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Amazon is in danger: dam destroys the forest and its people

Amazon is in danger: dam destroys the forest and its people
Elysângela Pinheiro
Shaji Thomas

“The water will dry and the Red –Indians will not have what to fish"
Luiz Xipaio, a Red-Indian from Amazon

The Amazon is situated in the Northern part of Brazil and is cut by the Equatorial line. It occupies about 2/5 of the continent and more than half of Brazil. The region of Amazon with an area of 7.584.421 km² includes 6 South American countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). The Brazilian Amazon covers about 5.033.072 Km², that is, 60% of the country.
Brazil is a privileged country with regards the quantity of water. It has the largest reserves of freshwater on Earth, that is, 12% of total in the world. However, its distribution is not uniform throughout the national territory. Amazon, for example, is a region that has the largest river basin in the world. The volume of water of the Amazon River is the largest in the universe and it is being considered as an essential river for the survival of the planet. At the same time, the Amazon Region is also one of the least populated regions of Brazil.
On the other hand, largest concentration of the population of the country is in urban areas, far distant from large Brazilian rivers such as the Amazon, the San Francisco and the Paraná. The big problem of shortage of water for long periods is still in the Northeast which has contributed to the abandonment of land and large migration to urban centers such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, aggravating the problem of water scarcity in these cities.
In addition, Brazilian rivers and lakes are being compromised by low quality water for human consumption. Some very important rivers in the Amazon region have contamination by mercury, heavy metal used in illegal gold mining, and the use of agrochemicals in farm land. In big cities, this problem is caused by domestic and industrial garbage dumping in to the rivers
In spite of all this richness of water, cultures and nature, Brazil has not yet awakened to take care of all this in a sustainable manner. It is paradox that the country is trumpeting itself as defender of sustainability. It is very clear in the political decisions of the many recent governments.
It has passed 35 (thirty five) years since 1975, the state owned company ELETRONORTE, created by the Brazilian Government, began studying the possibility of constructing a dam in the Xingu River basin, which is located in the municipality of Altamira, State of Pará, in the Brazilian Region of Amazon.

At that time, Brazil was ruled by a dictatorship, initiated by a military coup (1964/1985). One of the priorities of the Government was the economical development of Brazil with industrialization and exploiting hydroelectric potential of Amazon, which represents 60% of the total energy capacity of the country.
A consortium of National Consultants Engineers S.A. together with the member of the private group Camargo Côrrea Construction, was hired by ELETRONORTE to map the rivers to set the points which are more favorable for building dams. In 1980, this mapping is completed and predicted seven dams for generating 19 thousand megawatts (MW) capacity, which was half of the Brazilian hydroelectric power that time. According to this report, the construction of these plants would represent the utilization of Rio Xingu basin. With this information the Eletronorte spent researching technical and economic viability complex of hydroelectric plant of Altamira, which includes the Babaquara plant (6.6 thousand MW) and Kararaô plant(11 000 MW). These designed plants had indigenous village names that would be affected by their constructions. The result of this construction would be flooding over 18 thousand km2 and would reach seven thousand Red-Indians, 12 indigenous lands, apart from isolated groups in the region.
In 1988, the final report of the studies of Hydroelectric basin Rio Xingu was approved by the Regulator Board of the electricity sector in Brazil.
Aware of this fact, the indigenous leaders in the Region articulated the 1st Meeting of Indigenous peoples of Xingu, to protest against the decisions taken by the government in their land without their participation and to protest against the construction of the Hydroelectric Complex of Xingu. This meeting was held in 1989, in the municipality of Altamira/PA, which was marked by the presence of national and foreign media, including approximately 150 journalists, three thousand participants, including several Brazilian authorities, the Red-Indian leader Cacique Raoni and English singer Sting, many Red Indians from various parts of the country, environmental authorities and members of other social movements. During this event, the then Director of ELETROBRAS, José Antonio Muniz Lopes defended the KARARAÔ plant's construction, when the Red Indian lady Tuíra, arose from the audience and leant his long knife blade in the face of the Muniz warning him, expressing her indignation of the future dam project. This scene was reproduced in newspapers from many countries and became history. Because of this fact, Muniz Lopes announced that because of the cultural aggression to the Red Indians, the plant KARARAÔ (means scream for war in Kaiapó language) would receive another name and would no longer be adopted indigenous names. This event ended with the launching of national campaign in defense of the People and the Amazonian forest, demanding a review of development projects in the Amazon Region, along with the Indigenous Declaration of Altamira and a message of greeting from the Brazilian popular singer Milton Nascimento. The meeting of Altamira is considered a landmark for socio-environmentalism in Brazil.



However, the plan of Government for the construction of hydroelectric dams in Rio Xingu continued in the decade of 90s. The old design was remodeled in order to convince environmentalists and foreign investors that this was viable. The power plant's reservoir, for example, was reduced from 1,225 km2 to 400 km2, minimizing flooding of Indigenous Area and assumed the new name of Belo Monte.
Already in 2000, the Brazilian Government's medium-term planning actions contemplated Belo Monte and that same year the Government contracted the Research team linked to the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) to prepare Environmental Impact Studies (EIA) of Belo Monte Hydroelectric Complex. This project is also known as Volta Grande of Rio Xingu in Pará and to be considered the third largest hydroelectric plant in the world, second only to the Three Gorges in China, and Itaipu plant, the frontier of Brazil and Paraguay.
The Socio-environmental movements and protection of indigenous interests reacted the government decision and calling the Federal Public Prosecutors, which defend legality and the interests of society. Thus, from 2001 until 2009, the Federal Prosecutors entered with 9 (nine) lawsuits pointing illegalities in process for environmental license grant for the project execution stage, the lack of specific public hearings for the Red Indians, questioning environmental impact studies carried out by construction companies, in addition pointing out errors in the initial study which authorized the construction was not based on scientific criteria.
The Government insists that the plant will have a total installed capacity of 11,233 megawatts (MW), but with a guaranteed 4,571 MW generation. The total cost of the work is estimated at US $ 10 billion. However, there are estimates that the works can cost up to US$ 18 billion. The Government is offering tax benefits (75% discount on payment of income tax) for the partners in the construction project, as well as loan (80% of the work will be financed by the Nacional Bank for Economic and Social Development of Brazil ) for the work.
In March 2008, the Government of President Luis Inacio Lula appointed former President of Eletronorte, José Antonio Muniz Lopes, to the Presidency of Eletrobrás. It is interesting to note that Mr. Muniz was the Director of ELETROBRÁS in the occasion of the 1st Meeting of Xingu Indigenous people, when the Brazilian Government was ruled by then President José Sarney, who had chaired a political party in support of the military dictatorship. Muniz Lopes was indicated by political group in the current Workers Party government of Lula which is supported by Senator José Sarney.
The Camargo Corrêa Construction company, which held the preliminary studies of Complex Kararaô, and the Odebrecht Construction company, the major civil constructor in Brazil had desisted to participate in the auction of Belo Monte Hydroelectric in April 2010, now joined the consortium of the construction of the plant.
According to Eletrobrás total three indigenous areas will be directly affected by the construction of Belo Monte and indirectly will be affected 1,982 (thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two) people. The population totally, directly and indirectly, affected is 317,472, covering eleven municipalities, as well as 350 families of traditional riverside population and 21 traditional african Quilombola communities (source: Environmental impact report/Eletrobrás)
According to the National Institute for space research (INPE), the rate of deforestation in municipalities affected directly and indirectly (2008) is thus distributed:

Extension (km2) Deforestation (km2) Percentage (%)
Vitória do Xingu 2 969 1 728 58,22
Altamira 159 701 6 113,8 3,33
Sen. José Porphyry 14 388 631,5 3,87
Anapu 11 909 1 891,1 15,88
Brasil Novo 6 370 2 411,5 37,86
Gurupá 8 550 89,3 1,04
Medicilândia 8 271 1 798,6 21,75
Pacajá 11 852 4 565,2 38,52
Boards 7 174 1 597,6 22,27
Porto de Moz 17 429 773,1 4,44
Uruará 10 704 2 788,1 25,83
(Source: Inpe/Prodes)

Professor Dr. Sonia Magalhães, department of postgraduate in Environment Studies of the Federal University of Pará, says that "there will be a genocide". She coordinated in the last year a team of 40 independent researchers and came to the conclusion that the construction work of hydroelectric plant is destructive. If the Government keeps the project, must meet at least the 40 environmental restrictions imposed by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama).
If fulfilled, evaluates Magalhaes, could reduce somewhat the impact in the area. "Would return to the rule of law, because the auction of Belo Monte, without hearing communities, the Government ran over the democratic State of law."
Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant is the largest work of Economic Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC) of the government of Lula. In mid-2009 IBAMA received the new Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIA), which predicted the reduction of the artificial lake of 1.2 thousand to approximately 600 square kilometers. In February of 2010, the IBAMA has granted preliminary license for the construction and was made the auction.
Social movements, led by Non Governmental Organizations, such as the Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB), Institute of Socioambiental (ISA), CIMI, an organizations linked to the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), the Red Indian Communities and the Pastoral Land Commission of Brazil (CPT), claim that the social and environmental impacts were not sufficiently studied.
Despite all the questions, the NATIONAL RED INDIAN FOUNDATION, the government agency for the defense of indigenous interests, reported that, on the part of it, everything was fine with the hydroelectric project of Belo Monte, because there would be no impact on indigenous communities.
For Luiz Xipaio, a Red Indian from the Amazon, indirectly all suffer consequences because 80% of water of the Rio Xingu, called the Volta Grande, will be diverted to artificial canals. "The water will dry and the Indians will not have what to fish," he says.
"The impact is widespread because messes in the root of all the functioning of the region's ecological cycle. Between the Volta Grande of Xingu and Belo Monte, the water level will go down well below the largest historic drought and in the upper side of the river will be permanently filled over the largest flood ever known. So, we will have both parts of Xingu under extreme hydrological conditions and diametrically opposed, and all the region's ecological regime is conditioned on droughts and floods”, explained Jansen Zuanon, National Institute for Amazon Research (Inpa) in an interview to Institute of Socioambiental, in 2002.
He notes that there are trees, that are adapted to survive for some months underwater. With the flood some standing trees will resist a few months, but after going to die, with the drowning of roots. "These trees serve as diet for many fish, for example, what generates impact on fauna and consequently for the whole cycle ecological area. In addition, many fish synchronize spawning with flood and therefore, the area which is very dry there may be decline of several species. These impacts are expected to cause a search for new areas of commercial and ornamental fishing and, which probably will be spread by excerpt upstream from the town… " For Zuanon, in addition to influence food stocks, at the low navigability should be problem. "Another point is that the life of the Red Indians and the caboclo (local people) is directly related to these seasonal cycles, when you change this cycle changes the motor system which will have immediate and serious repercussions for the population", he analyzes.


Past that condemns
Constructed in the Uatumã River (AM) and partially opened in 1988, the hydroelectric plant Balbina is considered one of the worst investments of country economically, environmentally and socially. Flooded area covers 2.3 thousand km2 to produc only 250 Mega Watt energy. Among the immense environmental liability of Balbina Plant is the flooding of 30 thousand hectares of indigenous land of TIWaimiri-Atroari Tribe, which forced the relocation of two villages. To compensate them, Eletronorte financed the demarcation of TI Waimiri-Atroari 2.5 million hectares of land, and the program Waimiri-Atroari, involving actions in the areas of health, education, environment, production support, monitoring thresholds, administration and documentation during 25 years. But the destruction of culture of people can never been compensated by economic means.
Ministry of Federal Public Prosecutors assesses that in Brazil, lack a serious discussion about alternative energy production. There is a tradition of hydroelectric power production and a tradition of engineering in this area which ends up in searching solutions always focused primarily on this energy matrix. According to the Prosecutor Ubiratan Cazetta, the Government disregards the other potential sources of energy, renewable, as both the electric, wind, solar and bio-fuels, as well as improvement in the utilization of the maximum capacity of already installed hydroelectric power stations. He quotes two examples in this regard: the issue of reduction of energy losses in the transmission and distribution, and another, is the possibility of repowering and modernizing of older plants.
The issue of discussion of the electricity sector in Brazil is so focused on hydroelectric plant and thus, cannot see other alternatives. This is a historic mistake because the large water potential areas are in the Amazon. The government is planning to construct many plants, such as four or five dams in the River Tapajós, in the river Madeira, others in the Araguaia-Tocantins (all are in Amazon) will definitely will destroy any effort to build a sustainable development that can be ideal for the Amazon and for the world. And this will not be a model that includes diversity of the Region because this model is geared to attracting labor, a reproduction of occupation of another area that is not the Amazon. For us this is a historic mistake because you do not give room for discussion of other vocations to Amazon.
The Federal Public Prosecutor, Felício Pontes Junior, reported to national press that Federal Prosecutors moved nine judicial actions against the construction of Belo Monte since 2001, of which eight actions still await judicial decisions. Seven of these writs can prevent the plant's construction. "Irregularities in these nine lawsuits have not been remedied and many irregularities, such as water quality, energy potential that will be generated are still not resolved. This rush, as you never saw, to build the power plant, is proof that the Government is working with the theory of the fact that when the juridical verdicts come, the work will already be ready”, said the Prosecutor.
"If you build a work of 18 billion dollar and it shows economically unsustainable by this change in flow of river, this can be used in future as justification for a successive construction of dams in River Xingu, to justify the past investment”, argues Cazzeta.
Samuel Barreto, Life Water Program Coordinator for WWF Brazil, highlights another point. "The impact of climate change is not placed such analyses. And some studies show that we're developing this type of dam construction, which can cause the low flow of water, insufficient for the volume needed to generate energy – considering hydrological variation on the Xingu River basin. "
Indigenous culture threatened
Ubiratan Cazzeta reveals that there are serious disagreements with the Brazilian Government regarding indigenous areas affected by the project. The federal Administration does not consider the power plant's area as Red Indian protected area. For prosecutors, there is no doubt about the Red Indian areas. "We understand that Yes. And this generates a concrete effect that the communities entitled for some sort of royalty, some kind of remuneration that for using their water resources, which has never been discussed. "
Initially, the Government had recognized that it was an Indian reservation, but backtracked – which generated impasse and judicial proceedings.
Human impact on the region
Belo Monte should attract a intense migratory flow. It is estimated that 85 thousand new residents to install themselves in the area. According to the Prosecutor Cazzeta, this implies a far from sustainable development: already there are companies like Alcoa and the Vale of eye in the production of energy from Belo Monte, in order to build steel plant from their bauxite exploration.
"This model in the region is not clearly being discussed. This electro plants, strong mineral activity, ends up attracting to the migratory flow, a model that for the Amazon Region, the Brazilian Government has already shown several times haven't manageability ", criticizes Cazzeta.

Brazilian energy challenge
The Brazilian tradition in building dams – what makes a strong base in the country be seen as "clean" – places the Government an ambiguous position. For Christina Stolte, researcher of the Department of Hispanic Studies of the German Institute of Global and regional Studies (Giga), Brazil has a big challenge ahead of them.
"We need to distinguish between internal and external energy policy. Internally, the Brazilian Government's main goal is to provide the maximum possible power for the booming economy. In foreign policy, Brazil tries to position themselves as green power, unlike other emerging countries such as China and India, who bet on traditional energy sources, like coal and oil. Brazil stood by announcing it wishes to receive almost 50% of its energy from renewable sources, and hydropower has an impact on the environment especially small, "he said.
Energy matrix
WWF says that it is not contrary to the construction of dams, but defends more critical criterion to define where they are to be installed. "We need to have a look at the energetic matrix. And in that sense there are alternatives such as wind energy, for example, which decreased the pressure on the construction of dams, even though recognizing that Brazil still has a very large hydroelectric potential,” ponders Barreto.
For the WWF Brasil, the licence could have been granted later: the Xingu basin would need deeper analyses their environmental and biological importance, in addition to the social features.
Pedro Bignelli, from IBAMA, rebate. "The question of time, the technical analysis was too big. For the entrepreneur, for example, we spend too much time, for some Non Governmental Organization, we were very fast. But the technical maturity of this analysis was quite clear, and came out on the date that it was possible to exit. "
Currently, the Brazilian Government is experiencing an impasse. The Union Advocacy of the Government, which protects the public interest, i.e. those resulting from governmental choices, is in a showdown with the Federal Public Ministry, which defends the primary public interest, i.e. those of society. Both are government entities, underpinning completely opposite orientations in relation to the construction of Belo Monte.
In addition, the lawsuits that have relationship with environmental issues were redistributed of Subsection Judicial in the municipality of Altamira/PA for Judicial Section of Belém. Interestingly, it was not created environmental section of judiciary in that municipality, and the federal judge was granting decisions in favor of federal prosecutors to prevent the construction of the plant.
The document delivered to the United Nations Thursday, April 1/2010, claims that flaws in the environmental licensing process for the controversial Belo Monte Dam in Brazil were overlooked due to political pressure from the government. The complaint documents the illegal and arbitrary nature of project approval, and how political pressure was brought to bear on licensing staff who questioned the irregularities in the licensing process.
More than 100 social movements, organizations and unions representing more than 40 communities in 11 cities signed the complaint, which also highlights the human rights violations that have and will occur if the project is built. The complaint states that opponents of the project have received death threats and drives surge as a result of their opposition.
Unfortunately, analysis of the data available on the construction of hydroelectric Belo Monte, forcing us to conclude that the Government of Brazil, governed by a President who was worker, with regard to the questions of the environment and the indigenous and traditional people is still following the same orientation that of the past military governments. Despite Brazil have a fairly advanced environmental legislation in comparison with many of the developing countries, its concern for the environment perception that the future growth will depend on ecological conditions preserved, the Government itself breaks this legislation because the government does not suspend the execution of works whose environmental impacts have not been properly studied. The existence of dispute within the government entities attest to this fact (Central Government versus Federal Prosecutors). Agents who will benefit from the construction of a power plant of exorbitant spending, which is being funded largely by the Government itself, are the same people who defended this project still in the era of military dictatorship. The Government propaganda, which included is being broadcast abroad, that Brazil defends the use of clean energy, because less polluting, in relation to the construction of Belo Monte, disregards other environmental variables like socio-economic factors which are also important. After all, there is no mention of other possible economic vocations for areas intended to flood.
The municipality of Altamira in Amazon is already facing a swelling of people, in anticipation of the generation of jobs that would be created by the construction of the plant. However, this place has no minimum structures to meet the needs of health, education, sanitation and housing of their own residents. There is no forecast of social harm resulting from this disordered occupation.
Therefore, there is an immense and unfortunate contrast between what the Brazilian democracy intends to do and what it actually does.
What appears, from the historical context articulated above, is that the current Government in the country, despite having a worker as President, maintains the same projects of supremacy of the past military government in the Amazon region: putting the public finances for the satisfaction of their political interests and interests of large economic groups, to the detriment of the well-being of the Brazilian population, using astronomical public resources for large and inacceptable anti-ecological projects. It seems that the government of Brazil is still slave of big multi-nationals, who control the economic and political scenery of the country, by not respecting the human rights of minorities and ecological values.

Visit of M.A. Baby, minister of Education and Culture of Kerala in Amazon...

My wife Ely, Shaji, minister Baby and Ely´s father Armindo visiting a small village (Ilha de São João de Ramos) in Amazon!

Found an Indian in Amazon!

Making a difference in the Amazon

At the World Social Forum held in Belem, Brazil, this year, John Samuel meets an unusual activist-researcher from Palai in Kerala who has fought for the rights of the Amazon’s marginalised communities for 20 years. The morning sun has a rare intensity in the Amazon. But the afternoons end with a shower and the evening breeze down at the harbour makes the rivers in Belem dance. Belem in the morning is a bit harsh but in the evening it is soothing. It smells of ripened mangoes; elderly mango trees on both sides of the roads make this city look somewhat benevolent, and the sun and the rain get into a fierce embrace in the afternoon. Belem is the capital of the Amazonian state of Para in Brazil.

The story of Belem begins in 1615 when the Portuguese discovered the possibilities of this port, strategically located in the Amazon region. Thus began the globalisation of its flora and fauna; the journey of rubber, tapioca and many other familiar vegetables across the world began from the port of Belem. It looks like a city reluctant to leave the shadow of its earlier glory. The old Cathedral and the vast cemetery in the middle of this port city have lots of old stories to tell, stories of wealth and pomp when Belem was the centre of rubber export in the world. Rubber made Belem rich. The Ford company had a special rubber procurement division here to access the best quality rubber for the tyres of its motor cars. Rubber then travelled to Malaysia, Thailand and India where vast rubber plantations came up. Forty years ago, the price of rubber crashed and with that ended the glory of Belem as one of the most vibrant port cities in Brazil. The old rubber warehouses around the harbour area have been transformed into expensive restaurants and pubs catering to foreign tourists. But the old world charm of the city is still in the air. Even though an average of four or five people get killed every day in street violence and looting. In this metropolitan area of 1.8 million people, 1,400 people were killed in 2008 in various acts of violence.

Brazil has everything to make it one of the richest countries in the world, but it has one of the highest levels of inequality in the world. Inequality creates joblessness, conflict, criminalisation and urban violence. Among the landowning classes, one person or family can own hundreds of thousands and sometime millions of hectares of land. In fact, one of the biggest landowners in the country owns land the size of Belgium. The extreme inequality breeds a culture of violence and conflict. Belem is also a major centre of drug trafficking. One can get a gun here for US$ 50 or $100. Drugs from Colombia are trafficked via boat through the Amazon River and then onwards to different parts of the world. All this makes Belem one of most violent cities in Brazil But there is also a lot to learn from Brazil. It is a country where people have less hang-ups and even protests can take on the spirit of a street carnival. The rhythm of the music and the slogans make every march a sort of massive party on the street. There is a lot to learn from Brazil’s modes of social mobilisation and political processes. The rainbow culture and multi-racial population make it different from the rest of Latin America.

The legacy of liberation theology and Paulo Freire is still evident in the dreams and demonstrations of Brazil. Che Guevara, Gandhi, Paulo Freire and Martin Luther King still inspire people and movements here. Brazilians are curious to know more about India and Indians. Many people on the street and at the World Social Forum come up to me and ask whether I am from India. The reason for this new enthusiasm about India is a very popular serial on Brazilian TV called The Way to India, a Brazilian version of a Bollywood soap opera.

The story begins in Brazil and then moves to Jaipur! The entire cast of this soap opera is Brazilian though their looks and costumes are one hundred per cent Indian! An Indian, too, can look like a Brazilian as I discovered in the long queue for lunch at the Federal Urban University campus of Belem. When a brown complexioned gentleman smiled at me, I took him to be one of the many Brazilian or Latin American friends that those of us who have been frequenting the World Social Forum, held in different parts of the world, had made. I heard him speak fluent Portuguese but when I looked at his name tag, it said ‘Shaji’. When you see a fellow Indian in a faraway corner of the earth, there is a sense of shared belonging and a sort of excitement. Though I was not sure about his identity, I asked him in Malayalam, "Evidunna?" (where are you from?) There came the reply "Rampurathunna, Pala" (from Ramapuram, Palai, Kerala). That is how I discovered a remarkable Indian activist working with fellow indigenous Indians in the Amazon for almost 20 years.

The story of Shaji is an unusual one -- from Ramapuram to Mysore to St Louis University to Sao Paulo to the Amazon. Shaji has not only been living in Brazil for 20 years, he has also been a part of the Brazilian social justice movement. He is one of the few people who have lived with native Americans deep in the Amazon forest, and helped them fight their battle in court, in the media, through mobilisation and advocacy. He came to Brazil on an Intercultural Learning Fellowship, an exchange programme between St Louis University and the University of Sao Paulo in 1989, and never went bank to the USA. While he was a student he worked with the trade union of President Lula. He then moved on to work with MST, the largest and most influential social movement of landless people in Brazil. This soft-spoken and unassuming researcher-activist is one of the few people who stood up against the land and forest mafia in the Amazon. His Brazilian wife Eli is a senior official in the judicial service and looks more like a pretty Indian while Shaji looks more Brazilian. Brazil is a melting pot of cultures and races and Shaji has been a Brazilian citizen for many years. While he is a researcher at the Amazon University, he spends most of his time fighting for the cause of the African community and indigenous community in the Amazon forests. He told me about the African communities –the Quilombolas -- those who escaped from slavery and found refuge in the thick Amazon forests.

The story of the Amazon people is a story of betrayal, murder, loot and rape of the earth. First the timber mafia came, then the soyabean companies and then the mining companies. The local people lost their land, forests and livelihood. They survive on tapioca powder and fish. They get hardly any education or any benefits from the State. There were 4 million of them when Brazil got independence in the 19th century; now there are only 7 lakh. The rest were either murdered, or died due to various communicable diseases. They still remain a very tragic testimony -- a balance sheet of exploitation and extraction -- in a land which has the largest animal farms in the world. The biggest cattle farm has more than a million cattle, all owned by one man. While rubber travelled all the way from Belem to Malaysia to Pala, the boy from Pala travelled all the way to the original land of rubber -- to protect mother earth, to stand up for justice, and to live and work with one of the most marginalised and exploited people in the world. Shaji dreamed of going to the Amazon when he was a teenager, inspired by the lecture given by a visiting priest about the unique character of the Amazon forests and the plight of the indigenous people in the region. He followed his dream and went to live deep inside the Amazon forest. He lived in a boat for many days, moving from one village to another, helping and educating one of the most marginalised communities in the world. Though Shaji does not come across as a leader, he has demonstrated rare leadership qualities in not only following his dream, but also demonstrating the courage of conviction to stand up against land mafias and other power cartels. He worked closely with the famous Sister Dorothy who was killed last year by the land and forest mafia. I was not only happy to find an original fellow Indian in Belem, I also felt proud of a country cousin fighting for the rights of the most marginalised people and one of the most vulnerable lands, in a faraway country. There are such Indians too. He says he loves the Amazon and wants to dedicate his life to its most marginalised people. These are stories that are not heard or told often.

Jonh Samuel. InfoChange News & Features, February 2009

From Pala to Amazon!

Article on Tom.S published in Manoramma news paper by John Samuel: From Amazon

http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/malayalamContentView.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&programId=1073753770&articleType=Malayalam%20News&contentId=5359091&BV_ID=@@@

Experience in the Amazon River

Yet another day I survived in the amazon river!

It was on wenesday that I received a call from my friend who lives in Terra Santa (about one day and night travel from Santarém by boat) to take 6 computers for a local community centre which he just opened. I brought the computers (ofcourse my friend sent the money) and on Friday night I started my journey to Terra Santa. The boat was too full. There was no place to tie my humbak (net where we sleep in amazon). I arranged a place over the boat engine and arranged my humbak. There were around 85 people inthe boat with lot of construction materials for the villages. The boat passes through the amazon river (the biggest river inthe world), and many other small and big rivers. It was a wonderful to see alegators on the bank of the river. Their eyes look like small bol of fire when the head light of the boat lights. I enjoy travelling and most of the time I sit on the deck of the boat drinking a beer and enjoying the stars on the sky. It seems everything is fine. All of a sudden, I heard a big sound coming from the boat and soon the light of the boat went off. The engines stopped and the crying of children broke the silence of the night. I soon went down the stairs to enquire what happened and found out that the boat had struck with a tree which was floating under the current of the river.

The wind was strong and the boat just ran out of control in the river. After an hour or two, the boat struck on the sand bed and stopped. After sometime they captain with some of the crew were able to start the boat again to continue our journey.

There are many villages where the boat stops to carry more passangers and things. We reached our destination on another day by night. I was really tired. My friend Luiz was waiting for me and carried the computers out of the boat.

The Terra Santa (holy land in english) is a small village with 25 thousand people. The people live with fishing and small farming. The main cultivation is tapioca (Kappa) from which they make a fried powder. They eat it with fish. The village has no eletricity and no cars. Absolutely, away from any modern facilities. The only television is our community project. We had a generator to produce energy to run a small health centre. Our plan was to teach the younger people to use computer sothat they can go to city for a job. The malaria and all other kind of sickness are common and the pople die without any medical help.

Luiz and I went to the community centre and I started to arrange the computers. I had to leave monday for a meeting back to city of Santarém.

On monday by noon I arranged my things to return back to Santarem. The boat was full asusual. There were women with children, pregnant women, and many other passengers. The boat started its journey by two O clock. It seems everyting was fine. By four, the boat was crossing the river to get the other bank (40km width!). Slowly the weather start changing. The sky started becoming dark. The waves started more than 2 meters! The boat looks like a paper boat in the sea. The waves becoming more and more strong and the water started to enter inthe boat. The cook was preparing our food. Suddently, a big wave hit the boat and the water started entering the boat. Eventhou, the captain was a very experienced man, he could not controle the boat. All of a sudden the boat made climbed a big wave and it seemed that the boat had fallen in deep hole. The water tank was broken and the life jakects were not enough for everybody. I tried to put the life jakects on ladies and old people. I was with out any life jackects and also the crew members. I was trying to calm the people (even though I knew the danger). The food got thrown out eveywhere in the boat. We could here only the cries of the people from the boat. The sky was dark. The boat had no radio system to send messages for help. The agony lasted for 4 hours. We could not stop the boat near the bank because it could get broken down hitting the stone on the bank. By midnight, we were able to approach a village. By this time the wind was more calm. We lost most of our luggages. I was tired and with hungry. There were ladies who had gone unconscious. I tried to help them all.

On next day by evening, we reached Santarém. One more day I lived in Amazon.