Karipuna Resistance: Defending the Amazon

This is the sound of the Amazon. The lush thick jungle just behind the main village on Karipuna Indigenous Territory, in Western Brazil.

And this is just a short drive away… Former Amazon rainforest. Cut. Slashed. Burned. And converted into fields for cattle. This is what the Karipuna people are up against. Their resistance is life or death.

There are less than a hundred members of the Karipuna tribe. They live on their land in the Brazilian state of Rondonia. Their territory is demarcated, which means that it’s legally theirs. But many outsiders don’t care. Land invaders have been pushing in, hauling off hardwood and big trees. Sometimes, the residents of the Karipuna village can hear the tractors and the machines working at night. 

But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Land grabbers are cutting into their territory. Carving out pieces of their jungle, pieces of their land, and dividing them up to sell.

The Karipuna are resisting. But they do not have the resources or the numbers to constantly police the borders of their territory. And the people who are invading their land are not doing so peacefully. The Karipuna community leaders have faced death threats. Warnings.

A few years ago, they decided to set up an outpost alongside the Formoso River, on the southern end of their land. They built a small home. Planted seeds. They planned to have some community members move there, to help protect against invasions of their territory. But warning messages were left on the building. And just behind it, a square stretch of lush forest was felled and burned, the fallen trees still smoldering from the fire.

[Andre Karipuna]

But they will not give up. They say they will not give in. They will not leave. They are what is left of the Karipuna people. And they will stand their ground. In defense of their village. In defense of their land. In defense of the Amazon rainforest. In defense of their people, their future, and the generations to come. 

Hi folks, thanks for listening. I’m your host Michael Fox.

I visited the Karipuna people and their territory a couple of years. It was a tremendous experience. First to spend time with them and also to see up close the tremendous devastation happening all across the Amazon today. 

I’ll add some links in the show notes to some of my stories on this, the final episode of my podcast Brazil on Fire, which is a deep dive into the attack on the Amazon under the Bolsonaro administration, and much more.

You can also see exclusive pictures from my trip to visit with the Karipuna on my Patreon. That’s patreon.com/mfox. I’ll add a link in the show notes.

Also, if you like what you hear and enjoy this podcast, please consider becoming a subscriber on my Patreon. It’s only a few dollars a month. I have a ton of exclusive content there, only available to my supporters. And every supporter really makes a difference.

This is episode 56 of Stories of Resistance, a podcast series co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance and hope like this. Inspiration for dark times. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment or leave a review.

Thanks for listening. See you next time.