Davi Kopenawa, shaman and great Yanomami leader, led the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the ratification of the Yanomami Indigenous Land, which had 500 participants, including leaders from other regions of the territory and historical allies.
It's movie night in Xihopi village, Yanomami Indigenous Land – an immensity of life and forest in the largest Indigenous Land in the country, distributed between the states of Roraima and Amazonas. On the screen, illuminating the dozens of attentive eyes in the darkness, a young David Kopenawa celebrates the signature of the homologation of the territory, which took place on May 25, 1992.
After years of struggle inside and outside Brazil, the shaman and historical leadership of the Yanomami pointed out that the conquest of the constitutional rights of the indigenous people – harassed at the time by the invasion of more than 40 miners – did not end there. It was the beginning of a new cycle of the permanent struggle for the right to exist.
“The Yanomami are people. Yanomami have family. Yanomami have a child. Yanomami feel hungry, cry, be sad ”, sought to sensitize Davi 30 years ago, since then placing the defense of humanity as the path and purpose of his actions. Three decades later, he hosted a meeting of worlds in Urhi A, the Yanomami forest land, the forest that Omama, the creator, gave to the Yanomami to live in, according to the cosmovision of this people.
Embraced by the Amazon rainforest, 500 participants, around 80 guests from other peoples and nationalities, witnessed the 3rd Forum of Yanomami and Ye'kwana Leadership and also the consecration of David's struggle in the 30 years of the Yanomami Land.
In a scene charged with strength, at the end of an opening ritual for the journey, Davi was lifted into the air by Yanomami shamans. In the center of the Xihopi maloca, Davi looked hold the sky.
Several friends and historical allies of the Yanomami struggle also landed in Xihopi. "The Yanomami are the land. I'll take with me the smell from here, the poetry that is expressed in everything", reflects Ailton Krenak, indigenous activist, researcher and writer.
Just as it was three decades ago, the Yanomami land, soul and very existence are gravely threatened. The 30th anniversary of the Yanomami Indigenous Land was celebrated amid a new wave of garimpeiro invasion, which increased 46% in 2021, according to the report Yanomami under attack, from the Hutukara Yanomami Association.
Dario Kopenawa, son of Davi and vice president of Hutukara, is currently one of the main spokespersons for the Yanomami in defense of indigenous rights. “It is very important that we denounce what is happening,” he says.
Jan Jarab, representative of the UN Human Rights Office for South America, was at Xihopi during the entire journey and was able to hear from the indigenous people themselves reports of violence committed against communities besieged by mining.
"Thirty years after the demarcation of their lands, the Yanomami are facing a new existential challenge. There are countless testimonies", observes Jarab. "The State has to fulfill its obligations – protecting the legality, the Yanomami and other indigenous peoples, expelling the mining from Indigenous Lands, as happened in 30", he emphasizes.
Sertanista Sydney Possuelo, also present at the event, says he feels frustrated 30 years after the ratification of the Yanomami Indigenous Land. "It's a sad moment, because 30 years later, we are living in a situation just as bad."
At the time, he was the president of the National Indian Foundation (Funai) and led the deintrusion of the territory, even before the demarcation. He proved in practice that it is possible to expel illegal mining and millionaire megastructure which is behind it. “Above all, political will is needed”, he emphasizes.
However, even with the mining threats, Davi responds with confidence and launches the arrow that would set the tone of the event. “My feeling is stronger, content and happy. I'm seeing the future, I see the generation that will take care of the next 30 years”, says the shaman.
The future is indigenous
Youth was remembered in the speeches and speeches of most of those present at Xihopi. It was also expressed in the great participation of young people in activities throughout the event. A group of young Yanomami indigenous communicators did their own coverage, using cell phones to produce audiovisual material about the meeting.
On the last day, Davi, Dario and several leaders went to the center of the maloca and formed with letters painted in black the phrase “the future is indigenous”, immortalizing in images the hope of renewal of the struggle. Running around, dozens of village children answered the shaman's call.
“Land is the primary right of indigenous peoples. The new generations need to keep their values and keep defending the land”, recalls the federal deputy for Rede-RR, Joenia Wapichana – the first indigenous woman to be elected to Parliament –, present in the village.
She arrived accompanied by senator Eliziane Gama (Citizenship-MA), both members of parliamentary committees that investigates human rights violations in the Yanomami Indigenous Land. “Garimpo is a crime and it should be treated that way. It is necessary for the State to act according to the law”, says Joenia.
The primary target of the prospectors of mining are young people, according to Maurício Ye'kwana, director of Hutukara and originally from the Auaris region. There, malaria cases exploded 247% from 2019 to 2020, according to the report. Yanomami under attack. In addition, child malnutrition affects 63% of children under five in the region, located on the border with Venezuela.
Maurício says that it is a challenge for his generation to convince young people not to go into mining, as the promise of easy money is seductive in a context of strong social degradation and abandonment of the State.
“But I explain that fighting brings much more than money. It brings the protection of the land, which is the most important asset we have. Without the land, we are nothing.”
Maurício is one of the spokespersons for the Alliance in Defense of Territories, a collective of Yanomami, Ye'kwana, Kayapó and Munduruku indigenous leaders, formed in December 2021. The three Indigenous Lands where these peoples live are the most devastated by illegal mining in the country.
indigenous women
“We need to show young people that we know how to produce in a way that does not destroy nature,” he says. Alessandra Munduruku during debate among alliance members.
Leadership, which suffers constant threats for its fight against mining on the Tapajós River, in the state of Pará, reinforces the importance of indigenous peoples uniting in the face of a hostile political environment. “Our enemies are strong and articulate, but we have the greatest wealth of all, which is our unity.”
Alessandra and other female leaders promoted a meeting with Yanomami women to exchange experiences and strengthen ties. The meeting of indigenous women from different peoples and states yielded immediate results, as articulations for future exchanges.
“I've been fighting for seven years and I'm not in it for nothing. I am here to strengthen the voice of women”, said Erica Vilela, Yanomami from the region of Maturacá (AM) and president of the Association of Yanomami Kumirãyõma Women (AMYK). “When I met women of other peoples here, I was very moved. We will strengthen our fight more and more. I am here to fight along with other warrior relatives.”
May 25, 2022 ended with a rainbow crossing the Xihopi sky. That night, the warnings and proposals of the meeting days gave rise to a letter with demands from Yanomami, Ye'kwana and other peoples leaders to stop the destruction of the Yanomami Land and the planet.
If in the past Davi almost alone carried the cry of the Yanomami people, 30 years later the resistance has multiplied by many bodies, generations and, in many voices, that guarantee: the future is Yanomami, the future is indigenous, the future is without mining!
The celebrations of the 30 years of the Yanomami Land and the 3rd Forum of Yanomami and Yek'wana Leadership took place at the end of May in the village of Xihopi, State of Amazonas and had the support of the Rainforest Foundation of Norway, the Norwegian Embassy and Global Wildlife Conservation .