In the mouth of the Amazon, a march for climate justice, debt freedom and a free Palestine
As thousands joined the march midway through COP30, protesters from countries across the world brought their own agendas into this single climate march.
In the sweltering heat of Belem's streets, Ariadne Telles held a gigantic Palestinian flag with dozens of others, shouting slogans for a free Palestine. Tens of thousands like her flooded the streets, defying the Amazonian humidity under a merciless, scorching sun.
As thousands joined the march midway through COP30, protesters from countries across the world brought their own agendas into this single climate march.
COP30 is now at its halfway point, taking place in the Brazilian city of Belem, often described as the mouth of the Amazon. The Guama River runs beside the city, and once you cross it you begin to sense what the Amazon looks and feels like.
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Roughly a 10-minute boat ride to the river island of Ilha do Combu, and you are essentially inside the Amazon. You may not see the gigantic anacondas, but you are already in one of the region's major acai-producing zones. Acai, a small purple berry from the Amazon's acai palm, is a staple across northern Brazil, its rich, thick pulp eaten daily as an energy-packed meal or drink.
"There is no climate justice without land justice," said Ariadne Telles, a human rights lawyer from Amazonia, who comes from the Bolivian-border side of Brazil. "Today we march for a free Palestine because Palestine is an occupied territory. We need all the terror to end, and for the land to be free."
Telles was one of the global activists detained by Israeli authorities last month during an attempt to break the siege on Gaza, as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, boats braving the Mediterranean en route to Palestine.
"I was imprisoned in Israel for trying to break the illegal siege on Gaza. I was part of the Brazilian delegation organising this protest, and we will not stop until Palestine is free and all people are free," she said.
How are climate justice and Palestinian liberation connected? When asked, Ariadne explained that coming from the Amazon, she faces a similar struggle.
"In my city, we see drones and helicopters bought by the government to criminalise land defenders – Indigenous people, peasants, small farmers – anyone resisting capitalism and the exploitation of our territories. Our solidarity can change the world," she said.
"We are not suffering what Palestinians are suffering right now, but their resistance is for all of us. The future of Gaza is the future of all of us," she added.
As the march progressed, loudspeakers across different sections of the rally blared calls for climate justice.
"We can no longer produce, and we can no longer live with all this rain arriving at the wrong time – with floods, with food shortages and with prices soaring whenever there are fires," the speakers announced. "Every day on television, we see the same thing: more and more areas burning."
"We are here to say, in another tone, that the climate march is happening – not only here, but across the entire country and around the world. Today is the Global Climate March," one speaker proclaimed, setting the rhythm of the demonstration.
Thousands of voices
Brazilian organisers estimate that around 50,000 people attended the rally. While global leaders navigated delicate negotiations at a snail's pace in the COP30 blue zone, just a few kilometres from the protests, the people took to the streets for climate justice with urgency and without compromise.
Luke Nicolas joined the rally from the Philippines, more than 30 hours' flight away on the other side of the planet.
"We're here to push for a rapid, just and equitable transition. We must end this 'business as usual' mindset, where corporations deny we are facing an existential crisis and continue to prioritise profit," Nicolas said.
"What we need is action now: reducing carbon emissions, shifting to renewable energy and restructuring society itself. We must think about people instead of profit. If we don't abandon the capitalist logic, the whole world will collapse," he added.
Jana attended the rally from Germany as part of an organisation called Step for Climate, a Global South–led grassroots movement calling for the cancellation of climate debt for Global South countries.
"We're showing how debt is fuelling the climate crisis, and how the climate crisis and financial crisis are deeply connected," Jana said.
"It's a colonial trap. That's why we're here demanding debt cancellation for the Global South and a broader transformation of the global financial system, because the current one is built on exploitation."
With her was Scarlet, a Romanian who now lives in France.
"I live in the heart of capitalism, in one of the most powerful countries for negotiations and decision-making. I'm part of the same movement," she said.
Scarlet expressed regret that her country follows the European Union's lead in negotiations, even when those proposals are "harmful."
Eastern European countries have been deeply affected by aggressive capitalism, which is fuelling the rise of the far right, she said. She added that they should have the right to manage their land and decide what they want, but their delegation is small and politically insignificant.
"That's why one of our central demands is clear: cancel the debts of Global South countries," Scarlet said.
"They keep pushing neoliberal solutions like debt-for-climate swaps, and we're strongly against that. We're proposing citizen-led debt audits so countries can challenge and repudiate unjust and illegal debts instead of always begging for cancellation," Jana added, wearing a Palestinian headscarf.
Jana also highlighted the connection between Palestine and the climate struggle.
"The fight for sovereignty, for land, for survival, and against genocide is tied to the same colonial and imperial systems we are resisting. It's the same struggle," she said.
For thousands of Brazilian citizens joining the protests, it was a powerful moment to make their voices heard on protecting the Amazon.
"It's important for people to unite against the destruction of the Amazon. It matters because the Amazon belongs to the entire Earth. We need a collective struggle so that people can overcome this destruction," said Carlos Oliveira, a Brazilian citizen.
One of the most striking aspects of the rally was the march featuring symbolic coffins of coal, oil and gas, carried by massive skeletons – eerie, gigantic figures in black robes, guarded by equally fierce-looking figures. One of these enormous skeletons was carried by Leandro Gustavo Vanderlei Coelho.
He comes from Vanderlândia, in the state of Tocantins, Brazil.
"We fight for the rights of rural people, so that we can remain on our land, defend our rights and push for laws that protect our communities: farmers, rural workers, Indigenous peoples and traditional communities," Coelho said.
