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Women Around the World: Sonia Guajajara · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I've never told you production of I Heart Radio. All right,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and you have a question for you. Okay, when I
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: say Amazon rainforest, what's the first thing you think? Uh, snakes? Snakes?
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  Speaker 1: Really yeah, like big snakes. That is not what I saw.
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  Speaker 1: But okay, what why snakes? I don't know. I guess
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  Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of horror movies. There's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of snakes in the Amazon. I feel like there's there's
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  Speaker 1: a computer game that I really liked where you were
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  Speaker 1: in the Amazon you learned about like it was an
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  Speaker 1: educational game where you learned about like the canopy and
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  Speaker 1: the creatures in there. So I am seeing that, but
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  Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of the game, so it's
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  Speaker 1: like really useless. But like I see this beautiful, beautiful
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  Speaker 1: rainforest scene and then a snake. Well, yes, I do
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  Speaker 1: see creatures when I think of it as well. And
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  Speaker 1: I also think of the fact that there's so many
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  Speaker 1: vast amounts of things within the Amazon that we don't
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  Speaker 1: quite know about. We know a lot of specialists go
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  Speaker 1: in there. We know like people come in to study things.
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  Speaker 1: We also know that it's a big deal about the
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  Speaker 1: fact that people are trying to ruin it by taking apart,
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  Speaker 1: taking all the resources and pretty much depleting the land,
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  Speaker 1: as well as taking land away from those who have
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  Speaker 1: been there for all of their lives, generations and generations.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I think of. Of course, I also think
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  Speaker 1: of Fernal a little bit, even though Fungal is an
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  Speaker 1: imaginary place, right, I believe so. I recently rewatched for doing.
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  Speaker 1: As I said on this very podcast, it does not
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  Speaker 1: hold up. Although Tim Curry singing is great, if it
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  Speaker 1: takes place in the Amazon, then it is. And this
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  Speaker 1: is what surprised now in a very americanized version because
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  Speaker 1: like the main character, Zack is like clearly a surfer
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  Speaker 1: nineties surfer guy, right right, uh, of course, of course,
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  Speaker 1: which I guess he could be working into Amazon. It
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  Speaker 1: just doesn't seem too likely to me, but I guess
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  Speaker 1: he could. I guess to me the corporations are probably
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  Speaker 1: American exactly. You're right, Maybe I read it all, maybe
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  Speaker 1: I read well. We are talking a little bit about
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  Speaker 1: the Amazon rainforest and the Amazon's because we're actually going
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  Speaker 1: to talk about an activist who has been a big
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  Speaker 1: part of trying to fight for the lands as well
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  Speaker 1: as for the people's uh And we're gonna started off
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  Speaker 1: with a bang July because it is July one, just
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  Speaker 1: in case people wanted to know. And we are talking
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  Speaker 1: about the fierce fighter and environmental activists who was born
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  Speaker 1: in the arab Boya indigenous land in Marino, a village
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  Speaker 1: in the Amazon Forest. So Saunia is a well known
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  Speaker 1: activist within the environmental world. So if you're aware of
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  Speaker 1: any of that, you could probably already know her name.
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  Speaker 1: And she's been a fierce advocate in fighting for the
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  Speaker 1: preservation of the Amazon rainforest in the lands around it,
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  Speaker 1: well as fighting for the right and respect of the
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  Speaker 1: indigenous communities in Brazil, including fighting to ensure that the
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  Speaker 1: uncontacted peoples in the Amazons are left alone and are
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  Speaker 1: able to continue their way of life. And she has
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  Speaker 1: been awarded and recognized for her work quote internationally in
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  Speaker 1: defense of the Amazon Forest ecosystems, by diversity and indigenous populations.
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  Speaker 1: The Guage genre people are one of the larger groups
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  Speaker 1: of the indigenous people, with about twenty five thousand present
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  Speaker 1: and eleven indigenous lands, and probably because of this, Sonia
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  Speaker 1: is one of the more targeted persons for her advocacy,
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  Speaker 1: she has become a huge fighter against the government as
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  Speaker 1: they continue to push development of these areas. Brazilian Ministry
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  Speaker 1: of Institutional Security Office has tried to criminalize her work
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  Speaker 1: by stating that she and her organization have committed crimes
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  Speaker 1: by reporting environmental crimes that the government was responsible for. Right,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's so telling. They're getting mad because they're
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  Speaker 1: being told on essentially, so that like you're criminalizing our work.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, this is the same conversation we had with
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  Speaker 1: Representative dev Holland and while they were afraid to go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and confirm her because she fights for the land
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  Speaker 1: and for the communities instead of the industries and the
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  Speaker 1: big corporations. And of course, when we know about politics,
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  Speaker 1: they need that money and they're gonna get it the
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  Speaker 1: way they want to. So definitely kind of in that
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  Speaker 1: same lines. And by the way, Sonia was involved in
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  Speaker 1: politics as well. Get into that more UH in a bit,
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  Speaker 1: But speaking of her organization, UH. Sonia is the leader
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  Speaker 1: and coordinator of the a p I B or the
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  Speaker 1: Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, which represents over
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  Speaker 1: three hundred indigenous ethnic groups in Brazil. According to its
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  Speaker 1: site A p I B is a reference of Brazil's
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  Speaker 1: Indigenous movement that was born with the purpose of strengthening
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  Speaker 1: the indigenous people's unity and the articulation among the different
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  Speaker 1: regions and indigenous organizations in the country, unify the indigenous people,
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  Speaker 1: struggle the list of claims and demands in the Indigenous
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  Speaker 1: movement politics, and mobilize the indigenous peoples and organizations of
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  Speaker 1: the country against the as an attacks to the Indigenous
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  Speaker 1: rights and their mission statement is Indigenous Rights promotion and defense,
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  Speaker 1: parting from the Indigenous organizations and people's articulation and unity
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  Speaker 1: from the most distinct regions of the country. Guasa Gara
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  Speaker 1: is someone who has been considered herself an activist since
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  Speaker 1: her beginning. She said, I was born an activist. I
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  Speaker 1: spent my whole life fighting against anonymity, against indigenous people's invisibility.
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  Speaker 1: I always wanted to find a path, a way to
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  Speaker 1: bring the history and a way of life of the
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  Speaker 1: Indigenous people to light for society as a whole. Um
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  Speaker 1: and getting her Masters in Culture and Society from the
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  Speaker 1: Institute of Humanities from the Federal University of Bahia and
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  Speaker 1: degrees in nursing and a graduate from special education from
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  Speaker 1: the Marienno State University. It's not hard to see that
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  Speaker 1: she has a desire for helping and fighting for the
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  Speaker 1: rights of others, and she's not afraid to speak out.
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  Speaker 1: As lands spews over. The force of the Amazon continues,
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  Speaker 1: Guajajahara has been a fierce advocate in protecting the lands
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  Speaker 1: against far a destruction through mining and development of power planets.
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  Speaker 1: She stated, quote, the Amazon is one of the most
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  Speaker 1: important force in the world and the indigenous people who
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  Speaker 1: live in it have raised important issues in the public sphere,
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  Speaker 1: such as the protection of the immense biodiversity, the protection
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  Speaker 1: of the isolated people who live there, and the importance
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  Speaker 1: of maintaining the forest standing for the climactic balance of
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  Speaker 1: the planet. And she continues on saying, the indigenous peoples
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  Speaker 1: of Brazil are not only in the Amazons, They're all
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  Speaker 1: over the Brazilian territory and other important biomes that are
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  Speaker 1: also being deforested, burned, and degraded by agrab business and
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  Speaker 1: mining companies. The key issue of Brazilian indigenous peoples to
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  Speaker 1: the world is that large corporations would stop investing in
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  Speaker 1: companies that bet on a development model that presupposes our
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  Speaker 1: death and the destruction of our territories. Her work has
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  Speaker 1: made her a public figure within the movement, including working
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  Speaker 1: with R and B singer Oisia Keys to send a
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  Speaker 1: message about the need for protecting the Amazon rainforest. But
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  Speaker 1: she's also a political figurehead in Brazil. Like we mentioned earlier,
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  Speaker 1: she was on the ticket in as a vice president
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  Speaker 1: with the Labor Leader candidate, which made her the first
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  Speaker 1: Indigenous person to run for a federal executive office in Brazil,
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  Speaker 1: and as the pandemic has hit the country hard, it's
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  Speaker 1: no surprise that she has been a giant voice in
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  Speaker 1: advocating for the health and lives of the indigenous community
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  Speaker 1: in Brazil. It was noted that the mortality rate for
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  Speaker 1: those indigenous communities was one hundred and fifty percent higher
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  Speaker 1: than that of the other communities, which showed how much
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  Speaker 1: more this community was at risk in comparison to the
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  Speaker 1: rest of Brazil. There were many factors to this, including
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  Speaker 1: the social and economic conditions, as well as the fact
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  Speaker 1: that they had difficulty getting access to healthcare, which is
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  Speaker 1: a common issue all across the world for indigenous communities.
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  Speaker 1: The a p I b under Guaja published a documentary
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  Speaker 1: series called Morocca Indigenous Emergency, which accused the Brazilian government
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  Speaker 1: of neglect and not protecting the indigenous community, going as
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  Speaker 1: severe as calling it a government genocide, which was altered
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  Speaker 1: in the Brazilian government then subpoena ng Guasa to question
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  Speaker 1: and interrogate her for this content, but she did not
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  Speaker 1: back down. She said in a tweet, the persecution by
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  Speaker 1: this government is unacceptable and absurd. They will not shut
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  Speaker 1: us up. Right when Guashara was under question investigation, the
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  Speaker 1: a p i B stated in support quote and yet
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  Speaker 1: another act of political persecution and an authoritarianism. President Bolson
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  Speaker 1: NAO's government is trying to criminalize the indigenous movement and
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  Speaker 1: its leaders. And there are many others who continue to
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  Speaker 1: support her as she fights for equity for her community
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  Speaker 1: and for her people. And just recently, actually the Brazilian
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  Speaker 1: courts suspended this investigation, and one person said that the
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  Speaker 1: court document stated the investigation was a quote clear attempt
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  Speaker 1: to suppress the work being done by a p i B.
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  Speaker 1: So there was definitely a lot going on, and it's
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  Speaker 1: not the first time they try to use criminal charges
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  Speaker 1: against her for speaking out against the president or the
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  Speaker 1: government in general. And it's no surprise that she is
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  Speaker 1: a woman who has been honored and continue news to
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  Speaker 1: be honored. Some of the awards and accolades she has
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  Speaker 1: collected over the years include Medal of Honor of the
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  Speaker 1: Government of the State of Marino in the eighteenth of January,
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  Speaker 1: Medal by the Center of the Promotion of Citizenship and
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  Speaker 1: Human Rights Defenders Fred Packet Award, and her organization recently
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  Speaker 1: was awarded for the liter earlier Moffett Human Rights Award
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  Speaker 1: for standing up the corporations and oppressive government. There's so
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  Speaker 1: many more, and she and her organization continue to be
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  Speaker 1: recognized and continue to fight no matter the barriers, and
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  Speaker 1: obviously are not afraid to stand up to any type
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  Speaker 1: of oppression and are not willing to back down to
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  Speaker 1: try to bring equality again, an equity to the indigenous community.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, we need to come back. And I think
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  Speaker 1: any and I have talked about this before, how this
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  Speaker 1: is impacted the indigenous community all around the world. It's
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  Speaker 1: not just in Brazil, It's definitely in the US, it's
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  Speaker 1: definitely in Mexico, it's definitely in Guatemala, in Canada where
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  Speaker 1: they just cannot access the health care they needed. And honestly,
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  Speaker 1: COVID just kind of brought it to light a little
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  Speaker 1: more because of the amount of death and percentage of
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  Speaker 1: death that went up. But it's been a thing and
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  Speaker 1: it continues to be a thing after the fact. And
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  Speaker 1: we saw that with vaccine access. We saw that with
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  Speaker 1: any type of health care access, for any type of
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  Speaker 1: elderly care. It continues to be an issue, um, and
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  Speaker 1: we need to come back and address it because of
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  Speaker 1: what we've seen, because that most oftentimes for the Indigenous community,
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  Speaker 1: it's women who are coming out fighting hardcore to get access. Right. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we definitely need to return to that topic and I'm
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: sure that we will in the meantime. Listeners, if you
• 10:34
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• 10:36
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• 10:38
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• 10:42
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• 10:45
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