RIO AERIAL GV JESUS STATUE

SOT UNDER GV

“LEGEND! LEGEND!”

BOLSANRO VICTORIOUS IN FRONT OF CROWD

BRAZIL HAS A NEW FAR RIGHT PRESIDENT NOTORIOUS FOR HIS EXTREME VIEWS

FILE: “WE’LL GIVE RIFLES AWAY, WITH GUN LICENSES, TO ALL LANDOWNERS”

AS THE MAN DUBBED  TRUMP OF THE TROPICS TALKS TRADE AND SECURITY WITH HIS NAMESAKE...

MAYOR:

I have no doubt that he'll be a great president. A president for development. 

HE’S ACCUSED OF PUTTING THE WORLD’S BIGGEST RAIN FOREST AT RISK.

+++

NEED  1 SEC  PAUSE BEFORE LAST VO

AND INDIGENOUS TRIBES ARE FIGHTING BACK

ALESSANDRA INTERVIEW (3C / 21:28):

The current president in 2019, for us, is a monster.

CHIEF:

What is of value for him is money.

WOMAN:

“President Bolsonaro, we want your head.”

MAP WS BRAZIL / LATIN AMERICA WITH AMAZON AND TAPAJOS RIVERS, RIO LABELLED, HIGHLIGHT ENTIRE AMAZON REGION, ZOOM IN AND LABEL ITAITUBA

MUSIC

It’s often called “the lungs of the world” - responsible for 20% of the air we breathe

TITLES

BRAZIL’S PRESIDENT VS THE AMAZON

AMOS ROBERTS AND KYLIE GREY

The Amazon is vast, fragile… and full of riches.

For many years there’s been a struggle between those who want to protect it, and those who want to exploit it.

But something has happened that now makes exploitation almost certain.

BOAT MOTOR STARTED

I’m on my way to a remote village in the Amazon that may not exist in a few years’ time, if Brazil’s controversial new president gets his way.

NATSOT BIRDS AND WOMEN WASHING

AMOS GREETS WOMEN (1C / 24.34):

Good morning!

WOMEN LOOK UP (1D / 12.35):

- Good morning.

NATSOT BOAT RUNS AGROUND

Over a hundred people from the Munduruku tribe live in the village of Sawre Muybu.

Their chief is Juarez Saw Munduruku.

JUAREZ HEADS INTO JUNGLE WITH KIDS (2D / 29.03 & 29.37 & 31.20)

CHIEF JUAREZ INTERVIEW:

In the olden days, we lived well. We lived without persecution, without threats to our land.

MUSIC

CHIEF JUAREZ INTERVIEW:

Life for our people was to play in the village, to go hunting, Now these things are nearly gone because of our troubles. 

CHIEF JUAREZ MAKES LEAF TARGET (2D / 38.07 onwards)

More than 500 years after Brazil was colonised by the Portuguese, Chief Juarez still speaks his own language on his ancestral land, and passes his culture on to a new generation.

KIDS FIRING ARROWS AT TARGET

CHIEF JUAREZ WITH KIDS:

We are here teaching the children so that, in time, when they are grown ups, they know how to get their own food. 

(47.14) Otherwise they won’t learn how to throw an arrow, how to hit a bird, or to hit some game, or a fish.

FIRING ARROWS

But the Munduruku along with

almost 300 other indigenous tribes are facing their biggest threat yet.

A presidential promise of mining, agriculture, logging and dams.

CHIEF JUAREZ INTERVIEW:

What does the government want to do with us? Does it want to get rid of the indigenous people of Brazil?

MUSIC 

This is the man the Munduruku fear.

Jair Bolsonaro.  The new populist right wing president who won more than 55% of the vote.

00:02:13]  LEGEND! LEGEND[S3]  !

Inauguration file

 00:02:53]  We'll restore order in this country. 

CROWD CHEERS

The former army captain rose to power on the back of widespread anger at crime, corruption and recession.

CROWD NOISE,

GUN SHOTS

Like Donald Trump, Bolsonaro rails against political correctness – 

Bolsonaro quotes

“I wouldn’t even rape her because she don’t deserve it.

When your son starts getting a bit gay, you slap him, and he changes his behaviour, OK?”

Calling for a god-fearing, prosperous Brazil

And targeting minorities

On his first day in office he handed control of indigenous land rights to his ministry of agriculture…

…a move that was seen as an assault on indigenous people AND the environment.

 MUSIC

I’m on my way to a town that’s a gateway to the Amazon, 4000km from Rio de Janiero.

Itaituba is a transport hub for gold, timber and soybeans.

MUSIC

In this bustling river port, there’s a gold rush feeling in the air.

MUSIC

It’s also Bolsonaro heartland.

The people living here – from day labourers to land owners, have the most to gain from his presidency.

STREET VOX POP:

Being a military man will help solve our nation's problems. I’ve lived through three military governments, for me the best governments we ever had, despite people criticising them.  But I tell you, the military government was very good.

MUSIC / UPSOT MAYOR IN OFFICE (3D / 27.58 onwards)

Local mayor Valmir Climaco is one of the biggest landowners in the region.

MAYOR ON PHONE

50 towers. I want to put the internet into all these communities.

He's the centre of political and economic power here, so it's little wonder he's in demand with the local media.

MAYOR BEING INTERVIEWED:

The previous government took farms away from people to create forest reserves. The population in general, and mainly the business class, the miners, the farmers, are excited about the Bolsonaro wave.

There’s a constant stream of visitors  - all wanting to swap favours, and make deals with the mayor

MAYOR SHOUTING ON PHONE

“I want you to solve it”.

“You are my friend, your father is my friend”.

He’s been fined for repeatedly breaking environmental laws and is facing corruption charges.

MAYOR DRIVING (3D / 1:39:07):

I’ve even been convicted. I’m at risk of being jailed at any time because I did some clearing of forest 20 years ago

The mayor offers to show me his properties, on land that’s been cleared of forest outside of town.

MAYOR DRIVING (6D / 1.19.06)

We come from a very poor family,

in great need, and we’re sure that the solution is to work.

SUB CHECK

MUSIC / WALKING AROUND FARM

MAYOR ON FARM (6C / 1.23):

This is a productive farm.  A farm that I’ve owned for 35 years.

Like most farmers around here, Valmir Climaco cleared rainforest to raise his cattle.

Under previous governments, they had no legal title to the land – it’s something the mayor hopes Bolsonaro will address.

AMOS QUES

A: What do you think about the foreign governments and NGO's who pressure Brazil to protect the Amazon because it's vital to the world’s climate?

[Our laws weren’t made by Brazilians.

There is huge international interference. Countries that have already deforested everything now want to save themselves by bossing around other countries.

[00:05:43]  And we, and our president Bolsonaro, he now understands that who has to boss the country is us, the Brazilians, with so much suffering, wanting to be a rich country. 

In more ways than one, the mayor sometimes sounds like a mini-Bolsonaro.

MAYOR ON FARM (6C / 17.11):

Do you have faggot bulls there, offering their arses?

- They’re all macho here!

They’re macho, but they give their arses, just like people. Aren’t some shameless workers doing it all the time?

Which at edit 14 is 12.50

MAYOR KISSES GRANDSON

The mayor may have cut a few corners to get to where he is today…

MAYOR & GRANDSON (3D / 1.23.22):

Hey, look, the German man here.

…and he might not remember where I’m from…

but surrounded by family in a home he built himself, he’s clearly very proud of how far he’s come.

KID IN TOY CAR (3D / 1.27.23)

AMOS (3D / 1.27.11):

Was that a Xmas present?

MAYOR (1.27.16): 

I was on a trip and I bought it for him.

KID MAKING TOY CAR MOVE (1.28.18)

AMOS (3D / 1.28.38):

I bet you never had toys like that when you were a child?

MAYOR (3D / 1:28:46): 

No, no. In the north-east it’s very dry. There’s a lot of poverty. I’ve studied for only nine months in my whole life.

But there is another toy that he’s keen to show me.

MAYOR AT HOME (3D / 1.30.01): 

Would you like to fly to the hydroelectric site. It's 50 km from here.  Ask him if he wants to fly to the hydroelectric site. (1.30.13)

It seems the mayor has a light plane at his disposal, and he offers to show me where a massive infrastructure project has been planned for the Amazon.

AMOS:

Can you tell me what this hydroelectric project is?

MAYOR DRIVING (3D / 1:34:52):

This project means the salvation of the Brazilian economy.

The country can’t grow without energy. Many mining companies are coming to operate here, gold companies that need energy.

MUSIC

From the air, I can see just how much land around here has been deforested…

We pass silos holding soybeans – one of the main drivers of deforestation.

PAUSE

…and then the mayor points out the rapids on the Tapajos River where a major dam could be built.

PAUSE

If the dam goes ahead, it would be the second largest hydroelectric project in Brazil.

Putting the Munduruku village  - just a few kilometres upriver- at risk.

MAYOR INTERVEW (1:01:48):

The country is in need of energy. If you look at what will be flooded, inundated, it’s not much. The environmental impact is small in relation to all the profit and benefit that will come from that area.

The Indians must go somewhere else.

FOREST BREATHER –

CHIEF JUAREZ FOLDING LEAVES WITH KIDS AFTER SHOOTING ARROWS IN JUNGLE

AMOS (4C / 52.23):

 What do you think about the Mayor of Itaituba?

JUAREZ INTERVIEW [53:59:]

He's connected to the agribusiness, to the mining.

In this region, not just in Itaituba, most farms belong to him. All around the roads it's just his farms.

MUSIC

Chief Juarez wants to show me how a proposed hydroelectric project would threaten his people.

JUAREZ BESIDE TREE (2C / 1.02.54): 

The name of the tree is aracazinho, this tree feeds the fish and the monkeys as well. And if the government builds the dam, the water level will rise, this tree will rot and die.  The fish will be hungry and we Munduruku as well.

JUAREZ ETC GET IN BOAT AND SET OFF (2C / 1.08.57 & 1.12.45)

JUAREZ INTERVIEW [23:28]: 

Here it will become a lake. A lake where we'll lose more than 7% of our land. 

JUAREZ INTERVIEW (4C / 14:50): 

The riverbanks have huge value, for the birds, the animals, the turtles, because they are nature's offering to them. 

And the white man when he sees a river like this,

He comes with another intention, to build, to create a dam there, to generate energy. 

What is of value for him is money. Not for us. We value nature. We value what is in it.

Coming up…the Munduruku set out on a dangerous mission to stop illegal loggers

CHIEF JUAREZ

We’re here now risking our lives since they can appear at any moment.

MUSIC

10% of the world’s plants and animals are found in the Amazon, which holds 150 billion tons of stored carbon.

Indigenous Brazilians make up less than 1% of the population, but play a vital role as guardians of the world’s largest rainforest.

MUSIC

Indigenous people across Brazil are preparing themselves for a long fight .

Attacks on their land by illegal loggers have already Increased dramatically in the few months since Bolsonaro became president.

ALESSANDRA INTERVIEW (29:11): 

With this new government, deforestation got worse.

MUSIC

Munduruku leader and activist Alessandra Korup is putting on her war paint, before setting out on a dangerous mission.

She’s going upriver to confront the illegal loggers already encroaching on Munduruku land.

ALESSANDRA GETS WARPAINT:

I'm painting myself with the pattern of the fish, for the female warrior. Only women can be painted with this kind of pattern. Men have a different pattern.

ALESSANDRA NEAR BOAT [4C / 01:38:33]: 

Today we go to the road where the loggers are. They’re deforesting. And we will show how the invasion is happening in Sawre Muybu territory.

AMOS:

Tell me why we’re bringing a weapon.

ALESSANDRA (1:40:09): 

When we meet the loggers they're also armed and they may react so we carry them for security, indeed, because there are always women and children with us. (1:40:22)  

MUSIC

They hope to avoid any violent clashes, but they say they must make a stand.

CHIEF JUAREZ INTERVIEW: 

We go there for them to know that we are protecting the land because it's ours. But they don't understand it. They say it's not.

MUSIC

Alessandra and Chief Juarez have been threatened by illegal loggers in the past - they’re afraid that a new climate of impunity since Bolsonaro’s election makes resistance even more deadly.

Brazil is already the most dangerous country in the world to be an environmental activist– 57 were killed in 2017 alone.

JUAREZ INTERVIEW [(4C / 18:15):

We don't know how we're going to defend ourselves.

[00:19:21] We can't sleep sometimes thinking about it.  To whom are we going to go if something happens with us, with the indigenous, to the leaders?

MUSIC

JUAREZ AT LOGGING SITE [00:05:59] 

This is something we see, this road access, and we want to show you.  It’s where the loggers are taking wood from indigenous land. For us it is an invasion. This is indigenous land [00:06:29]

MUSIC / WANDERING AROUND

There are obvious signs loggers have been working here – perhaps even just a few hours ago.

JUAREZ:

We’re here now risking our lives since they can appear at any moment. 

JUAREZ AT LOGGING SITE: 

This is an ipe tree. See what they do. See how thick it is.  This is how they cut it down. This is a very valuable tree for them.

MUSIC

Even though the Munduruku have lived in this forest for hundreds of years it’s still not demarcated as indigenous land.

And with Bolsonaro saying he doesn’t want to address any further land claims, it’s even more vulnerable to exploitation.

MUSIC (tense, foreboding)

The environmental damage is clearly visible, but so far there’s no sign of the loggers themselves.

Not wanting to take any more risks, the Munduruku are keen to leave.

First though, they confiscate whatever the loggers have left behind.

ALESSANDRA WITH CONTAINER:

We are taking it because it is used for diesel to remove the timber.  We don't accept timber being taken away from our land.

QUESTION [01:07:55:

If the dam is built, if the land here is opened up for mining and logging, in four years’ time do you think there will be a village for you to be chief of?

CHIEF JUAREZ:

By the end of his term, for sure, from Sawré Muybu only the name of Sawre Muybu will be left.

[01:10:53] We won’t have places to hunt anymore. It will be full of machines, from the miners and from the loggers as well. And on this side of the river, just a lake. And then, where are we going to live?

Munduruku women from villages along the Tapajos are meeting to discuss how they can respond to the threats they face.

ALESSANDRA IN MEETING:

Women you come up here to talk.  Why?  To send a message to the government… President, I don’t want these areas to be destroyed.

(1:17:17) Come on, who will be the first woman to talk?

YOUNG WOMAN [1C / 1:30:26] 

The government wants to close their eyes and say we are not living here but we really do live in this place and demarcation of our land is our right. 

Alessandra is helping to organise a protest against the new president, and his plans to mine her ancestral land.

ALESSANDRA OUTSIDE (1C /1.59:41):

The president himself has asked, or said, during his campaign, that he wanted the mining to be allowed, to have mining on indigenous land.

And it’s already happening right here in front of the village.

Prospectors have pulled up to dredge for gold.

Alessandra says they’re fuelled by a new confidence that a pro-mining government won’t get in their way.

ALESSANDRA:

And those guys in here, they say they’ll never leave because they have orders from Bolsonaro, from the president, and they end up harming us with these invasions.

MUSIC

OTHER WOMAN (2C / 25:33): 

It is written on this sign here “President Bolsonaro, we want your head”.

In my short time with the Munduruku I’ve witnessed the triple threat they already face – a proposed dam, logging and mining.

With the government and its supporters hungry for riches, indigenous solidarity is now more precious than ever.

ALESSANDRA INTERVIEW:

Now, the new president chose people who favour deforestation, in favour of agribusiness, in favour of evangelism.  We don’t even know how to explain it, because all of those now in power are against indigenous people.

Brazil’s 300 indigenous tribes have survived conquest, small pox, enslavement and assimilation…

But will they, AND WILL THE AMAZON survive the Bolsonaro presidency?

ALESSANDRA INTERVIEW (C3 / 1:31:28): 

I, Alessandra, as a Munduruku warrior, I ask the whole planet to keep an eye on this.  Our life is here. Our life is in there, in the river. 

AMOS:

Do you ever feel despair?

ALESSANDRA INTERVIEW (3C / 38:34):

Despair, despair... my biggest despair was when this president won. President Bolsonaro. But now we know that we'll keep fighting, even harder, more united.. (39.00)

Because it’s not news for us that the big snake wants to crush us.

END