How the Awaete-Assurini people are resisting ethnocide and environmental racism in the Amazon
Straight off the back of claims of successive legal victories for Indigenous rights in Brazil, you can see why there would be hope that momentum is in the Amazon’s favour. Earlier this year, the Lula administration established the country’s first ever Ministry for Indigenous Peoples and the ministry’s leader, Sonia Guajajara, described it as “a historic moment of reparation in Brazil.”
But not all that glitters is gold. While hearing calls for celebration across the world about the revolutionary potential of this new era for Brazilian politics and Indigenous land rights, it’s hard to shake the feeling that these evaluations are somewhat premature.
Earlier this year, shado connected with Amazonian activists from the Awaete community at the Lush Spring Prize. They shared with us how they and other forest peoples are very much still living through a state of war.
How the Awaete-Assurini people are resisting ethnocide and environmental racism in the Amazon