Photos available here – please credit Kamikia Kisedje
Last week delegations of Indigenous women from across Amazonia arrived in Brazil’s capital for the Second National March of Indigenous Women, with the theme “Original women: Reforesting minds for the healing of the Earth.” From September 7-11, 4,000 women from more than 150 Indigenous nations joined the march for their rights, the protection of the rainforest and to amplify the threat of the Marco Temporal trial against Indigenous peoples in Brazil.
The Women Defenders of the Amazon, known as the Mujeres Amazónicas, released the following statement:
“From the Amazonian Indigenous territories of Ecuador, thousands of kilometers from Brazil, we have traveled to stand in solidarity with our Indigenous sisters in Brazil. Their struggles are similar to ours.
“Extractive industries and their machineries, sponsored by governments, invade our lands and destroy our territories of life. That is why we have brought our voices, our songs, and our rallying cry to tell Jair Bolsonaro, as we tell Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso every day, that we will not leave our home, the Amazon, unprotected!
“We know that our home is under attack every single day. Oil, mining, logging, hydroelectric exploitation, and highways are advancing and destroying the Amazon. Like a virus, industry is destroying the lands where our ancestors are buried, destroying trees, mountains, rivers and lagoons. Our territories are the extension of our bodies. Nature is one. The Amazon is one!
“Country borders have been created by governments that don’t know these territories. For this reason, we have come to Brazil to show solidarity with our sisters who are experiencing the attacks and threats against their territories and bodies.
“What happens in this part of our territory also affects us on the other side! We are Indigenous women, women of the land, women healers who defend life for all!”
