Amazonia: In the Flames, They See Money
OCTOBER 20, 2020
BY SÔNIA GUAJAJARA
Sônia Guajajara delivered this speech to accept the 2020 Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award on behalf of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB). The Association is standing up to powerful corporations, backed by an oppressive government, to protect indigenous rights and lands — all while fighting a deadly pandemic. On October 15, award-winning author and activist Naomi Klein presented the award, which is named after two Institute for Policy Studies colleagues who were assassinated in 1976 by agents of the Chilean dictatorship.
On behalf of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, APIB, I thank you for this award. It is an important recognition of the work APIB has been developing. Indigenous peoples are protecting the Amazon rainforest against a genocidal government that values the profits of international corporations at the expense of life — often our own lives.
This award reminds the world that protecting tropical forests like the Amazon is not only an environmental issue, but also a human rights issue. Brazil is one of the most dangerous places to be a defender of human rights and the environment.
In 2019, almost 90 percent of the deaths of environmental advocates in Brazil occurred in the Amazon. In less than a year, my own people, the Guajajara people here in Maranhão, lost five guardians of the forests — all of them murdered.
Violations of indigenous rights have become common in Bolsonaro’s Brazil. All government agencies meant to defend environment and indigenous rights have been dismantled by the current government.
We have to act on our own against this and other threats, such as illegal mining, the invasion of our territories, arson, and now also Covid-19. APIB is monitoring Covid-19 cases among indigenous peoples. Almost 1,000 indigenous people have already been killed and more than 30,000 infected.
We are not talking just about numbers, but also important leaders who have left us too early, about elders who died, taking ancient stories and wisdom with them. And of entire peoples in voluntary isolation who are in danger of disappearing.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/20/amazonia-in-the-flames-they-see-money/
Sônia Guajajara
= new reply since forum marked as read
