learns about the beliefs in the spirits of the forest. Rodrigues analyses the many tappers’ strengths of Mendes as an organizer. He describes Mendes as excelling in the of the “politics While Mendes was by an older union organizer who had possible” (p. 3) informally “schooled” been influenced by many years of working as a rubber tapper helped him communism, Chico’s to understand their world view which does not easily coincide with Marxism. However, Mendes excelled in seeing through the dominant Brazilian ideology of and “developmentalism” He criticized the destruction of the rain forest by land speculators and came up with “progress.” an effective political action the in which rubber tappers plead with the similarly – “empate,” impoverished lumber workers to put down their chain saws and join them in protecting the forest (156). As Rodrigues a premodern lifestyle extractivism, hunting, states, “Mendes advocated – fishing, subsistence farming with a postmodern twist entrepreneurialism, communitarianism, – – multiethnicity all within an With Mary Alegretti, Mendes – internationalist framework” (16). comes up with the concept of an the idea that by leaving the forest intact, “extractive reserve” – and by having a free work force (unburdened by the exploitative labor model of an earlier era), a decent living can be made from tapping the rubber and collecting Brazil nuts. Rodrigues tells the story of how Mendes made international alliances with environmentalists, and how he encouraged rubber tappers and indigenous groups (who in the past had been pitted against each other) to find common cause using the extractive reserve model. Such alliances could not save as he was assassinated. Rodrigues clearly explains how Federal police and judges Mendes’ life, neglected to protect Mendes and basically set up the circumstances for his death. Rodrigues did additional research on the details of the murder case, the culprits, and he also documents how Mendes had publicly defended the workers consistently over ten years as represented in the
learns about the tappers’ beliefs in the spirits of the forest. Rodrigues analyses the many strengths of Mendes as an organizer. He describes Mendes as excelling in the “politics of the possible” (p. 3) While Mendes was informally “schooled” by an older union organizer who had been influenced by communism, Chico’s many years of working as a rubber tapper helped him to understand their world view which does not easily coincide with Marxism. However, Mendes excelled in seeing through the dominant Brazilian ideology of “developmentalism” and “progress.” He criticized the destruction of the rain forest by land speculators and came up with an effective political action – the “empate,” in which rubber tappers plead with the similarly impoverished lumber workers to put down their chain saws and join them in protecting the forest (156). As Rodrigues states, “Mendes advocated a premodern lifestyle – extractivism, hunting, fishing, subsistence farming – with a postmodern twist – entrepreneurialism, communitarianism, multiethnicity – all within an internationalist framework” (16). With Mary Alegretti, Mendes comes up with the concept of an “extractive reserve” – the idea that by leaving the forest intact, and by having a free work force (unburdened by the exploitative labor model of an earlier era), a decent living can be made from tapping the rubber and collecting Brazil nuts. Rodrigues tells the story of how Mendes made international alliances with environmentalists, and how he encouraged rubber tappers and indigenous groups (who in the past had been pitted against each other) to find common cause using the extractive reserve model. Such alliances could not save Mendes’ life, as he was assassinated. Rodrigues clearly explains how Federal police and judges neglected to protect Mendes and basically set up the circumstances for his death. Rodrigues did additional research on the details of the murder case, the culprits, and he also documents how Mendes had publicly defended the workers consistently over ten years as represented in the
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