[-empyre-] AMAZON IS BURNING

Tue Sep 17 11:35:01 AEST 2019

Dear Shu Lea,

Thank you for encouraging my participation on this topic.

There is a long time I do not engage on any discussion on any list, so
forgive me for the eventual lack of proper net-etiquette.

It seems I was not introduced as part of a joined team, so my bio was not
listed, but I am proud to be mentioned by Shu as one of those coming "from
the frontline of resistance". Thanks ;-)

I was grown and raised in Minas Gerais, Brazil and saw whole mountains
being wiped out and landscapes being destroyed by multinational companies
behind mass exploitation of iron ore in the region, in the sake of an
economy driven by international interests and national submission since the
early times of the colonization to the post-industrial capitalism in the
country.

On November 5, 2015, Mariana, a small city in the countryside of Minas
Gerais gained international prominence due to the massive
socio-environmental disaster resulting from the disruption of Barragem do
Fundão (a big iron ore dam). About 60 million m3 of iron ore tailings were
released directly into the environment, sweeping two entire
communities, producing
irreparable damage to a whole river (Rio Doce) and leaving destruction and
death behind. About 20 people died and the toxic mud followed the river,
leaving a trail of destruction and death.

Since then, I am dealing with a feature film about this context, following
the environmental tragic consequences, mapping the related conflicts in the
state – saying it again, a region historically impacted by colonialist
exploitation practices since the diamond and gold ages, and is still one of
the largest exporters of iron ore in the world. The project has been taking
shape of a hybrid documentary, made possible through a series of journeys
around regions impacted by the iron ore tailings in the state, drifting
through themes such as topophilia and solastalgia.

>From the bucolic landscape of mountains that was part of one's affective
memory [this was once very commonly associated to the state of Minas
Gerais] only huge craters remained. While on the trip we meet locals who
have lost all they had and are facing an uncertain future. The meetings has
been conducted by Camilla, a character who sees herself straightening her
empathy in relation to the people's big losses, while facing their
attachment to the environment.

The company behind the environmental crime (the transnational Vale,
formerly a national company founded in 1942 to sustain Brazilian's path to
the industry, which was then privatized in 1988 after a boom on neo-liberal
politics in the country) brings up the idea of repeating itself both as
tragedy and as farce. At the beginning of this year, on January 25, another
dam broke, in Brumadinho, this time killing more than 300 people (!) and
another river, Paraopeba, was also sentenced to death. As if the state were
a minefield, two other villages were evacuated for risk of dam rupture -
Macacos and Barão de Cocais. As a sudden, another 40 dams were put at risk
only in 2019, some of them nearby bigger cities in the state, which
evidences that it is not just a single event, but a whole region is
threatened. It has been clear that managing the risk by installing and
exception state, helps the company to better manage the land by expanding
its borders and mining fields through the conflict areas. It all has been
happening in a complex thread involving big amounts of compensation for the
damages it caused, but in a context where the government policies does not
have environment protection aimed as a political agenda.

Fear is generalized: for many communities, the exploitation companies
provide employment and income, since most people depend on the mining
activities for their jobs. But the harm is everywhere, the damage has been
deeply impacting their life, their small properties, their livelihoods. A
whole landscape is altered.
As such, Lavra is a film about disappearing landscapes, the losses of a
world and the attempts to recover them, in the ongoing war between
capitalism and nature.

While doing the film, we have been witnessing the upraising of awareness
movements, such as MAM – Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens
<http://mamnacional.org.br/> and MAB – Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens
<https://www.mabnacional.org.br/>, assisting impacted communities about
their rights and also helping people to review one's relationship with
nature, consumption. and the notion of progress.

*References:*

LAVRA [teaser] <https://vimeo.com/manage/327084774/general> – password:
lavra
REVENGE IS A KIND OF WILD JUSTICE
<http://www.lucasbambozzi.net/projetosprojects/a-vinganca-e-uma-especie-de-justica-selvagem>
(2016) [ongoing project, about nature and industrialization]

*Previous related films:*

ACROSS THE RIVER <https://vimeo.com/197975316> (Oiapoque - English sutitles)

O FIM DO SEM FIM <https://vimeo.com/169642027> [English subtitles]

*Related authors: *

Guimarães Rosa, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Christiane Tassis [my script
writer], Walter de Maria, Robert Smithson, Cildo Meirelles, Nelson Felix,
Paulo Nazareth, Robert Kramer [Route One], Jorge Bodanzky [Iracema], Walter
Benjamin, Georges Didi-Huberman, Stephan Lessenich, Suely Rolnik.

*Lucas Bambozzi*

*www.lucasbambozzi.net <http://www.lucasbambozzi.net>*

*FAU USPLabOUTROS *
*http://outrosurbanismos.fau.usp.br/author/laboutros
<http://outrosurbanismos.fau.usp.br/author/laboutros>*

*Labmovel*
*https://labmovel.net/ <https://labmovel.net/>*

*AVXLab <http://avxlab.org/>*
*http://avxlab.org/ <http://avxlab.org/>*

*Faap [visual arts]*
www.faap.br

Em seg, 16 de set de 2019 às 11:25, Shu Lea Cheang <shulea at earthlink.net>
escreveu:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>
> dear Brian
>
> So good to hear from you!!! and thanks for always here! I read you,. yes,
> washington post article definitely.
>
> There was this landmark case took place at the Supreme Court of the United
> States , Bowman v, Monsanto Co.ET AL.
>
> https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/11-796_c07d.pdf
>
> At issue is the patented Roundup Ready soybean seeds by Monsanto, the
> farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman lost the case in 2013.
>
> and i made a web work out of this case-
> http://fields.seedsunderground.net/
>
> the site renders the entire court document taken from the  Supreme Court
> of the United States’ Vernon Hugh Bowman v. Monsanto case (held in  Washington,
> D.C.  on  February 19, 2013) into ever-replicating seeds, transmitted by
> divine wind and distributed by human/machine power across the vast
> farmland.
>
> (totally forgot this work, but it was included in FIELDS exhibition (Rixc,
> Riga) curated by the late Armin Medosch.
>
>
>
> soybeans!
>
>
> I quote also a newly published article at MAKERY (fr) by Ewen Chardronnet
> in which it recounts Dimension Plus' Soybean Futures exhibition at
> STWST48x5 this past september.
> http://www.makery.info/en/2019/09/10/les-futurs-du-soja-nourrissent-le-debat-en-marge-dars-electronica/
>
> i trust Escher Tsai of Dimension Plus will also be join us here with a
> focus of soybean war between China and Taiwan.
>
>
> thanks
>
> sl
>
>
>
>
>
> On 16.09.19 15:28, Brian Holmes wrote:
>
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>
>
>
> The global political economy alters the face of the earth.
>
> Since the introduction of GMO soybeans in 1996, followed by the entry of
> China into the World Trade Organization in 2001, land-use changes across
> the southern half of Latin America have been extreme. Pools of financial
> investors gather capital for slash-and-burn conversion of lightly forested
> land where cattle were formerly run. The "technological package" of
> modified seeds, no-till sowing, and heavy doses of RoundUp is applied to
> vast acreages under corporate ownership, dwarfing the size of US farms.
> Airplanes slosh pesticides over oceans of fresh green beans.
>
> In 2003, a notorious advertisement of the Syngenta corporation proclaimed
> the "Republic of Soy," a new territory governed by agro-capital, including
> parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Most of the
> beans will be made into animal feed to meet the rising demand for meat
> among the new planetary middle classes. Soy is to South America what
> fracking is to the North: a consequence of inceasing world population and
> burgeoning desire, coupled with the capitalist search for profit in an
> expanded global market.
>
> In Chicago, which is surrounded by an infinity of GMO corn and soy, we
> partnered with folks in Argentina and Brazil to do an exhibition about
> exactly these issues. It was also shown in Carbondale, Illinois; Portland,
> Oregon; and Rosario, Argentina:
>
> https://www.regionalrelationships.org/tewna
>
> Concerning the article that Shu Lea sent, it's good and I have no doubt
> that the demand for soybeans contributes to the fires. But this piece from
> the Washington Post is a little more precise about everything:
>
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/05/were-thinking-about-amazon-fires-all-wrong-these-maps-show-why
>
> best, Brian
>
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 1:53 AM Shu Lea Cheang <shulea at earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>
>> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>>
>>        to empyre-ers
>>
>>
>>
>> We start the third week of STAY UNFINISHEDxxxYours Sincerely, a special
>> month long online edition of STWST48x5 EXPANDED hosted by -empyre-.
>>
>> This past August, news from the streets of Hong Kong hit us with tear
>> gas, cannons of blue water, batons and sticks, meanwhile, AMAZON is burning.
>> The fire spread, The Brazilian government refused any help from the
>> 'first' world. Let it burn!! Some speculative news articles started
>> showing up in various press.
>> Soybean, trade war with China and amazon fires, can you weave these
>> threads?
>>
>> https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-08-25/china-s-soybean-demand-in-trade-war-could-fuel-amazon-fires?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> forest, cows, soybeans, machines, trades, global food/trade politics++++++
>>
>> Some keywords to start this week.
>>
>>
>> I have invited Margaretha Haughwout, who also serves as a empyre board
>> of director, to be the moderator for this week's discussion.
>>
>> Margaretha's personal and collaborative artwork is perhaps best
>> understood as a kind of *multispecies worlding, *a co-becoming that
>>
>> occurs through entanglements with other life forms. Moving across
>> technology and wilderness, digital networks and the urban commons,
>>
>> cybernetics and whole systems permaculture, her practice seeks to
>> antagonize proprietary regimes, colonial temporalities, and capitalist
>> forms of labor.
>>
>> For STWST48x5 (Linz, September 6-8), Margaretha presented her recent
>> collaborative project, APRIORI, a faux research and development group
>>
>> that uncovers revolutionary ecologies between plants and machines with
>> Efrén Cortés Cruz, Lynn DeSilva Johnson[Elæ], and Suzanne Husky.
>>
>>
>> We are joined by
>>
>> Fabi Borges (Brazil)
>>
>> Amanda McDonald Crowley  (USA)
>>
>> Oliver Kellhammer (USA)
>>
>> Escher Tsai  (Taiwan)
>>
>> Dawn Weleski (USA)
>>
>> Dan Phiffer (USA)
>>
>> who Margaretha will further introduce.
>>
>> From the frontline of resistance,  we also hope to bring in updates from Lucas
>> Bambozzi (Sao Paulo) who is working on disappearing landscapes and
>> jamie.kelsey-fry  (London) of
>>
>> #ExtinctionRebellion.
>>
>>
>> Has the fall arrived in your part of the timezone yet?
>>
>> We surely welcome all insights, input from you, the readers, the lurkers,
>> let the amazon fire smokes you out of the cave!!
>>
>>
>> sl
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
>> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forumempyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.auhttp://empyre.library.cornell.edu
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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