In the early sixteenth century, as Portuguese colonizers surveyed their corner of the New World for profitable commodities, they were struck by the bright red tree trunks they encountered along the coast. It is believed they called the tree pau-brasil on account of its fiery coloration, pau being Portuguese for “wood” and brasil a derivative of brasa, or “ember.” Once it was discovered that the tree produced a potent red dye, rapacious merchants devastated the supply using the coerced labor of the indigenous Tupí people.

Warren Dean, who wrote the definitive history of that process, noted that “what is lost when tropical forest is destroyed is not only greater in variety, complexity, and originality than other ecosystems, it is incalculable . . .  cataloguing a tropical forest is well beyond our resources, now or in the imaginable future. The disappearance of a tropical forest is therefore a tragedy vast beyond human knowing or conceiving.” The world is again staring that tragedy in the face as capitalist predation blazes a trail of staggering destruction across the Amazon rainforest.

The Amazon rainforest extends over two million square miles, roughly two-thirds of which is in Brazil. Given that the rate of deforestation in the region has spiked dramatically this summer, observers have quickly identified a prime culprit: President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in January after running the most reactionary election campaign in Brazil’s recent history.