What happened in the Amazon this past month represents a clear and resounding victory for humanity that resists, does not surrender, and does not sell out. Fourteen Indigenous communities living along the banks of the Tapajós River managed to reverse the decision by Lula’s Brazilian government to privatize three important waterways: the Tocantins, Madeira, and Tapajós.
After 33 days of a massive encampment in front of the Cargill multinational’s facilities in Santarém, Lula was forced to revoke the decree that would have transformed the rivers into waterways or corridors for agribusiness, used by large food companies to transport grain. He did so one day before demonstrations were held across almost the entire country in support of Indigenous peoples, foreshadowing a wave of protests against his government.
The project is part of the Lula government’s “denationalization” program, which thus capitulates to the demands of big business by handing over three thousand kilometers of rivers. It seems like a joke that the “progressive” government is the one pushing for the privatization of nothing less than the fragile Amazonian rivers that sustain life and biodiversity. Economic growth is at the heart of these projects, which always harm both the people and nature.
Capital will try again. It already achieved enormous “advances” under the previous governments of Lula and Dilma Rousseff, such as the Belo Monte dam, a pharaonic project of the military dictatorship (the fourth largest hydroelectric plant in the world), which the people had managed to stop. It diverts an important river, the Xingu, leaving riverside communities without a livelihood. Furthermore, the São Francisco River project diverts its waters more than 600 kilometers from its natural course to irrigate Brazil’s export fruit crops. And there’s much more.
Now, the privatization of the three rivers was another step in the destruction of the planet’s largest rainforest, to promote capital accumulation by accelerating the circulation of goods. The victory of the people deserves an analysis that goes beyond this specific case, especially since this type of news doesn’t appear in the mainstream media.
The first and most remarkable aspect is the determination and steadfastness of the Amazonian peoples, and more generally, of the Indigenous peoples of Latin America. Despite representing a very small part of Brazil’s population, they are at the forefront of the resistance, showing the way to other social sectors that remain passive or powerless in the face of the advance of capitalism. On this occasion, the resistance mobilized fourteen of the more than one hundred Indigenous groups living in the Amazon, and it was only a matter of time before the others joined the struggle.
They teach us that it doesn’t matter how many there are if they are determined and well-organized. That tenacious resistance has the capacity to expand, because dignity continues to have allies despite what we are experiencing in our societies. What can be gained if we put our bodies on the line and don’t fear the consequences? On this occasion, we must highlight the role of women and young people, as has been happening in many places.
The second aspect is that the resistance overwhelmed the institutions, and more specifically the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, headed by Sonia Guajajara and created by Lula to tame the resistance. His party colleague, Guilherme Boulos, Secretary of the Presidency, preferred to keep his position rather than fulfill his promise to consult with the people. This shows us that the entire political system, from Bolsonaro’s right wing to the “radical” left wing of the PSOL, is complicit with capital.
Finally, the people and grassroots movements around the world must closely follow all the struggles, because they not only teach us that “yes, it can be done,” but also show us paths that each of us must adapt to our own context. We have no manuals or books to tell us how to weather this storm. Only resistance and rebellion show us the way.
Original article by Raúl Zibechi, Desinformémonos, February 25th, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.