"It hurts and it burns," the Macuxi shaman admitted. "But it will help them see more clearly and stop them falling ill."
It was a crisp August morning and a dozen members of an Indigenous self-defense team had assembled in the hillside village of Tabatinga to receive Pereira's blessing before launching their latest mission into one of the Amazon's most secluded corners, near Brazil's border with Guyana and Venezuela.
Some of the men clutched bloodwood truncheons as they prepared to journey down the Maú River in search of illegal miners; others held bows and arrows adorned with the black feathers of curassow birds. Marco Antônio Silva Batista carried a drone.
"If I die, it will be for a good cause - ensuring our territory is preserved for future generations," said the activist-journalist, whose ability to spy on environmental criminals from above has made him a key member of GPVTI, an Indigenous patrol group in the Brazilian state of Roraima.
Batista, 20, who belongs to South America's Macuxi people, is part of a new generation of Indigenous journalists helping chronicle an age-old battle against outside aggression. For centuries, non-Indigenous writers and reporters have flocked to the rainforest to tell their version of that ancestral fight for survival. Now, a growing cohort of Indigenous communicators are telling their own stories, providing first-hand dispatches from some of the Amazon's most inaccessible and under-reported corners.
"It's dangerous work and we suffer a lot when we're out in the field," said Batista, one of about 26,000 inhabitants of Raposa Serra do Sol, Brazil's second most populous Indigenous territory. "But it really gives me strength because I'm showing the reality of our lives to the world."
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin September 04, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin September 04, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Closing borders Electoral pressures put EU's freedom of movement under threat
In 2015, when more than 1.3 million people headed to Europe, mostly fleeing a brutal war in Syria, the response of Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, was to say: \"Wir schaffen das\" (\"We can manage this\"), and open the country's borders.
Fight does not end here, say critics, as Wimbledon wins the go-ahead to expand
Wimbledon's controversial plans to build 39 new tennis courts have been given the green light after a deputy mayor of London ruled that the \"very significant benefits\" of the scheme outweighed any potential harm to the environment.
Sue Gray Advisers to the PM are often targets of sniping but is it sustainable?
For someone who was not even in Liverpool for the Labour party conference, Sue Gray was the subject of a remarkable amount of conversation.
Revealed Alli gave PM a further £16,000 gift of clothing
Keir Starmer was given a further £16,000 worth of clothes by the Labour peer Waheed Alli, which was declared as money for his private office, the Guardian can reveal.
Tributes paid to 'one of a kind' in seven decades on stage and screen
Maggie Smith, the prolific, awardwinning actor described by peers as being \"one of a kind\" and possessed of a \"sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent\", has died aged 89.
Diplomacy Netanyahu insists Israel is winning on 'seven fronts'
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, shrugged off global appeals for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza yesterday, using a defiant speech at the UN general assembly to denounce the world body as an \"antisemitic swamp\" and insist Israel is \"winning\" its multi-front wars.
Van Gogh's Sunflowers in new protest as climate activists jailed
Climate activists threw tomato soup over two Sunflowers paintings by Vincent van Gogh yesterday, just an hour after two others were jailed for almost the same protest action in 2022.
Met Office issues wind warning after rains bring flooding
The Met Office has issued a warning for strong winds tomorrow as parts of the country were still recovering from heavy rain and flooding yesterday.
Blind contestant's Strictly cha-cha-cha inspires visually impaired to get on dancefloor
It may be early days, but Strictly Come Dancing's breakout star so far this season is also the show's first blind contestant, Chris McCausland.
Labour's non-dom policy has 'basic errors' copied from Tories, say Whitehall sources
Labour's flagship \"non-dom\" policy was largely copied and pasted from the Conservatives even though it contains \"basic errors\" and risks damaging the UK's financial sector, Whitehall sources have told the Guardian.
