Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, by observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.
But achieving true peace entails much more than laying down arms. It requires the building of societies where all members feel that they can flourish. It involves creating a world in which people are treated equally, regardless of their race.
Cultural Survival's Edson Krenak gives us more on the situation in Brazil.
Indigenous Peoples in Brazil have suffered greatly under the leadership of President Jair Bolsonaro. In the Amazon, fires, deforestation, and illegal mining are some of the issues that affect the Indigenous Peoples of that region.
Joênia Wapichana (Wapixana) is a woman of firsts. She was the first in her family to go to university, to study law, and in 1997, she became Brazil’s first Indigenous lawyer. In 2018, she became Brazil’s first Indigenous congresswoman. Cultural Survival's Avexnim Cojti spoke to Joenia at COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland.
Cultural Survival’s Lead on Brazil, Edson Krenak of the Krenak Peoples was at COP26, joining Indigenous delegations in making sure Indigenous voices are heard and listened to in the fight to combat climate change.
Produced by Avexnim Cojti (Maya Ki'che) and Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan)
Soundclip: Edson Krenak at COP26
Image: Edson Krenak
Music: "Anania2" by The Baba Project, used with permission
Luiz Henrique Eloy Amado is an Indigenous attorney from the Terena Peoples’ village of Ipegue, Brazil. Eloy Terena, as he is commonly known, has first-hand knowledge on the situation of Indigenous Peoples in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest and an extensive experience on defending criminalized Indigenous grass-root leaders and representing Indigenous communities in land rights cases before Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court.