In the first days of May 2024, the territory known as the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in what is known as Brazil, was hit by the biggest climate catastrophe in its history. Over a week of intense rainfall caused several rivers to overflow, sweeping away dozens of towns and destroying everything in their path, and then flowing into the Guaíba River, causing the biggest flood ever recorded in the Greater Porto Alegre region and other cities in the state. By June 1st, 171 deaths had been confirmed. Thousands of people have lost everything. 614,000 were left homeless. More than two million were affected. Entire towns practically wiped off the map by the force of the waters.
The state and the capitalist mode of production bear direct responsibility for the devastation of the planet, producing more and more catastrophes, cutting down forests to make way for cattle, monocultures and mining, degrading and sealing the soil with urban sprawl. Amid the horror, the complete inability of governments and the wealthy to take care of our lives and our environment is evident.
At the heart of this tragedy, which heralds a new reality of increasingly frequent extreme events, anarchists, indigenous communities, quilombos and social movements are organizing solidarity as they try to rebuild their lives and their severely affected territories, whether by asking for and distributing donations, calling for joint efforts to clean up and return to affected properties, or organizing new occupations of empty buildings to house people who have lost their homes.
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