Raoni Metuktire, chief of the Kayapo Indians from Brazil, is visiting France to promote his book Mémoires d’un Chef Indien, published by the Editions du Rocher, and prefaced by Jacques Chirac. Brought under the lights at the end of the 80s for his struggle to protect the Amazonian rainforest, and supported by Sting, Raoni relentlessly alerts the international opinion on issues which seriously affect his territory: uncontrolled deforestation, pollution caused by gold diggers, farming development, hydroelectric dams, etc.

A new threat more than ever revives his struggle today: on April 16, after 20 years of discussion and controversies, the Brazilian federal justice has finally approved the construction of a dam in Belo Monte. Wit its inauguration scheduled in 2015, the dam should become world’s third largest hydroelectric dam, behind the Three Gorges dam in China and the Itaipu dam at the Brazilian/Paraguayan boarder.

A construction of such scale is a direct threat on the Kayapo territory and those of other Indian communities: the dam could cause a 500km2 flood in Amazonia, which would imply the displacement of around 20 000 people.

Beyond obvious environmental and social impacts, this displacement basically comes down to the end of the Kayapo culture and language, a language which, along with the 16 or 18 other languages of the Macro-Jê family, is nowadays considered as threatened with extinction. Estimates show there are only between 5 000 (Aryon Rodrigues, 1999) and 7 266 (UNESCO) speakers of these languages left. Their extinction would also mean the extinction of these communities’ knowledge and practices.

In an interview broadcasted last Sunday on TF1, the Indian Chief talked about how his language and culture have suffered from the presence of the “white people”, a phenomenon he has witnessed during his entire life. I have asked my men to prepare for war. I’ve also mentioned this to the tribes of the upper Xingu. We won’t let go. As he’s repeatedly stated, the disappearing of the Amazonian rainforest won’t affect just the Kayapo. It would be a loss for the whole of humanity.

More information on the Raoni Institute website.