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Chico Mendes

Written in World Issues: 07/23/07, 17:48:49 by admin | Print article | View all categories.

Chico Mendes|admin|1185238129|Chico Mendes

Chico Mendes by Neasa Haughton

Tropical deforestation is a tragic
event with significant repercussions, both locally and globally. One of the effects of deforestation is the loss of natives’ livelihoods, both homes and jobs, in the rainforest. There is great loss and suffering caused to the people of the rainforest. Chico Mendes, a
Brazilian rubber tapper in the Amazon rainforest, rose to the selfless
challenge of fighting for the future of the people from his hometown of Xapuri, Brazil.He is a
sympathetic, common man, not a saint nor a king, but unquestionably worthy
of the crowning of modern day’s tragic hero. A hero whose actions have rippled through his “kingdom.”He is a “prophet without honour” (Murphy 1) who is confronted with
the dilemma of continuing a seemingly hopeless fight at the risk of losing
his own life. He knows there is
a greater purpose. He has a
strong moral standing and struggles against the odds for his own and his
neighbours’ “rightful” place in society. “He
became the symbol of the little man standing up to the big interests that
were fuelling global warming.” (Cohen 1)

The Amazon rainforest, “the lungs of
the planet,” (Murphy 2) is the largest of the three great rainforests in the
world. It is a valuable genetic
storehouse, a supply of food products, and a crucial factor in maintaining
the earth’s climate and balance of gases, and a home to millions. In the past decade, an area almost the size of Ohio has been
“disappearing” annually. The
Amazon deforestation accounts for over half of all tropical deforestation
and is an environmental crisis of global significance. The Amazon, 15 percent of the total mass of plant life, is still
little known, and Mendes stood up, almost alone, to preserve its treasures.”
(Cohen 2) But Mendes did this to
protect the workers and their land and not out of hubris or a lure for world
attention: “The rubber tapper was no starry-eyed environmentalist.” (Cohen
2) He was a common man destined
for this role. Mendes was a common man with a greater
purpose. As Arthur Miller
writes, “I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in
its highest sense as kings were.” (3) Fate brings Mendes to this role: “Mr.
Mendes emerges as a tragic figure, swept up in larger forces that ultimately
destroy him.” (Cohen 2) He was
born into the rainforest culture and took up his father’s work as a rubber
tapper, extracting syrupy latex from the trees that will become rubber.
“Through a series of chance encounters, he is thrust from this role
into the defence of his livelihood against ranchers.” (Cohen 2)
He is dignified like Bernard in Miller’s Death of a Salesman;
he succeeds out of sheer determination and doesn’t try “politics.”
He is brave and “fights” using primitive methods of resistance,
“Chico and his tapper union members stood in the way of the sawyers in
silent protest.” (Murphy 1) Like
Miller’s character, Willy Loman, Mendes is a working-class hero with a fear
of being displaced.
<o:p> </o:p>
Just as Loman struggles for his
“rightful” place in the changing world, so too does Mendes.
“From Orestes to Hamlet, Medea to Macbeth, the underlying struggle is
that of the individual attempting to gain his “rightful” position in his
society.” (Miller 4) Mendes
wants to make sure that for generations to come his people will have
somewhere to work and live. “I’m
not protecting the forest because I’m worried that in 20 years the world
will be affected,” he said. “I’m
worried about it because there are thousands of people living here who
depend on the forest, and their lives are in danger every day.” (Cohen 2)
Mendes knows who he is and what he is about and will not be bullied
into leaving his post. He was
regarded by the “lumpen bourgeoisie in the frontier towns” as being “an
agitator, a radical leftist troublemaker who didn’t know his place,” (Murphy
1) but this fear of being displaced that Arthur Miller talks about in
“Tragedy and the Common Man” is what energises Mendes to win his battle.
Mendes also fights for his neighbours’ “rightful” standing in
society. The Brazilian
government ignored their existence until Mendes’ “movement” stepped in.
Chico is proud of his people and one of his brightest moments was in
1985 when he led 150 seringueiros in a march on Brasilia.
The Brazilian government was beginning to know their place.
“Many had never been in a city before.
For the first time in their history, the seringueiros were organising
to save their forest.” (Parel 2) 
Ironically, after saving a larger family, he loses his own family through
his forewarned, but no less climatic death.
<o:p> </o:p>
Death became the ultimate sacrifice for
this tragic hero. Ranchers
murdered Mendes three days before Christmas in 1988.
Mendes knew the price for freedom and change, “I know I’m 
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Hanging by a thread, but I’ll keep
going to the end.” (Muello 3) He
died with the hope of preserving the livelihoods of a million and a half
rubber tappers. Tragedy has a
redemptive element and it is alive in the aftermath of Mendes’ death.
“His enduring legacies are the rubber tappers’ union, the extractive
reserves and the hope he gave us for the rain forest.” (Parel 2)
As Miller writes, “The thrust for freedom is the quality in tragedy
which exalts.” (5) Mendes gains in size after his death and is considered to
be “a martyr to the environment and a posthumously fashionable figure.”
(Miller 1) Just as Loman
realises about himself, Mendes ends up “worth more dead than alive.”
He had beaten the enemy. 
Since Mendes’ death, large extractive reserves have been created, killings
in the Amazonia have fallen, and the nation has committed itself to
environmental defence of its national treasure.
Mendes is a recognised national hero.
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Tragedy in the modern world is common,
but we need to become better “detectors.”
We rely too heavily on the media to uncover our tragic heroes.
We need to realise that they exist all around us in our everyday
lives. While researching this
paper, I came across an article on 9/11 about Victim No. 00001, Father
Mychal Judge. We have a vivid
image of him being carried out from the rubble on a stretcher.
We remember the reports coming in that he died while administering
the last rights to a fireman, when in fact, as an eyewitness documentary
film on 9/11 showed, this was not the case.
Why do we need our tragic heroes “Hollywoodised” before they become
credible? Mendes was a hero
“ordained” by his people long before his death brought him global media
coverage. He is the true modern
day hero: a little man who stood up and won the fight with “big” interests.
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Sources:
<o:p> </o:p>
Cohen, Roger. “A Man’s Fight for the
Rain Forest.” From The New York Times,
August 14, 1990, Sec. C, pp. 15.
Miller, Arthur. “Tragedy and the Common
Man.” From The New York Times,
February 27, 1949, Sec. 2, pp. I, 3.
Muello, Peter. “Slaying Of Brazilian
Ecologist Dramatizes Battle To Preserve Amazon.” From
The Associated Press, January 10,
1989, Sec. International News.
Murphy, Ray. “The man who died for the
forest.” From The Boston Globe,
August 23, 1990, Sec. Living, pp.81.
Parel, Miriam. “The Death of Chico
Mendes.” From The Washington Post,
January 19, 1989, Sec. Editorial, pp. A27.

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