Look at the picture. This is the Brazilian tribe Kayapo being forcefully and brutally expelled from their native lands. Why, you would ask...
In the last 30 years more than 20% of the Brazilian rainforest has been destroyed by ranchers, logger, colonists and goldminers. Globally, tropical deforestation is responsible for almost as much carbon emissions as all of the world’s trucks, cars, ships, trains and planes combined.
Recently the construction of a huge dam, called "Belo Monte Dam" has started on the northern part of river Xingu in Pará, Brazil. This is exactly where a respectable amount of Kayapo natives have been living for god knows how long (given the Kayapo only came in contact with outsiders in the 1960s). This construction will affect an estimated 10,000 indigenous peoples as well as the many ribeirinhos, small farmers and rural settlers in the area.
The Kayapo are the guardians of the rainforest. For 30 years they’ve been on the front line of rainforest defense, protecting the world’s richest ecosystem for the rest of the world.
Guess if those people had a voice to be heard by anyone. You guessed right - nobody gave a shit about what they had to say about it. Imagine someone invading the city (or even country) where you've been born, raised and in turn have given birth to and raised your family for many, many years. Suddenly someone shows up and says "Hey, fuck off, we're building something here." and proceeds to kick you out of that land and destroy everything you hold dear to your heart.
You'd be outraged, wouldn't you. Years of peaceful life, great memories and love for people and places just gone, forever.
For how long are we going to just stand by and watch this destruction of everything beautiful and precious in this world? How much more deforestation and killing does the world need to open the eyes of the sleeping?
Mainstream media continues to cover such events in the hopes that peoples' ignorance will keep those secrets hidden for as long as possible. But this can be changed. We can rise. We can say NO to the oppressors. We can put an end to this destruction and death.
We are powerful if we are together. Let's stand up and protect the indigenous people in the Amazon. Let's be humans, and not just cold-hearted beasts, incapable of feeling sympathy and compassion to others just because their culture and appearance is different than ours.
Wake up, people. Our time is running out.
In the last 30 years more than 20% of the Brazilian rainforest has been destroyed by ranchers, logger, colonists and goldminers. Globally, tropical deforestation is responsible for almost as much carbon emissions as all of the world’s trucks, cars, ships, trains and planes combined.
Recently the construction of a huge dam, called "Belo Monte Dam" has started on the northern part of river Xingu in Pará, Brazil. This is exactly where a respectable amount of Kayapo natives have been living for god knows how long (given the Kayapo only came in contact with outsiders in the 1960s). This construction will affect an estimated 10,000 indigenous peoples as well as the many ribeirinhos, small farmers and rural settlers in the area.
The Kayapo are the guardians of the rainforest. For 30 years they’ve been on the front line of rainforest defense, protecting the world’s richest ecosystem for the rest of the world.
Guess if those people had a voice to be heard by anyone. You guessed right - nobody gave a shit about what they had to say about it. Imagine someone invading the city (or even country) where you've been born, raised and in turn have given birth to and raised your family for many, many years. Suddenly someone shows up and says "Hey, fuck off, we're building something here." and proceeds to kick you out of that land and destroy everything you hold dear to your heart.
You'd be outraged, wouldn't you. Years of peaceful life, great memories and love for people and places just gone, forever.
For how long are we going to just stand by and watch this destruction of everything beautiful and precious in this world? How much more deforestation and killing does the world need to open the eyes of the sleeping?
Mainstream media continues to cover such events in the hopes that peoples' ignorance will keep those secrets hidden for as long as possible. But this can be changed. We can rise. We can say NO to the oppressors. We can put an end to this destruction and death.
We are powerful if we are together. Let's stand up and protect the indigenous people in the Amazon. Let's be humans, and not just cold-hearted beasts, incapable of feeling sympathy and compassion to others just because their culture and appearance is different than ours.
Wake up, people. Our time is running out.
