This is a war that takes place in the context of the resurgence of inter-imperialist struggles. From the Amazon we call for peace, we demand the immediate cessation of the bombing and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We have no doubt that NATO, with its expansionist and militaristic policy, strongly contributed to creating the conditions for this war; but who today bombs, massacres and forces an exodus of millions of Ukrainians is Putin. The Russian invasion has to stop so that the death stops and the negotiations between the parties lead to the re-establishment of peace, making the reconstruction of Ukraine possible.

We are not with any of the imperialist powers. We advocate for the disarmament of all nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction that the United States, Russia, NATO, China and all regional sub-imperialisms have. The idea that peace can be guaranteed through weapons is an absurdity that has failed. We advocate for the dismantling of NATO and all such alliances and military initiatives that promote arms buildup and the expansion of their areas of influence that supposedly guarantee peace. We call for the creation of a world bloc for peace from the perspective of the peoples against all wars and for end of hostilities worldwide.

We want to denounce to the entire international community that the war in Ukraine is being used to deepen the aggression against the Amazon and its peoples. The Amazon is suffering from the exacerbation of the most conservative practices: nationalism, machismo, racism, religious fanaticism, individualism and others that engender and strengthen authoritarian regimes to better exploit the people and nature.

Recently, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved Law No. 191/20 so that the authorization for mining, hydrocarbon and other types of extraction in indigenous territories be discussed and voted on as a matter of urgency. Bolsonaro’s justification is that the war in Ukraine is putting the supply of fertilizers for the agribusiness sector at risk, despite the fact that it is known that the current stocks of potassium, the vast majority located outside indigenous territories, are sufficient to supply Brazil for several decades. What is actually sought through these laws is the expansion of mining exploitation, particularly gold, which has spread throughout the Amazon.

The Amazon has been deeply weakened by the health and climate crisis to which national and international powers have not been able to provide substantive responses. The pandemic deepened extractivism and now the war further accelerates the expansion of the agricultural frontier and agribusiness. The high prices of certain commodities (oil, gold, aluminum, zinc, cereals, soybeans, meat and others) are strengthening authoritarianism and anti-indigenous actions to dispossess the Amazonian peoples of their territories and seize natural resources. Our common home is under attack. We are witnessing a large-scale violation of the rights of Nature in the Amazon and worldwide. The war is exacerbating ecocide, ethnocide and causing a new genocide.

The militarization of the planet is strengthening patriarchal structures where the law of the strongest and authoritarianism prevail. The exploitation of nature and territories is also the exploitation of the bodies of women and feminized communities. We witness the patriarchal masculinization of society, through war, instead of moving towards an eco-society of care in respect and reciprocity with all lives.

The war in Ukraine is pushing back the climate agenda and consuming billions of dollars that are needed to tackle the climate crisis. We advocate for cutting the war and defense budgets in the world in order to instead allocate these resources to confront the ecological crisis and poverty that are worsening on the planet. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is a serious warning to humanity, has been made invisible by the humanitarian crisis caused by the bombing of Ukraine. Countries like Germany are discussing expanding coal exploitation to deal with the energy crisis. The war conflict encourages dirty fossil fuel industries and postpones the action of the entire planet against the climate crisis.

The search for peace must occur at all levels. There can be no peace on Earth if there is no peace with the Earth, if there is no peace with indigenous peoples, if there is no peace with women, if there is no peace with all cultures, if there is no peace with nature. Along this path, we want to call on all social organizations in the world to actively participate in the process towards the X Pan-Amazonian Social Forum that will be held from July 28 to 31 in Belem do Pará, Brazil.

The terrible crisis of the war should make us reflect on structural and systemic alternatives that lead to a re-engineering of the multilateralism of the United Nations, which has proven to be anachronistic in dealing with a conflict between the powers that have the right to veto in the UN Security Council. Just as a new multilateral organization emerged after the Second World War, after this war and in the face of the worsening of the climate and ecological crisis, we must build a multilateralism that incorporates not only the states on an equal footing, but also the peoples and nature. Our call for peace is a call to rethink and rebuild the international, national, and local structures that trigger and fuel war and authoritarianism at all levels.

Asamblea Mundial por la Amazonía

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