He spent his life immortalizing with his objective the condition of the poorest and their degraded environment. Franco-Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, 76, fears that the indigenous peoples of the Amazon will suffer a "genocide" for lack of care in Jair Bolsonaro's Brazil, he said in an interview with AFP. In early May, the artist launched an online petition signed by stars like Brad Pitt, Madonna and Paul McCartney. He called for " urgent measures " from the public authorities to protect the natives from the coronavirus.
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Why did you launch a campaign for the peoples of the Amazon, which collected more than 261,000 signatures?
SEBASTIAO SALGADO. - With the invasion of their territories by gold washers, those who exploit the wood, religious sects, farmers, there is a great risk of transmitting the coronavirus to Indians who do not have antibodies. We really risk a huge disaster. I call it genocide: it is the elimination of an ethnic group and its culture. I believe that is where the Bolsonaro government is headed, because its position is 100% against the Indians.
It is an expected death for a large part of the population
Sebastião Salgado, Franco-Brazilian photographerHow do you live the situation in Brazil, very affected by the pandemic?
I live very badly. Here in France the French are yelling a little, but the government has immense good will. There is a union, everyone participates in the same way. While in Brazil, it is a burst of positions. The majority of the governors of the States, the mayors of the big cities ask for forty. Mr. Bolsonaro is against confinement. We don't have the medical infrastructure that exists in France. It is an expected death for a large part of the population. If the disease enters the forest, we do not have the means to provide assistance: the distances are enormous, the means very small. The Indians will be abandoned in a space eight times larger than France.
Read also: The natives of the Amazon call for international aid in the face of the pandemic
What was your favorite activity during containment?
It was a moment of apprehension, we don't know what our future will be. But it was so fantastic for our personal life: we had the opportunity to live with our son with Down's syndrome in a very close way. You could go to a park, and you knew the Bois de Vincennes like the palm of your hand, a magnificent wood. I am preparing a great work on the Amazon, which should be published next year. I was very busy.
This virus is also a product of the destruction of the planet's environment
Sebastião Salgado, Franco-Brazilian photographerWhat does this pandemic teach?
An enormous pleasure to return to our intimacy, at these moments almost of silence, to be able to deepen. I, who am a great traveler, have made a great journey inside myself. I am passionate about football. I'm starting to see that these teams, all these players who were so important to me, in the end, don't matter.
Read also: Brazil: 5000 coronavirus deaths, "so what?" says Bolsonaro
What solutions for the next world?
This virus is also a product of the destruction of the planet's environment. We have become “aliens”: living in Paris we don't live in France, living in Rio we don't live in Brazil, living in Beijing we don't live in China. We destroy everything to keep us in town. There is so much to do. We must guarantee that a large part of the planet's GDP can be devoted to its reconstruction.