In Pictures: "Klamazon" Brings Unity and Hope | Amazon Watch
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In Pictures: "Klamazon" Brings Unity and Hope

A recent delegation led by Amazon Watch unites indigenous youth from the Klamath and Xingu rivers

March 6, 2014 | Maíra Irigaray | Eye on the Amazon

Notes from the Field, Brazil Program Coordinator Maíra Irigaray:

My journey over the past four years in this fight against the Belo Monte dam has been intense, but accompanying the Klamath delegation to the Xingu brought hope not only to the local populations of the Xingu, but also to myself!

We arrived in the city of Altamira with one main goal: to connect and inspire. We did not know by then that the self-proclaimed “Klamazon delegation” would leave such big tracks. We met with local students, traveled to the Xikrin-Kayapó village Poti Krô, participated in a press conference and meetings with community representatives, and flew over the Xingu River eyeing destruction caused by the Belo Monte dam from above. It’s tough to describe such moments as a simple list of activities when they felt like so much more!

Anna Rose, a young leader of the Hoopa tribe, brought tears to many eyes when describing the pain and history of her people. “We have followed this battle for Belo Monte for a few years and we feel in our hearts this pain and suffering,” she said. “We do not want to see the people from Xingu go through what we went through. We do not want history to repeat itself.”

As the days passed, Anna and the delegation not only felt the Xingu people’s pain, but also their joy, and their beauty. Watching the Hoopa, the Yurok, the Karuk, the Klamath, and the Xikrin together was uniquely inspiring. They danced, laughed, cried, talked and sang. They exchanged stories, crafts, food knowledge, and gifts…I watched as two different universes separated by nations become one people and one voice. And then there it was: hope.

Hope – a rare and very welcomed relic as of late on the trampled Xingu.

The Klamazon left with a promise to come back. The people of the Xingu stayed with a promise to visit the north. As for me, I maintain the promise to do whatever I can to help make these other promises to hold true. Hope is powerful, and we all felt that power coursing through our veins and hearts throughout the delegation. If the Klamath people can take dams down, so can the mighty Xingu communities!

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