EDITORIAL – Civilization extinction, by Paula Litaiff

“White people think we should imitate them in everything. But, that’s not what we want. I have learned to know their customs since my childhood and speak some of their language. But, by no means do I want to be one of them. I also know that if we go to live in their cities, we will be unhappy. Then they will finish off the forest and never leave any place where we can live away from them.”

Excerpt from the book “The Fall of the Sky: words of a Yanomami shaman” (2010) brings the account of one of the greatest spokespersons of the Yanomami people, David Kopenawa, with a reflection on the abandonment of the original peoples, aggravated in the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), making us understand the obvious: the destruction of the forest does not destroy only the indigenous people, but all of us.

Victims of illegal mining, the Yanomami, from Roraima, began to have space in the national and international media after the exposure of photos and videos of malnourished and dehydrated children, the result of criminal omission of former president Bolsonaro and the state governor himself, Antonio Denarium (PP), an ethnic tragedy foretold, which was the cover of the CENARIUM MAGAZINE in June 2021, being again the special theme of this issue.

Among the responsibility of the government leaders and inspection agents, there is the responsibility of society, which has also been and continues to be omissive in demanding effective results in the protection actions of the Yanomami people and all native peoples. Besides demanding action from the current president, it is necessary to understand why Brazilians have regressed in humanity to the point of voting for governments that defend the extinction of native peoples (Bolsonaro) and those who want their acculturation (Denarium).

It is time to start confronting the citizens who have affinity with these types of rulers. Their ignorance is, also, the responsibility of those who do not follow them, it is the fault of an entire society that allows the survival of representatives with genocidal narratives. These people, even if they were born again, would never understand a line of what is written by men like David Kopenawa, whose civility and understanding of the world cannot be seen in any of them.

The subject was the cover story and special feature in the new issue of CENARIUM MAGAZINE for the month of January 2023. Click here to read the complete content.