The Observer - 25.08.2019

The Observer

Focus Comedy court25.08.19 37

What an Edinburgh

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about today’s society

Page 38

not put on him on the spot when

it comes to issues and instincts on

which the UK has thus far been on

the European side.

Those pivotal issues include UK

support for the 2015 nuclear deal

with Iran ; backing for the Paris cli-

mate accord and acknowledgement

of the urgency of the climate cri-

sis, particularly against the blazing

backdrop of the Amazon wildfi res.

The UK has maintained its sup-

port for an international rules-based

system with multilateral institutions

and free trade at its centre. It has

promoted a two-state solution for

Israel and Palestine and a rejection

of both occupation and annexation

of Palestinian territories. Britain

has also maintained a fi rm line over

the Russian military intervention in

Ukraine and Moscow’s annexation

of Crimea, denying Russia readmis-

sion to the G7 club until it reverses

those actions.

These are all shibboleths of the

liberal international order, and they

are being challenged daily by the

Trump administration. Would a no-

deal Brexit mean that Britain felt

under pressure to do the same?

Since taking over as prime min-

ister, Johnson has stuck to the con-

sensus European script on all these

critical foreign policy issues.

He has restated his faith in the

nuclear agreement and the need to

defuse tensions in the Gulf, rather

than tighten the US stranglehold

on Iran.

Johnson has also warned against

the dangers of trade wars, in the

face of Trump’s worsening face-

off with China, and he has stuck to

European orthodoxy on the need

to preserve the Paris accord on cli-

mate, and to build on it.

Any substantial deviation at the

G7 summit from such entrenched,

shared positions would mean

Johnson risking the toxic label

of “poodle”, which his predeces-

sor Tony Blair never managed to

shake off.

The Labour leader, Jeremy

Corbyn, is already fram-

ing Johnson as a “Trump fi rst”

prime minister, and there will be

plenty of jilted European part-

LEFT
Boris Johnson
arrives in
Biarritz for
the G7 summit
yesterday.
Photograph by
Dylan Martinez/
Reuters

Bolsonaro is seen as

a villain with a

19th-century view

of human relations

and a 21st-century

Twitter habit

37

Continued overleaf

G7 cannot turn a blind eye

to ecocide in the Amazon

W

hen G7 lead-

ers sit in judg-

ment on

Brazilian pres-

ident Jair

Bolsonaro this

weekend, the question they should

ask themselves is whether the rape

of the natural world should fi nally

be treated as a crime. The language

of sexual violence will be familiar to

the former army captain, who pub-

licly admires the sadistic torturers

of the dictatorship era and once said

to a congresswoman, “I would never

rape you because you are not worth

it.” Last month, after Pope Francis

and European leaders expressed

concern about the Amazon,

Bolsonaro lashed back by claiming:

“Brazil is a virgin that every foreign

pervert desires.”

As a nationalist, the president sees

the Amazon in terms of ownership

and sovereignty. As a chauvinist, he

sees the region as a possession to

be exploited and opened up, rather

than cherished and nurtured.

Since taking power eight months

ago, Bolsonaro has, layer by layer,

stripped the rainforest of protec-

tions. First, he weaken ed the envi-

ronment ministry and put it in the

hands of a minister convicted of

environmental fraud. Second, he

undermined the agency responsi-

ble for monitoring the forest, Ibama.

Third, he alienated Norway and

Germany, the main donors to for-

est-protection causes. Fourth, he

tried to hide what was happen-

ing by sacking the head of the space

agency responsible for satellite data

on destruction. Fifth, he accused

environmental charities of starting

fi res and working for foreign inter-

ests. And sixth, he verbally attacked

Amazon dwellers – the indigenous

and Quilombola communities who

depend on a healthy forest.

With these defences down, the

president has encouraged outsiders

from the mining, logging and farm-

ing industries to take advantage of

economic opportunities. The results

have been brutal. Last month, defor-

estation surged by 278%. This month

Leaders must ask

themselves if Jair

Bolsonaro’s destructive

attitude to the forest

and its people should

be treated as a crime.

By Jonathan Watts

is almost certain to be a record for

August. The wounds are impossible

to cover up. The Amazon’s fi res are

now burning on front pages, news

broadcasts and social networks

across the world.

This has had a powerful emo-

tional impact. People across the

globe now realise the violence is

against them because the rainforest

is one of the world’s biggest carbon

sinks and most important refuge of

human, plant and animal diversity.

Bolsonaro is now in the dock

of global public opinion and, like

a wife-battering husband, he is

declaring his devotion and promis-

ing to change. In a televised address

to the nation on Friday night, the

president said he felt “profound

love and respect for the Amazon”

and promised to send in the army to

tackle the fi res (though he continues

to insist they are overblown).

To the outside world, Bolsonaro

has become an almost comically

exaggerated villain, with a thuggish

19th-century view of human rela-

tions and a 21st-century Twitter

habit. But he is right when he

accuses other nations of hypoc-

risy. The Amazon hasn’t suddenly

Donald Trump
and Emmanuel
Macron meet for
lunch in Biarritz.
Photograph by
Carlos Barria/
Reuters

started to burn and degrade. It has

been happening for decades. Nor is

this the only confl agration : Siberia,

Alaska, Greenland and Bolivia have

also suffered massive wildfi res

this summer. The running down of

resources and the destabilisation

of the climate are global problems.

Europe, the US, Japan and Canada

are all complicit in the destruction. It

helped make the G7 countries rich.

At the summit, the leaders will

be presented with a petition from

indigenous groups in the Amazon

calling for import restrictions on

goods connected to deforesta-

tion. France may raise the question

of punitive trade measures (which

would also please its farming sec-

tor). There could also be a rap on

the knuckles for Bolsonaro. But any

statement of criticism is likely to be

watered down or quashed by Donald

Trump, who is happy to have a mini-

me ally in charge of South America’s

biggest country, and perhaps by a UK

desperate for post-Brexit trade deals.

But bigger questions posed by

the fi res will not go away. Boycotts

and sanctions may be necessary. But

Brazil ultimately needs help more

than condemnation. Policing the

Amazon is expensive. Fencing it off

is not enough. Far better would be an

economic system in which the forest

is valued as highly as the fi eld, and

in which natural assets are nurtured,

rather than exploited for short-term

g ain. Turning a blind eye to ecocide

is no longer an option. The fi res in

the Amazon remind us this is not

just a crime against nature but a

crime against humanity.

President

Bolsonaro has

promised to

send the army

to tackle forest

fi res, while still

insisting they are

overblown.

Reuters

W

fr

ab

ON

OTHER

PAGES

European

leaders must

do more to

save the

rainforest

from Jair

Bolsonaro

and Brazil’s

big farmers

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