Documentary EMPATE and debate at the European Parliament

Categories: Event
Date: 02/04/2019
Time: 18 h 30 - 21 h 00
Location: European Parliament
Links: iCal - Google Calendar

On the 2nd of April, the documentary “EMPATE (Draw)”, has a pre-launch scheduled for the European Parliament. The event, supported by MEP Marisa Matias, will be attended by the director Sérgio de Carvalho and Angela Mendes, the daughter of the murdered activist, Chico Mendes, in a film debate that launches the third edition of Cine Luso Espirito Mundo, whose theme this year will be dedicated to the Environment.

The film gives voice to the protagonists of the Syringe movement in the State of Acre, Amazon, during the 70’s and 80’s and reflects how this historical moment still echoes in the Amazon and the rest of the world. In the current political context, Brazil is witnessing “profound legislative changes in the environmental sector that endangers the forests but also the lives of indigenous and activist populations that help protect their preserved territories,” said the director.

What is EMPATE (Draw)? “It is a form of struggle that we have found to prevent deforestation. We stand before the pedestrians and jaguncos, with our families, women, children and old people and we ask them not to deforest and to leave the place. They, as workers, we explain, are also with the future threatened. And this thrilled speech always produces results. Even because the one who wipes out is the simple, helpless and unconscious pawn. “, Chico Mendes. Jornal do Brasil, 13 days before his assassination.

The context of the documentary

Brazil has 94 reserves that preserve native vegetation and keep the traditional population that survive from the sustainable exploitation of natural resources and that today are in danger of disappearing.  Behind these preserved territories is a set of environmental activist movements such as Chico Mendes, assassinated in 1988 and recently the target of a controversy involving the current Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles, who says he ignores its relevance in the Brazilian environmental context. He, along with his companions, was a fundamentally internationally recognised leader for the defence of forest preservation models against the predatory agribusiness system that pose a threat to the conservation of productive territories.

In current times under the auspices of a conservative policy that favours agribusiness on a large scale, we see the relativisation and consequent weakening of environmental legislation that endangers the forests but also the lives of the extractive and indigenous populations that help protect their preserved territories.

The Debate

The debate around the film EMPATE is part of a joint initiative between UNPO, Espirito Mundo ASBL and GUE / NGL (Left Bloc) parliamentary group and integrated in the launch of the Cine Luso Espirito Mundo 2019 project, whose theme is L’environ du monde et l’environnement / The world around and the environment.

Debate with the presence of the director Sergio Carvalho and Angela Mendes

Host: Marisa Matias – Member of the Bureau, Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left
Moderation: Fernando Burgés (UNPO)
Partners: Espirito Mundo ASBL; UNPO; GUE/NGL; Saci Filmes; Descoloniza Filmes

Online registration is mandatory for access to the European Parliament and can be done through the link .