ASSOCIAÇÃO DAS MULHERES WAKOBORUN
The Munduruku community lives in a vast territory which is considered one of the best-preserved areas of the Amazon, confirming that the name “Guardians of the forest” perfectly suits this indigenous group. This land has been inaccessible to external actors for a long time – due to the hostility of the environment and of the population itself towards strangers. However, in the last decades, their territory has been attracting the economic interests of many pariwat¹. Consequently, the Munduruku have started fighting in order to obtain self-demarcation and protect their home. Indeed, the community values the forest as sacred and considers it its own mother, which gave them life and keeps on enabling it through its products and elements. The resistance was started by the community’s men, through the “Ipereğ Ayũna” movement.
Women decided to unite and intervene, resisting on the side of men because the latter were either too trusting of the authorities, being convinced through material goods or killed by the “death projects”. Therefore, in 2018 Munduruku women created their own association “Associação Wakoborun” taking their name and inspiration from a brave Munduruku female warrior². Present-day Wabokurun women know the pain that mothers face and are the ones giving and feeding life. Consequently, they strongly identify with the Mother Earth and specifically with their own mother, which is sick and suffering, the forest. They are reappropriating the role to which patriarchy relegated them and demonstrating that their strength, determination and resistance are indeed the result of their being mothers.
“Because of the government, the forest is shedding tears. Tears that fall like milk from our breasts.”
The Amazon’s crisis has been exacerbated by acting president Jair Bolsonaro, who does not respect the environmental legislation and has indeed weakened it. Moreover, he has obstructed the process of demarcation of indigenous territories, affirming that “Where there is indigenous land, there is wealth underground”. Therefore, at the beginning of 2020 he legally authorized mining and the building of major infrastructures on indigenous territories. The president's standpoint underlines the strict correlation between capitalism and patriarchy.
Unfortunately, the same logic applies to Covid-19, which is seen by the Munduruku community as a “capitalism virus” (Korap Munduruku, A. and Chaves, K. A. 2020)
From their standpoint, the virus has been compared to an armadillo; which, in the Munduruku cosmology, is associated with the figure of the deceiver. In particular, they believe that the government itself corresponds to the armadillo, which has been trying to deceptively kill them in order to finally take control over their territory.
“Uma doença dos pariwat que só querem os recursos para abastecer o desenvolvimento que produz morte. É um desenvolvimento de morte esse que o capitalismo faz, e esse desenvolvimento trouxe o vírus até aqui.”
Alessandra Korap Munduruku
(Korap Munduruku, A. and Chaves, K. A. 2020)
STRATEGIES AGAINST COVID-19
In this situation of crisis and uncertainty the Indigenous Women community decided to adopt some strategies in order to prevent the spreading of the virus, safeguarding their family, relatives and the whole community in general.
Raising awareness about COVID-19 in their own indigenous languages.
Encouraging government’s intervention to face the situation of crisis.
Establishing measures to deal with food insecurity and sustainability practices.
Giving priority to the elimination of violence and conflict management.
Creation of booklet and other reading materials about COVID-19 translated in Munduruku languages and transmitted via whatsapp.
Promotion of workshop for the production of traditional medicines.
Promotion of a health expedition (called ACEWEWEKUK) in the villages of the Cururu River --> deliver of basic materials and food to keep people isolated far from the city.
Raise of a CAMPAIGN against COVID-19 to buy food, medicines and medical equipments for the villages in need.
In the Munduruku community, the pandemic has further worsened a situation of economic insecurity, urban exploitation and social instability. The Wakoborun Association is worried not only about the precarious situation of the crisis but also because they found themselves in the middle of a pandemic, without means to fight it and they are losing many elders and wisemen considered as the most vulnerable but essential part of the community. The pandemic is compared to a violent and brutal wind which cannot be controlled by human power and the community alltogether has to stand and resist against it.
“A pandemia é um vento muito forte que está soprando sobre nós, vai balançar as árvores, vai levar as folhas, é uma forte tempestade e precisamos ser muito firmes para resistir. “
Alessandra Korap Munduruku
(Korap Munduruku, A. and Chaves, K. A. 2020)
According to the latest official data, the virus has killed thirteen elderly people in just few months. Old men and women are typically the leaders of the villages, the ones who carry on the traditions, the culture and the values. As Alessandra states: “the loss of our elders means the loss of our history” and every time an elder dies is like a library burnt and lost forever.
For this reason, during a public debate she listed the names of the 5 (and nowadays even more) indigenous people who died for COVID-19 in June 2020: Angélico Yori (76 years old), , Jerônimo Manhuary (86 years old), Raimundo Dace (70 years old), Vicente Saw Munduruku (71 years old), and Amâncio Ikon Munduruku (59 years old- the youngest one) have all lost their lives because of the virus. They were all human beings, with a history, a past to preserve and protect. They were “living libraries” (Alessandra Munduruku, 2020) carrying the story of Indigenous people and they had the role of transmitting their knowledge to future generations. But there is one important difference: libraries are usually a place in which you enter, take a book, you read it and then you give it back. Elderly people are more than just a story to read, they are living experiences, living memories and wisdom that is difficult to replace (Alessandra Munduruku, 2020).
“Eles são nossa biblioteca viva, uma biblioteca que está com a gente no dia a dia. Eles carregam a história do nosso povo, contam as nossas histórias. Não é uma biblioteca que você vai lá, tira o livro, lê e devolve. Não. São bibliotecas vivas, que falam, que contam as histórias para nós. Não são um museu porque não estão mortos, eles ainda existem, nós existimos ainda, estamos aqui presentes.”
Alessandra Korap Munduruku
(Korap Munduruku, A. and Chaves, K. A. 2020)
Moreover, as Covid-19 keeps on spreading, many indigenous communities are facing extermination of their villages and they are losing power. Munduruku sabios are not only bearers of knowledge and know-how but they are also providers of political and spiritual leadership during the struggle, which is crucial for their land recognition fight. Therefore, without them, without all the Indigenous people, the Amazon would have never existed. The pandemic shows once again how they need to fight together (past and present generations) defending not only their cultures and values but also fighting physically to preserve their territories from the government's exploitation (Alessandra Munduruku, 2020).
“Se nós não estivéssemos aqui, se não existíssemos nós os indígenas, também não existiria a Amazônia. (...) A pandemia mostra mais uma vez que temos que lutar juntos, os ribeirinhos, os povos indígenas, os quilombolas, só nós vamos defender nosso território e nossa vida, não podemos esperar nada do governo.”
Alessandra Korap Munduruku
(Korap Munduruku, A. and Chaves, K. A. 2020)
pariwat - This term, translated from the Munduruku language corresponds to an enemy. The expression was firstly attributed to the white colonizers, and now it used to refer to the invaders and those pressuring the territories of the indigenous community. It is more generally implied to refer to “non-indigenous” Others.
Wakoburun - was a skilled Munduruku warrior, she was the only woman taking part in the group of warriors who protected Karodaybi. One of her main achievements was the recovery of her brother’s decapitated head who was killed by enemies. The image of Wakoborun carrying a human head in a straw basket is used as the symbol of the women’s association in order to evoke the strength of this warrior.
(Korap Munduruku, A. and Chaves, K. A. 2020)
References:
Korap Munduruku, A., and Chaves, K. A. (2020). Precisamos estar vivos para seguir na luta: pandemia e a luta das mulheres Munduruku. Mundo Amazónico, 11(2), available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/ma.v11n2.88662
SDDH, (2020), Jornal Resistência, Publicação da Sociedade Paraense de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos (SDDH), Ano 43,Julho 2020, available at: https://issuu.com/jornalresistencia/docs/resistencia-1semestre2020_fe2b02039f17c2
https://atmos.earth/amazon-rainforest-indigenous-activism-history/
https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/articles/indigenous-peoples-the-best-forest-guardians
https://theelders.org/news/we-are-made-forest-defending-amazon
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/amazonia-libraries-are-being-set-alight/