Brazil is a beautiful country, to say the least.
With its vast biodiversity and various ecosystems, Latin America’s largest nation is a good place to start a natural journey, from paradisiacal beaches to impressive waterfalls, from countryside plains to mysterious tropical rainforests.
But Brazil is also very unequal at all levels, especially in economic terms. And even public spaces can be inserted in this exclusionary dynamic, by which those who have less are not even allowed to circulate where only the rich can.
The latest target of this ferocious capitalist logic are Brazilian beaches. In the last days of May, Brazil’s Senate held a hearing to debate a bill which would permit the government to grant control over seaside land to states, municipalities, or private interests.
The controversial proposal uses the term “marine land” to describe the areas that could be transferred to these partakers. And according to this term, everything located along coastal strips, such as beaches, but also endangered biomes, could soon be under a new, careless administration.
Unsurprisingly, environmental experts accuse the project of potentially threatening Brazil’s rich marine biodiversity, as the bill itself does not take environmental concerns into consideration.
The idea also goes against what is constitutionally provided in Brazil, a country in which places such as beaches are owned by the state and can be used by all citizens. But it is symptomatic of a shift in perspective that started under the business-oriented Jair Bolsonaro administration — whose economic czar, Paulo Guedes, once depicted selling coastal strips as an investment-boosting plan.
And in case it happens, Brazil’s sunny postcards would become a mere mirage for some people…
Check out the creation of this cartoon on The Brazilian Report’s TikTok account (@brazilianreport).
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