'They should be put in prison': battling Brazil's huge alumina plant
Jonathan Watts
Sat 21 Jul 2018 01.12 EDT
. . .
A warning voice on the telephone, a home intrusion, a punch in the face, a pistol barrel prodded against the ear.
The intimidation of Maria do Socorro Silva has come in many forms since she began defending her Amazonian home against the world’s biggest alumina refinery and its local government backers.
As a leader of forest dwellers – indigenous, quilombo and riverine communities – Socorro ought to be terrified. Her home is in Pará, the deadliest state for land activists in Brazil, the most murderous country in the world. Two associates and friends have been killed since December.
But there is fury rather than fear in the eyes of the diminutive, powerful woman as she speaks of the industrial plant that threatens her quilombo, a community established in the forest by African slaves who broke their chains.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/21/land-grab-corruption-pollution-amazon-rainforest-brazil-maria-do-soccoro-silva
