que acontece: se você é implacavelmente atacado, o que mais há a fazer senão revidar? _________ Mirna Wabi Sabi é escritora, editora, e fundadora da Plataforma9. É autora do livro Anarco-transcriação e produtora de diversos outros títulos da editora P9.

The first show of Roger Waters' 'This is Not a Drill' tour took place in an auditorium in Pittsburgh, on July 6, 2022. On October 24, 2023, the tour debuted in Brazil’s capital, reconfigured for stadiums. The set list, the political message and the visual identity are the same, but being in the open air guarantees a renewed experience. There is no longer the 360-degree cross-shaped auditorium stage configuration, but it was possible to see the moon during ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, highlighted by spectacular lasers. Between the first show of the tour and the first show of the tour in 'Brasil', Roger Waters dealt with several political attacks, protests calling for the cancellation of his shows — especially in Germany — documentaries accusing him of anti-Semitism, and scrutiny from critics and audiences for his political positions. In response, Waters expressed genuine disappointment, questioning why he has now become the target of such scrutiny for political messages he has publicly espoused for half a century. Since the late 1960s, concerns about nuclear war, world leaders disregarding human rights, and the brutality of global elite greed have been central not only to Roger's life but to his art. It's inspiring and honorable to see an artist like him use his talent and fame to do what he can to make positive and necessary changes in the world. Throughout his career, it is possible to observe an artistic and political communication strategy that uses characters and narratives to convey a message. Roger, in fact, is more than a musician, he is a storyteller. As a storyteller, he idealizes characters and places them in narratives that express the worst-case scenario imaginable. By staging explosions, shootings, deaths, war crimes, fascist leaders, and reckless capitalists, he not only presents this worst-case scenario, but also shows how close we really are to it. It's a cold bucket of water that brings you back to reality and makes you see a frighteningly close future — which we need to prevent. The character of The Fascist leader that Waters played before the tour arrived in Brazil was performed accompanied by a machine gun and obedient soldiers. In Brasília, he was presented in a wheelchair, wearing a straitjacket, accompanied by hospital orderlies. He has gone completely mad and must in no way be listened to. For years, this character has represented political power, and how it is centered on deranged individuals. Waters is explicit about how Resistance to them is essential. Resistance, for Roger, can happen in different ways. Resistance is a material process, like indigenous and Palestinian people fighting to regain control of their lands. And it is also a social process, through dialogue and mutual support. When he invoked indigenous, Palestinian, reproductive, and trans rights, most of the audience was moved and they celebrated. It makes a wide section of the Brazilian population, who fight for these rights regularly, feel recognized and supported. But not everyone shares this vision. It is possible to observe the discomfort of some individuals with the criticism of capitalism. I heard at least once, “look at the communist coming to a capitalist show. I bet Roger Waters is making a lot of money.” Besides, Roger unquestionably endorsed Lula on stage. It is possible that this call to resist capitalism will be difficult to absorb in Brazil. Because the conception of capitalism, in a country that dealt with a dictatorship which utilized the word “military” instead of “capitalist”, interprets Capital as a synonym for Income. There is no need to invoke jargon from communist theory to analyze the failure of conflating these concepts. Roger Waters works and produces — art. If all working people were properly remunerated for their work in the capitalist system, there would be no need to resist it. But that is not the reality, and never has been. Waters is wise enough to recognize that just because he has managed to build a career that pays him generously for his work, does not mean that this is the reality for the entire world or that this system works for humanity. It's difficult to understand how Roger Waters' vision for a better world is not unanimous. However, resistance against war, greed, fascism, racism and other ideologies that aim to eradicate human diversity can only be unanimous in a world where these harmful ideologies no longer exist or are in decline. If we all agreed that this violence should end, we would not resist, we would build a new world together. Roger Waters in 'Brasil' Given current geopolitics, it is clear that genocidal ideologies are not in decline and have endured throughout history. Therefore, resistance remains essential, and this is the central message of ‘This is Not a Drill’ by Roger Waters. We may differ or even disagree about which tools to employ in this resistance, but he demands of his audience to at least participate in this conversation. His art transcends music. It is folklore, theater, friendship, activism, and of course — resistance. But music is still central. As I said last year in my review of the first show of this tour in Pittsburgh, “the guitar solos and back-up singer singalongs are bound to gratify any die-hard Pink Floyd fan. While the dynamic ebbs and flows of the set list, not to mention the fantastic saxophone solos, are bound to keep any music enthusiast moving.” And that continues to be true. Some of the most beloved songs of all time are played authentically and faithfully, creating an unmissable experience for at least three generations of fans. _______ By Mirna Wabi-Sabi