FROM THE EDITORS: “Marco temporal” is a policy being weighted by the Brazilian Supreme Court, supported by large landowners, to redefine the territoriality of indigenous peoples based on a specific constitutional date (October 5, 1988). Such precedent would ignore the millennial presence of indigenous peoples on land before the existence of the Republic of Brazil,…
FROM THE EDITORS: The indigenous leader of the Kayapó people, “Paulinho” Bepkororoti Payakan, who led the fight against the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, fell victim to COVID yesterday. At just 67 years of age, he died in a hospital in the State of Pará, after a tireless struggle was able to include the right of…
From the Editors: The Yanomani and Ye’kwana are indigenous people living in the Roraima e Amazonas states, in the northeastern region of the Amazon under control of the Brazilian government. Under the umbrella of the Fórum de Lideranças Yanomami e Ye’kwana [Yanomami and Ye’kwana Leadership Forum], they have launched a campaign #ForaGarimpoForaCovid and are asking…
Voluntary self-isolation has been practiced for millennia by uncontacted peoples, so as not to be victims of the devastating consequences of Western civilization and progress. Several intergovernmental organizations have recognized this legal right and survival strategy of peoples to protect their land and territory, as a way of protecting themselves against genocide, colonization, and the…
Slowly we perceive―like the rising of the river when it comes down from the mountain―that the rain at the top of the summit hasn’t ceded, and that we must prepare for the sudden flow. After the initial storm, like the soft roots that creep between the stones until they are broken, ideas, actions, and the…
FROM THE EDITORS: As many as 600 indigenous people representing 45 different tribes met in the Amazon to strengthen their ties under the Alliance of the Peoples of the Forest, and push forward a strategy of resistance against the Brazilian government’s land-grabbing policies that favor large meat factory farms, extractivist industries, and monocultures. The Alliance’s…
Musical expressions are liberating and help build resilience. Some musical expressions have managed to unleash social change and others, to shape identities and resistance, but above all music is contributing significantly to keeping Native languages and expressions alive. Indigenous languages are living, active languages that grow and are renewed, for example, when young people take…
From Awasqa Editors: Deep in the Amazon rainforest live one of the most vulnerable populations: indigenous tribes in voluntary isolation, or uncontacted tribes that have chosen to live away from civilizatory colonial advances of “modern” society. Their exact population is unknown but it spans across several borders in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, and other…