Climáximo, the Portuguese climate justice collective have accused cellulose and fossil fuel companies of being responsible for the recent spate of wild fires, and have held protests in support of all the people currently fighting the flames with their hands and bodies.
Climáximo supporters pasted images of the fires that are ravaging the north and centre of Portugal and Spain this summer on the façade of The Navigator Company – the big celulose company that uses eucalyptus as the prime material for its production – accusing the company of killing, burning houses and setting fire to the forest, in an open war against humanity and the planet. On the same day that several demonstrations are taking place in Galicia, Spain, against a forestry policy that burns our mountains and our homes, the collective reiterates the need for unity across borders – since fire and climate chaos don’t stop at the border – and unity between cities and the countryside of Portugal. They say that only through this grassroots unity will it be possible to stop the attacks by governments and companies who, through continued burning and the transformation of the land into flammable eucalyptus, are turning the country into a box of matches.
Leonor Canadas, Climáximo supporter and agronomical engineer, says that “Governments, Navigator, Altri, Galp and EDP kill and evict hundreds of people every year, through coordinated and conscious actions to, on the one hand, continue burning fossil fuels, leading to rising temperatures, and, in the case of cellulose, turn the forest into a flammable eucalyptus landscape. To maintain their profits, in a context of ever greater inequality between those who have everything and all the other people who, more and more, struggle every day to survive, they are burning our future.”
“Successive governments insist on throwing sand in our eyes with increased security measures against lone arsonists, which ignore the entire context under which these fires happen: a context of climate meltdown, with increasingly intense and frequent heatwaves and droughts, which, together with the abandonment of the countryside and eucalyptus monoculture, turn the territory into a time bomb that explodes every summer,” says Leonor. “The cellulose industry and fossil fuel companies like Galp and EDP make record profits while their emissions lead to record temperatures and thousands of people killed in heatwaves: if you want criminals, that’s where you should look.”
The collective claims that the villages have been left abandoned, without the necessary resources to stop infernal fires. Climáximo calls on everyone in Lisbon and other cities and villages to show that they do not consent to this attack on the population, and to join the call from Forest Emergency – Forest of the Future by taking to the streets on the 20 September to De-Eucalyptise, Decarbonise, Democratise. This network has called for demonstrations across the country, given the brutal fires and joining the “Draw The Line” global mobilisation in which various organisations, peoples, communities and indigenous leaders, from the Amazon to the Pacific, are calling on us to take back the reins of the future, because the only answer is us: the people.
Committed to a decentralised model, the organisers of the De-Eucalyptise, Decarbonise, Democratise protest are calling on individuals, local associations, and social organisations to join the process and organise demonstrations, rallies, and actions in their local areas. The organisers are already in contact with organisations in Galicia and Spain to join the campaign. In addition, the protest will also be connected to the international “Draw the Line” campaign, which will take place between 19th and 21st September around the world. The Forest Emergency / Forest of the Future Network, established in 2022, brings together participants from more than fifteen cities and villages across the country.
