Environmental groups and civil society groups were not surprised when recent government data showed deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region hit a new record again.
Those on the front lines were already anticipating the news that the “heart of the Amazonian biome” Amazonia is the most devastated region in the country, with widespread destruction dramatically affecting the world’s most important biome the integrity of one.
Brazil is indeed on fire, with the Amazon seeing the most fires recorded in 15 years in June, according to the country’s National Institute for Space Research.
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Many of these fires are deliberately clearing larger areas of land for cattle raising, agribusiness and mining. The damage they cause is a direct result of short-sighted government policies and private-sector lobbying hungry for short-term profits.
These ecocide policies have had devastating effects on indigenous peoples, river communities, and a complex, interconnected, and beyond-human world. For some of the world’s biggest investors, the homeland of the Amazon’s indigenous people is just another business opportunity.
A recent report by the Alliance for Forests and Finance shows that three of the world’s largest investment firms, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, have collectively invested at least $12.1 billion in companies linked to Amazon deforestation.
Between 2013 and 2020, a total of $249 billion in loans was issued to deforestation-related companies globally. The link between the destruction of life-sustaining biomes and the short-term profits of a few couldn’t be clearer.
To make matters worse, Aboriginal expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, who were suddenly disappeared and murdered in the most remote parts of the Amazon in June, are working on a new book.title How to save Amazon.
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The two embark on a journey of discovery aimed at uncovering the secrets of how the Amazon rainforest is protected.
Phillips’ sister Sian Phillips has vowed the couple’s tragic deaths will not be in vain and said her brother’s family and friends are committed to continuing their work, launching a crowdfunding campaign to support Javari’s Indigenous organisation UNIVAJA’s Working Valley for the search for the pair The remains are vital.
The brutal destruction and death trail left by racialized extractivist capitalism is unconscionable, but not inevitable.
The voices of young people and future generations are becoming more prominent, and it is hard not to listen.
Leading Indigenous activist Txai Suruí asked: “Will a country that promises to uphold human rights and protect the planet keep its word? How many more people will be killed in a senseless war on the environment and those who protect it before the environment changes? “
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She recently came into the limelight at the opening stage of the UN climate summit COP26 in Glasgow, when she gave a high-profile speech in which she told world leaders that indigenous peoples must be at the centre of the UN’s decision-making process.
I met her in London while she was touring Europe to promote Territory, an award-winning documentary about the Uru-eu-wau-wau people. Suruí is just one member of an emerging resistance ecosystem, a growing network of indigenous leaders across many biomes in Brazil and beyond, blooming like a rare flower during harsh summers.
Against all odds, after 500 years of oppression, pillage and genocide, Indigenous movements are emerging to adapt to a changing world and break through centuries of invisibility, the colonialism and A byproduct system of racism. Indigenous peoples are now uniting in a movement that inspires people and movements around the world.
Two years ago, a group of indigenous women from communities across Brazil came together to launch Cura da Terra, a women-led initiative to put indigenous leaders on the world stage and make their voices heard. Cura da Terra is English for “Earth Medicine” and aims to co-create a narrative of responsibility, reciprocity and regeneration when systems collapse.
Célia Xacriabá, one of the project’s founders, said: “In this extinction, we indigenous women wrote the melody for the struggle. When we reclaimed stolen land, we insisted on celebrating our existence. We sow hope because we You are the self-healing of the planet.”
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Indigenous peoples are living alternatives to the multiple crises we are experiencing – the evils of ecological, social, economic and spiritual crises intertwined.
As these intersecting crises continue to worsen, the world’s indigenous peoples continue to bear the brunt of the chaos wrought by so-called progress and civilization, which have provided monetary wealth for the very few while diminishing the very existence of the vast majority. World Population.
In the face of this situation, Xacriabá is one of many emerging indigenous leaders who are sowing hope and fostering resilience – inspiring people in Brazil and around the world to embody a new and old way of life in the living world we are part of .
Eric Terena, a multimedia artist and founder of the indigenous storytelling network Mídia India, explains: “Indigenous peoples have been silent since the beginning of the colonization of Brazil.
So we must keep our voices heard and make our voices heard – sharing our stories, highlighting our lives and our struggles.
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Both photography and film are great tools for raising awareness among non-Indigenous people and educating white people about our culture so we can work together to protect our territories and sacred biomes. “
Terena’s parents were both pioneering activists who helped launch the indigenous rights movement in Brazil. A journalist, DJ and organizer by training, Terena champions the power of music to communicate social and environmental struggles.
He said: “Art has the ability to speak directly to the heart and to span different worldviews. That’s why it’s essential to make music that touches people deeply. Racial capitalism affects not just indigenous peoples, but all of us. We There is an urgent need to find a new way forward.”
Emerging indigenous leaders like Xacriabá, Terena and Suruí are breaking down a dying story, one of separation, death and revelation. Instead, they suggest a possible new path, a new story that can move us forward. As they say, ‘O futuro e Ancesstral’ (‘The future is indigenous’).
Heeding their warnings and respecting their knowledge, together we can prepare the antidote to heal the end of the world. There may be a thing or two we can learn from the best stewards on Earth, who survived colonial genocides, on how to resist climate-collapsed ecocides.
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If we can do this humbly, we will realize that you and I can also be the Avengers of the Amazon, not just the brave indigenous Earth defenders on the front lines like Xacriabá, Terena, and Suruí.
Extracting the powerful forces of capitalism is destructive, and their power seems insurmountable.
As speculative fiction writer Ursula Le Guin put it, it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.
But what if we all came together to use our creativity, imagination and resources to support the prosperity of life instead of destruction?
We may be on the cusp of an epoch-making systemic shift. What happens next, and how the world changes, is up to all of us.
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Felipe Viveros is an Anglo-Chilean author, independent researcher, artist, ecologist and strategist.
