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By Rafael Pereira – National Directorate of Socialist Revolution

Approval of PL 2159/21
Bill 2159/21, known as the “Law of Devastation bill,” which establishes the General Environmental Licensing Law, was approved last Wednesday (the 16th) in the second stage of Brazil’s tripartite process. The proposal now heads toward presidential sanction, with the possibility of vetoes. The vote—held just before the parliamentary recess, stealthily and in a late-night session—reveals not only an institutional crisis, but, fundamentally, a systemic crisis: capitalist barbarism seeks at all costs to physically eliminate the conditions of resistance and reorganization for the most vulnerable, weaponizing unsustainable climate chaos against nature—and, consequently, against the already impoverished and precarious life of the working class.

The National Congress, under the presidency of Hugo Motta (Republicanos)—as in 2020 under the claws of Rodrigo Maia and ex-Bolsonarist minister Ricardo Salles—repeats its playbook of “passing under the radar,” approving controversial and far-from-trivial agendas when vigilance is low, and a smokescreen hides debates over sovereignty, taxation, and social polarization.

The narrative and ideological struggle has renewed its propaganda tactics—even through official government channels—using memes (yes, entertaining and highly viral, especially among youth disillusioned with institutional politics), reinforced by articles in the international press and the president’s primetime speeches on network television—a mass communication channel now underutilized. We must remain alert: despite the light tone and jokes, the issue at hand must be treated with absolute seriousness, as it redefines the direction of environmental licensing and further facilitates bourgeois control over natural resources and protected areas.

The Government’s Role and Contradictions
There is no vacuum in politics, and President Lula—far more seasoned and already eyeing the 2026 elections—is exploiting the slight boost in popularity he gained from the conflict with Trump’s tariff hike. In essence, however, he ends up reinforcing reformism and a vulgar populism. He now holds the power to veto parts of the bill—a move rightly demanded by his base. But all this circus and juggling does not address the root issues facing the Brazilian people today: the Fiscal Framework, or in Portuguese the “New” Spending Cap, is itself an austerity and adjustment program introduced by the same government, not the opposition.

Agroindustry: the favored child
On agrarian and environmental matters, the government maintains a supposedly ecological discourse while aligning in practice with the interests of the agribusiness sector. In 2024, R$21 billion in subsidies were granted to the agrochemical industry—true poisons still receiving state support. The grandly announced National Agroecology Plan brought no concrete measures to reduce pesticide usage. The 2025/2026 Harvest Plan broke a historic record with R$594.4 billion in rural credit, of which R$516.2 billion went to export agribusiness, compared to just R$78.2 billion for family farming. After more than two years in office, no expropriations have occurred, as denounced by the MST, which reports 72,000 families in temporary camps and 145,100 families waiting for land to cultivate, according to the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA).

COP 30 and the environmental discourse
It is also impossible not to link the “Climate Backward PL” with the environmental reality of the country hosting COP 30—a grand business fair for the international bourgeoisie, widely denounced. By enabling devastation in practice, it exposes the demagogic environmental discourse of so-called progressives, as it allows high-impact economic activities without rigorous risk assessment in a nation that holds 64% of the Amazon rainforest and has not signed, for example, the Escazú Agreement—a treaty whose key point is the protection of environmental defenders in what is the most dangerous region in the world for those who fight for nature. Ultimately, market expansion and profits go to the wealthy, while the negative consequences fall on the people—directly affecting traditional urban and rural communities, peripheral neighborhoods, Indigenous, Quilombola, and riverside populations.

Progress for whom? Ecosocialism: the alternative to barbarism
Ecosocialism offers a vision in which nature is no obstacle to progress. Green Capitalism—the sustainable makeover of capital—and its managers promise, in exchange for infinite exploitation, jobs and improvements for the people. A prime example is the defense of risky oil drilling in the mouth of the Amazon River—an operation rejected on technical grounds by all serious environmental authorities, including official bodies like IBAMA.

It is vital to stress that isolating humanity from other fauna and flora species is a grave error. We must strongly denounce developmentist and reparative slogans such as “The oil is ours!”, proclaimed by the pro-government students’ movement at the 60th Congress of the National Union of Students (CONUNE) in the presence of Lula, justified by the return of pre-salt royalties to education. The only possible slogan is: “Enough of fossil fuels and predatory exploitation!”. There can be no reconciliation. Petrobras—now the world’s seventh most profitable oil company—must be fully nationalized and subject to popular control. A genuine, just energy transition is urgent—not talks with imperialist governments to renew agreements that will never be fulfilled, or slow plans that, even if implemented, will take 10, 30, or 50 years to achieve their targets.

“Instead of a system based on producing exchange values—things to sell—we propose an orientation based on the production of use values—things socially necessary. And who decides what is socially useful? The working class and the people, empowered economically and politically, expropriating from capitalists the main levers of the economy and politics, developing democratic planning of production.”
(Excerpt from “Why We Are Ecosocialists?”, MST program, section of the ISL in Argentina.)

We must take to the streets in defense of the present—not just the future—because the climate catastrophe has already begun! We must bet on the unity of revolutionary organizations in the current moment, also waging a political struggle against “NGOism,” which—under sellout leadership and dependent on external funding—aligns “regardless of ideological spectrum” with our executioners: scoundrels who distribute crumbs with one hand and stab the prospect of a sustainable life on the planet with the other.

Ecosocialism or extinction!