"What is Environmental Racism?" Where has the internet taken the debate on the term from Minister Anielle Franco's speech

By: FGV Direito Rio 

 

• In January 2024, the damage caused by heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro caused significant damages in the West region of the city. Regarding this fact, Minister Anielle Franco denounced the "Environmental Racism" characteristic of the greater vulnerability of the favela populations in these regions. Her post went viral, sparking debates about the topic on social media.
• To understand the characteristics of this debate, we delved into data collected from Instagram, focusing on interactions related to this theme. We gathered posts on the subject on Instagram and comments from two specific posts from the Minister's official profile. The study's hypothesis was that the content analyzed would tend to reinforce stereotypes related to racial discrimination.
• On the one hand, we found racist and misogynistic stereotypes in attacks against the Minister, confirming our hypothesis. In addition to those, the survey identified the massive use of ironic and mocking language in response to the Minister. This ridiculing resource was combined with other forms of violence.
• We also identified comments stigmatizing socioeconomically vulnerable populations, blaming them for an alleged lack of environmental awareness that would justify the heavier impact of the rains on the regions where they live. We also observed, albeit to a lesser extent, comments shedding light on the concept of "Environmental Racism".
• In sum, we found that a significant portion of the posts and comments contained some form of attack on the Minister using the term, with irony and mockery being the most prevalent category.

 

General Overview

    On January 14, 2024, the Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, used the term "Environmental Racism" to characterize the effects of heavy rains that hit the West region of Rio de Janeiro, bringing noticeable damages to its population when compared to other parts of the city. The post on the minister's "X" profile went viral. On one hand, echoed by opposition politicians, the publication sparked negative comments about the Minister and the current administration. On the other hand, Anielle, and personalities who came into her defense, seeking to explain the concept of environmental racism and promote a debate on the topic, became targets of attacks by political figures and users.
    In this report, we delve into the analysis of the general discussion of“environmental racism” on Instagram and in specific posts from the Minister's profile after her speech. Thus, the research question that motivated this study was "What characteristics have predominated in the debate about the term 'environmental racism' on Instagram after its use by Minister Anielle Franco in the context of the heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro?".

 

Evolution of searches for the phrase "What is environmental racism" on Google
Period:  November 9, 2023, to February 5, 2024

 

Source: Google | Elaborated by the authors

As it can be seen from the Google search term analysis tool, "Google Trends," the concept has had several peaks of interest in the topic after the Minister's speech. Such an increase in searches reveals, in addition to users' interest on the theme itself, a potential lack of knowledge of the general population about the term.
 

 

Posts per month

 

    For comparison purposes, the graph above shows the frequency in which the term "Environmental Racism" appears in Instagram posts since January 1, 2023. The result obtained refers to a general search of posts within the platform, and the timeframe covers the beginning of Lula administration until January 18, 2024. Represented by the increase in January 2024, it is possible to infer that the moment of greatest debate on the term on the platform occurred precisely after the heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro, followed by the debate going viral after the Minister's speech.

 

Methodology

The report was developed based on two distinct datasets extracted from  Instagram. Although the Minister's initial post was on "X," data collection for research on this platform, especially comments reacting to posts, has proven difficult due to the closure of its API. For this reason, we chose to use data from a second social network that appears as a space for further discussion, Instagram.
The first dataset is related to posts related to the term "Environmental Racism," published on Instagram between 01/14/2024 and 01/17/2024, collected using a linguistic filter rule developed in partnership with the School of Communication, Media and Information FGV-ECMI. The second dataset corresponds to comments made during the same period on two selected posts from Minister Anielle Franco's profile on Instagram.
    From a universe of 567 posts returned by the automated collection rule, after qualitative analysis by the authors of this report, 373 posts remained referring to 333 distinct profiles that met the qualitative criteria for analysis. This filtering considered the need for the post (1) to be related to the debate, (2) not to be a mere literal repercussion of the minister's speech, and (3) not to have been published by the Minister herself.
    The set of comments analyzed, in turn, was obtained automatically from two posts on the topic made by Minister Anielle Franco on her Instagram feed, which gathered the highest number of comments. Between January 14 and 17, we identified seven posts on the minister's profile about the impacts of the rains, among which two (a photo and a video) expressly mentioned the term "Environmental Racism" and gathered 2,178 comments. From this universe of 2,178 comments, those that only contained emojis as a response to the post, were not thematically relevant to the debate, or were not relevant for analysis (for example, mentioned other topics, requested donations, etc.), and also those comments that were outside the period of interest due to some failure in the automated collection were removed. This left 1,409 comments for in-depth qualitative analysis.
Regarding the categorization of comments collected on Minister Anielle Franco's Instagram, this was done manually by the authors of this report based on the identification of recurring topics. For the detailed analysis of the two posts by Minister Anielle Franco on the subject, six topics of interest for classification were established, as explained below:

1. Irony and/or mockery: In this category, we considered comments that mock, ridicule, or make fun of the Minister and the use of the term "environmental racism" to characterize the effects of the rains. They contain some kind of joke, mockery, or linguistic resource of ridicule. It may appear in combination with other categories.
2. Insults or offenses: For this group of comments, we consider those that use rude, hostile language, loaded with disrespect. They are often insults that affect the honor or personality rights of Minister Anielle Franco. The content of these comments is more aggressive than a criticism but does not constitute hate speech, for example. They may contain irony and/or mockery.
3. Attack or hate speech: In this group of comments, we classify all those that target identity characteristics such as gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or political opinion. They may also contain irony and/or mockery in some cases.
4. Criticism of the government/evoking state responsibility: Comments that denounce the lack of public policies, government inaction, or address inequality and social exclusion. They mainly criticize the Lula government, evoke the responsibility of the previous Workers’ Party administrations, and also of Anielle Franco as Minister of the current government.
5. Stigmatization of poverty: Comments that blame poor people for environmental disasters in contrast to the concept of "environmental racism." They reflect socioeconomic stereotypes and generally disregard processes of exclusion and social inequality.
6. Informative content: Comments aimed at explaining the concept of "environmental racism" or complementing the discussion initiated by the Minister.

The categorization undertaken here considers both a methodological refinement of studies on political violence and online content moderation and the particularities identified in the collected data. By not reducing the content of the comments to a single category, we aimed to capture the possible nuances within the discourse and characterize the overall scenario at a macro level. Thus, a large volume of comments containing irony or mockery, for example, can be seen as a form of targeted attack on a specific individual. Through this segmentation into topics, we conducted an in-depth analysis of such content to produce a study on this topic.

Analysis
    
Considering the analysis of the wide range of profiles collected regarding the term "Environmental Racism" within the analyzed period, they were categorized as follows:

 

 

The number of profiles found per category is as follows: 250 profiles are Content Creators, 56 are Parliamentarians, 26 are Alternative Media, 7 are Partisans, 5 are Traditional Media, and 2 are Government profiles. Regarding the distribution of the 373 posts by types of author profiles, it is as follows: 277 (74.3%) posts are from Content Creators, 56 (15%) posts are from Parliamentarian accounts, 26 (7%) are from Alternative Media, 7 (1.9%) are posts from Partisan profiles, 5 (1.3%) are from Traditional Media, and 2 (0.5%) are from Government-affiliated profiles.

From left to right:
Number of accounts per category: content creator; parliamentary, alt. media, partisan, trad. media & government 

Number of posts by category: government, alt. media, trad. media, parliamentary, partisan & content creator

 

Source: Elaborated by the authors.

 

To complement the cataloging of profiles proposed above, analysis topics were created to structure the debate. We identified the following groups of posts: (1) Irony/mockery, (2) insults or hate speech directed at Minister Anielle Franco; (3) informative content on the topic of "environmental racism." The diagram below shows the distribution of posts according to their content.

 

 

Particulars of the posts.

From left to right: Pure irony/mockery; irony/mockery with insults and hate speech; insults or hate speech without irony/mockery; informative content relating to the term without irony/mockery

*no irony/mockery, no insult or attack nor information on the term

Fonte: Elaboração própria.

 

• In 173 posts, there is a sort of insult or attack combined with irony and mockery directed at the Minister for her use of the term. In this group, 107 posts are purely ironic, either in the captions or images. In 66 posts, this type of language is associated with some other form of attack on the Minister, which can be insults, rude language, or even racist and misogynistic speech, constituting hate speech. Posts whose content is to attack the minister, without irony or mockery, were observed 5 times.

 

 

 

Source: Instagram.

 

• From the other 195 posts without irony or mockery, almost all (187) have an informative/educational content, aiming to elucidate the meaning of "environmental racism" and its origins. These posts emphasize that, although climatic phenomena impact everyone to some extent, the harmful effects disproportionately affect a significant portion of the population - historically marginalized, discriminated against, and socioeconomically excluded - who lack access to the same urban infrastructure and sanitation policies, for example, as those with better financial conditions. Thus, more vulnerable populations, mostly Black and poor individuals, residing in high-risk areas with limited financial resources, suffer more and face greater difficulties in overcoming the effects of environmental tragedies.

 

 

Source: Instagram.

 

The infographic below illustrates the significant disparity in engagement between posts with ironic content that offend the Minister, as opposed to those aiming to elucidate and promote educational discussion about the term "environmental racism."

Total of interaction by most relevant types of posts
From left to right: Ironic/mocking posts with attacks. 
likes, comments, total of interactions

Informative posts
likes, comments, total of interactions

Source: Elaborated by the authors

 

• The 187 posts that aim, to some extent, to elucidate users about the debate on "environmental racism" together have 285,385 likes and 14,093 comments, totalizing 299,478 interactions. Among these, only the most widely-reaching educational post, authored by Mídia Ninja, a profile categorized here as alternative media, has 38,358 likes and comments. Following this, Mídia Ninja authored the second most widely-reaching educational post, with 35,896 likes and comments.
• On the other hand, the 173 posts with ironic/mockery content that offend the Minister stand out with more than twice the number of likes, ten times more comments, and more than double the interactions compared to informative posts, totaling 614,655 likes, 146,782 comments, and a total of 761,437 interactions. A single post in this category, authored by federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, accounts for 11% of all interactions. Following  the ranking are a post by parliamentary Mario Frias, two posts from the alternative media channel Mídia Ninja, and a post by parliamentary Thiago Gagliasso.

 

• Therefore, although the informative/educational posts and those that use irony in the debate about "Environmental Racism" do not significantly differ in quantitative terms, it is important to note the reach that both types of content have on Instagram. Ironical posts are responsible for almost 70% of the engagement of the entire analyzed sample, while informative posts account for about 27%.

The repercussion of the debate in Instagram comments

The diagram below highlights the distribution of comments regarding the presence of irony/mockery, insult/offense, or attack/hate speech directed at Minister Anielle.
 

.

Connection between irony/mockery, insult/offense and attack/hate speech
From left to right: attack/hate speech; irony/mockery; insult/offense
Source: Elaborated by the authors

• Out of the 1,409 comments analyzed, 54.5%, or 768 messages, contain irony/mockery or combinations of it with attacks/hate speech and insults/offenses. Comments with attacks and hate speech, without mocking the Minister, were identified 133 times in the sample, while 181 were classified as insults/offenses without this form of ridicule. Messages without irony/mockery and without other forms of vulnerability towards the Minister correspond to 45.5%, or 641 comments in total.
• Similar to the analyzed posts on the topic, ironic comments are quite present in Anielle's posts and account for most of the responses received in both posts. Out of the 1,409 comments, a total of 533 only use irony or mockery to respond to the Minister, characterizing themselves as pure mockery, teasing, and jokes based on the term "environmental racism."
• Many times, commentators distorted the Minister's speech by characterizing the rains and Saint Peter as racist. There were also mentions of the rains in the south of the country to question the Minister about what kind of racism would have occurred in that case. Another form of mockery used was to resort to outlandish situations, such as saying that the "Black River does not mix with the Solimões," and therefore, this would be an example of environmental racism.
   

Source: Instagram.

• It is also noteworthy the reference to the previous Workers’ Party administrations as the main element to mock the Minister. In this selection, we identified 98 comments that take advantage of the mention of the historical lack of public policies for the populations of the affected areas to blame the party and its elected representatives, as well as to assert that the Minister should demand the current president to take appropriate actions. The comments point out an apparent contradiction in Anielle's speech, as she was appointed and is a Minister in the current Lula administration, and therefore could not "complain" or "blame" the current administration for not acting in favor of socially vulnerable populations. Of those 98 messages, 26 still contain some insult or hate speech directed at the Minister.
• Disrespectful and hostile comments, characterized by the use of insults and offenses against the Minister, were identified 295 times in the sample. Of these comments with insults and offenses, 114 combine mocking language to respond to the Minister. The messages are mainly used to accuse Anielle of using the tragedy as a space to advocate or "virtue signal" about the racial cause, claiming that it would be better for her to remain silent and that it is a "shame" that she holds the position and speaks "nonsense."
• We also identified offensive comments that mention the episode in which the Minister traveled from Brasília to São Paulo on a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane for a government commitment. Other messages refer to the Minister's supposed salary, which, according to the comments, would be around 70,000 reais.
   

 

Source: Instagram.

• Other 254 comments are direct attacks and can be classified as hate speech, characterized by expressions of hatred or encouragement of discrimination against Anielle Franco's identity elements, such as her background, race/ethnicity, gender, and political opinion. As a Black woman from a peripheral background, we identified, for example, questioning Anielle Franco's qualifications for the position of Minister of State. The combination of hateful language and mockery was found 121 times.
• At least 16 of these hateful comments explicitly referenced the death of her sister, Marielle Franco, a victim of political assassination in 2018. Most of them were precisely to discredit Anielle and attribute her appointment to what happened to her sister.

 

 

Source: Instagram

• We also identified comments that seek to discredit or belittle Anielle Franco by comparing her to other women victims of gender-based political violence, notably by former President Dilma Rousseff. Target of broad attacks during her term, Dilma was strongly criticized for some of her statements at official events, such as the mention of "wind stock," which, like "environmental racism," is a technical term that may seem strange to the general public, becoming ammunition for attacks that seek to minimize the technical qualifications of these political women. All these comments resort to "humor" to reference them.
   

Source: Instagram.

The hate speech directed against Anielle does not only evoke misogyny, characterized by comments questioning her mental sanity, cognitive ability, and offensive remarks about her appearance. In addition to these, intersectional violence, which combines gender and race discrimination, constitutes a significant part of the criminal comments received by the Minister. In this sense, we start from the notion that certain comments directed at a Black woman should be understood in a broader context and, thus, should not be understood solely as insults, as they constitute racism and hate crimes (Moya, 2021). Within this context, comments that seek to associate the Minister with drug use and evoke notions of poor hygiene are particularly striking.
 

 

Source: Instagram.

We also identified, albeit to a lesser extent, strong traces of stigmatization of the affected populations due to their social class.

• Of the 1,409 comments studied, 68 explicitly attribute the negative repercussions of the heavy rains to the lack of environmental awareness of the residents of the affected areas and to the idea of invasion to address the irregular occupations. We observed in this sample the use of rhetorical questions and ironic tone as a way to associate individual responsibility with the repercussions of the rains. As a rule, the conception behind these comments disregard the historical context of socio-economic exclusion suffered by the victims of the regions most affected by climate crises.
   

 

Source: Instagram.

• The prejudice is reflected even in the comments of this sample that evoke some kind of state responsibility (29), which point out the need to promote education about inadequate waste disposal, river pollution, and the importance of planting trees. Supposedly blamed for the greater vulnerability of their territories to the volume of rain, the victims are also accused of voting for politicians who do not develop actions to solve and prevent the recurring problems of these spaces.

The word cloud below is the result of comments in which the stigmatization of poverty was identified as a central argument. Highlighted, the word "person" frequently appears in the sample in question as part of the elaboration that argues for holding the individual accountable for the harmful consequences of the rains in their territories. Following are the words "waste" and "river" also highlighted by comments that not only talk about the city of Rio de Janeiro but also seek to link the disasters to a lack of environmental awareness that leads to the practice of waste disposal in rivers.
 

Source: Elaborated by the authors

• About 100 comments were also observed with a tone of demanding accountability from the government for the lack of adequate public policies to deal with the climate and housing crises that contribute to disasters in socioeconomically vulnerable regions. Some of these included the minister as responsible and, depending on the terms used, were also categorized as insults or attacks.
   

Source: Instagram.

• In general, the shifting of responsibility away from authorities regarding disasters is also accompanied by a lack of understanding of the term "Environmental Racism" itself, which seeks to highlight not only economic inequality as a decisive factor for victimization in climate disasters but also to address race as a marker of these victims.
• Only 16 comments were identified that seek to develop the term "environmental racism" in an educational/informational tone. Although on Instagram, user interaction with content is more common than with comments, unlike text-based platforms like X, we can see that, in both cases, informative content receives relatively low engagement compared to ironic content.

 

Elaborated by:
Yasmin Curzi (Professor at FGV Rio Law, Coordinator of the Diversity & Inclusion Program and the "Media and Democracy" Project at the Law School)
Giullia Thomaz (Researcher at the Center for Technology and Society of FGV Rio Law/ "Media and Democracy" Project)
Lorena Abbas (Researcher at the Diversity & Inclusion Program of FGV Rio Law/ "Media and Democracy" Project)