JANUARY 2008 UPDATE:
Bishop Luis Flavio Cappio ended hunger strike after three weeks of fasting in opposition to a planned diversion of the Sao Francisco Reiver in northeast Brazil.
“After these 24 days I am ending my strike, but it is not just my fight but also yours, that is it’s ours. We need to widen the debate, disseminate true information and grow our mobilization,” the bishop said in open letter published on December 20.
On December 19, the bishop lost consciousness and was hospitalized after the Supreme Court in Brazil overruled a federal judge who last week questions that government’s authority to control land and water use and ordered construction to a halt. The court also rejected challenges to the project’s environmental permit.
On Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said construction would go forward.
BACKGROUND
Cappio held an 11-day hunger strike in 2005, which ended following President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s personal intervention. The latest protest has been prompted by what the Bishop regards as the failure of the president to keep his promise for more public debate.
The São Francisco covers nine states, provides water to countless villages, and supports the daily life of thousands of indigenous peoples. The government has proposed building two canals, 15 miles long, to divert water from the river to the drought-prone Northeast of Brazil. But pollution and development have taken a toll on ecosystems and basic access to clean water is increasingly difficult for those living on the river. Further, while proponents have claimed that the diversion is to provide water to impoverished communities, the project is really a benefit for big business—industrial agriculture and construction companies—that will further sink the São Francisco into crisis.
People from all over Brazil and from abroad have been expressing their support for Cappio’s struggle through letters, demonstrations, and even by fasting themselves. On December 4, 2007 over 4,000 people participated in a demonstration in the municipality of Sobradinho, state of Bahia, where the bishop has been living since he began to fast. The next day, over 1,000 people closed a bridge on the São Francisco River, on the BR-242 roadway.
Earlier in December, a preliminary court injunction stopped construction on the project, but Cappio is still concerned about the true intentions of the government, as there continues to be a military presence at the project site.
There were a number of local groups speaking out against the project, but they were working in isolation and having little overall effect. Greengrants was able to fund the creation of several coalitions to bring groups together at just the time it was needed. Click here to learn more about our grants.
In March of this year, Greengrants funds were used to support the travel of a group of 400 people, among them indigenous fishers and farmers, to the “International Day of Action for Rivers.” On March 14, 2007, communities around the world celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life. For the first time since the inauguration of the event, over 100 actions mobilized, educated, and inspired groups across the globe. Click here to learn about another Greengrants grantee who also protested that day against dams.