
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Calls on Brazil to Protect the Yanomami
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has called on Brazil to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the Yanomami Territory.
Yanomami shamans are warriors of the spirit world. They connect the visible and invisible worlds, acting as shields against the evil powers emanating from both humans and non-human beings that threaten the lives of their communities. Shamans dedicate themselves to taming the entities and forces that move the universe. They hold up the sky.
The most well-known Yanomami shaman and leader, Davi Kopenawa, is the author of the book “The Falling Sky – words of a Yanomami shaman” (Harvard University Press, 2013) with French anthropologist Bruce Albert. Inspired by his words and teaching, Ye’kwana Leadership Forum produced the film “The Shaman’s Message”, to bring the #MinersOutCovidOut campaign to the world.
The campaign calls for the immediate removal of illegal miners who are active in the Yanomami Territory, destroying the forest and rivers, bringing violence and now COVID-19 with them into the communities.
Listen to the shaman’s message. Help the Yanomami and other indigenous peoples hold up the sky. They protect the forest, biodiversity and climate stability. Without them, without the Amazon, and without Earth’s ecosystems protected, new pandemics will emerge, the climate crisis will deepen, and humanity will disappear. We’re already seeing the collapse happen in many parts of the world. What are we waiting for to finally hear the message of indigenous peoples? They won’t be able to hold up the sky – and postpone the end of the world – for much longer without our help.
Sign the petition: https://MinersOutCovidOut.org
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A production of the Yanomami and Ye’kwana Leadership Forum and the #MinersOutCovidOut Campaign
Concept: Bruno Weis & O.R.C.A.
Script & Art Direction: O.R.C.A.
Production: Mini Estudio
Director: Rodrigo Pimenta
Editing: Gustavo Ribeiro
Graphics: Pedro Santos
Image research: Isabela Mota
Original Soundtrack: Beto
Villares Narrated by: Dário Vitório Kopenawa
Music Production: Beto Villares & Erico Theobaldo Sound
Effects: Fil Pinheiro
Cello: Rafael Cesario
Mixing: Beto Villares
Executive production: Paula Tesser
Supervised by: Davi Kopenawa & Dário Vitório Kopenawa
Support: Instituto Socioambiental, Amazon Watch, Greenpeace Brasil, Rainforest Foundation US & Rainforest Foundation Norway
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has called on Brazil to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the Yanomami Territory.
The murders reinforce the need for the Brazilian government to immediately expel the more than 20,000 miners illegally operating on Yanomami land.
Indigenous leaders demand the urgent removal of 20,000 illegal gold miners from their lands to prevent the spread of COVID-19
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Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1701632881nffr@1701632881sreve1701632881dd1701632881
Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.