The Ethanol Slaves of Brazil

by Robert Wilkinson

Though I'm a big fan of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources, we find the miracle of ethanol also includes a chilling story of hell of Earth for thousands of beings trapped in a sisyphean dystopia exposing the true costs of cheap ethanol. What you'll read today is sad, frustrating, and outrageous in our 21st century.

From the very respected German publication Der Spiegel, courtesy of the ever-great Truthout, a story by Clemens Höges where it's clear that the "green tsunami" of Brazil's success with cheap ethanol comes at the cost of thousands of early deaths through a miserable form of capitalist enslavement of poor people. The price of power for our automobiles includes starvation, misery, and worn out, disposable impoverished workers. From the story:

... He knows a hernia finished him, and it was the hernia that forces him to push his intestines into place when he straightens up after bending over. He feels two types of pain: a dull throbbing pain in his groin that has been there for a long time, and the sharp pain he experiences whenever he cuts sugarcane with his facão, or machete.

When foremen realized he was holding his intestines in place with his hand, they chased him off the plantation. They are uninterested in sick old men when plenty of young, strong workers can take their place. According to a study done at the University of São Paulo, cane cutters last an average of 12 years on the job before they are so worn out that they have to be replaced. Da Silva is 43, an old man on the plantations.

Though his hernia was repaired in the hospital, the doctor told him he should no longer cut cane, especially not for the next few months. Otherwise the wound might reopen and possibly kill him.

"What can I do?" da Silva asks. "There is nothing else here. Those who do not cut sugarcane go hungry. And then there are the children."

A little more:

Da Silva could not have ended up anywhere else. He is illiterate and had no other opportunities. His father died when he was seven. When his mother fell ill, she gave Antonio a facão and sent him to the foreman on the plantation.

The machete, with a blade wider than a hand, is sharpened seven or eight times a day. It's sharp as a razor blade. The hook at the end of the blade can make serious wounds.

The act of cutting the cane consists of two strokes with the facão. The first stroke separates the cane from the root, and the second removes the remaining leaves from the stalk, allowing the worker to twist the stalk with his free hand. The motions are fast and fluid, but the double stroke requires strength, even the first, second or third time. After 3,000 or 4,000 strokes a day, by evening the men are often too exhausted to speak....

"... On the plantations, workers are not entitled to eat anything but corn meal with water, the daily subsistence food of cane cutters. Their wages are insufficient to buy anything else.

They work six days a week. Da Silva earns about 400 real (about €130, or $172) a month during the season, which last about five or six months. One of the curses of monoculture is that there is no work for sugarcane cutters in the northeast except during the harvest season. In other words, they and their families must survive on their earnings for an entire year. This is far too little, especially when a kilo of beans costs 5.80 real (about €2, or $2.65).

By all means, read the entire story of A "Green Tsunami" in Brazil: The High Price of Clean, Cheap Ethanol to learn even more about our very deluded world idea of the worth of a human life. It reminds me of an old song:

You load 16 tons and whaddaya get?

Another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter don'tcha call me 'Cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the Company Store

© Copyright 2009 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Shelley]

Wow, Robert-

Thanks so much for posting this. I had no idea! Watched "Slumdog Millionaire" last night and got my eyes opened to the plight of orphaned children in India. What an incredibly moving, wonderful movie about never giving up on life, or love...

Hope you are staying warm and well during all this wintery weather :)

{{HUGS}}
Shelley

[Rafael R.]

Yes

While people are enjoying their ultimate newest car, there are people here in Brazil and all over the world suffering these injustices. Humans are not to be explored at this point anymore, not by ourselves; it’s ridiculous, low and coward. Let’s move on and review what the worst we can be, and open our mind for what the best we can be, we are all potentials to a higher living conditions.

[Aditya]

I hope I am right in thinking that 2012 will not be the end of the world per se, it will be the end of the world as we know it. Read that as end of slavery and ill treatment of human beings by the few on top of the pyramid. When I saw Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto", I had a feeling that the scenes depicted in it still happens to this day. Its just the tools and methods have changed, the atrocities still go on...

[Robert]

Hi Shelley - Well, there are things going on in our world that I used to report on when I had my site "Political Physics," but since I'm no longer doing that particular group experiment, from time to time I'm moved to post things here. Various forms of slavery are extremely offensive to me, since they violate the very purpose of being a Spirit in this material world. Am looking forward to seeing that movie.

Hi Rafael - Thanks for checking in. While Brazil is probably not much worse than other places in our world (child slaves of the chocolate industry in Africa, sex slaves in Korea and China, and too many others to list here), we must see how everything is interrelated in our world, and consciously re-evaluate our concept of what a human life means and is worth. Truly we need new ideas about what "the best" could look like, and how to bring it into manifestation in the new era. No one needs to suffer.

Hi Aditya - The end of an age is not the end of material creation. As the song goes, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine...." Many old ghosts must end, and a new way of viewing All-That-Is embraced, before we'll see clearly the promise of the New Age. But we are in the heart of the transition, which is a very good thing since the old ways are ending rapidly, in context of the whole of human history. The future's so bright, we're going to need sunglasses!;-)

[Cris]

You can read about this topic in this article (http://cds.aas.duke.edu/hine/raynes.html ) where they comment about the families they leave behind. Very sad the way the world is nowadays. I lived there. I know how it feels...