From Facebook to Dilma's house in BH
Around 300 protesters are asking the president to veto the Forest Code approved by the Chamber of Deputies. Most were students and people involved in environmental issues, and they were called together through social media. They have already scheduled their next meeting for Saturday, and will gather in front of the house where the president lived in the capital of Minas Gerais.
Minas 247 - Around 300 people, mostly students and environmentalists, participated in a demonstration against the Forest Code approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week. They met at Praça Sete, in the heart of Belo Horizonte, with a request to President Dilma Rousseff: that she veto the code, which they consider harmful to Brazil's natural heritage.
The demonstration was entirely organized through social media, mainly Facebook. On the event page created on the social networking site, around 2 people had confirmed their attendance – which, according to the participants, showed the success of the demonstration, since more than 10% of those who had "confirmed" virtually showed up.
The text of the Code approved last week by federal deputies will be examined by Dilma in the coming days. The session ended with 274 votes in favor of the text by rapporteur Paulo Piau (PMDB-MG) and 174 against. The victory for the rural lobby was interpreted as a defeat for the government, since the Senate proposal, supported by the Planalto Palace, was modified.
The movement to veto Dilma had no formal leaders, as it says... 247 Eduardo Aguiar Ferreira, a 48-year-old state civil servant ("I was the oldest, the average age was 18 or 19," he jokes). "We have nothing against parties or politicians, but the movement is typically spontaneous, born on social media and without a 'leader' to direct it," says Eduardo.
He and the other protesters acknowledge that the task is arduous. "We know it's a bit embarrassing for a president to veto a bill approved by Congress," says the civil servant. "But when we discovered there was still a chance, and it was with Dilma, we decided to join together to put pressure on her."
The "pressure," in fact, promises to be even more emotional next Saturday, when protesters are expected to return to the streets of Belo Horizonte. Their chosen location is Afonso Arinos Square, also in the city center, near the house where Dilma Rousseff lived.
According to a statement published by Greenpeace, with the approval of Congressman Piau's bill, the Chamber of Deputies showed what it wants: the end of the forests in Brazil. The environmental organization argues that the approved text grants total and unrestricted amnesty to those who have deforested excessively – even those who should and have the capacity to recover forests along rivers, for example – and also creates loopholes for more deforestation to occur in the country.
According to the NGO, the new Forest Code is the result of a process that excluded society and goes against what the government itself desired. "With this, environmental advances achieved over decades have been undone." In the text, the NGO says that if President Dilma "doesn't act," the future afforded to the country by the approval "will be her legacy."