A short write up regarding this image which is circulating Facebook, personal blogs and news sites, alike.

A plea for help, a call to action:

While magazines and TV chains report about the lives and love affairs of movie actors and actresses, football players and other celebrities, the Chief of the Kayapo tribe heard the worst news of his entire life.

Mrs. Dilma, the president of Brazil, has given her approval for the construction of an enormous hydroelectric central (the world’s third largest one).

This means the death sentence for all of the tribes living at the shores of the river, because the barrage will flood more or less 400, 000 hectares of the forest.

More than 40, 000 natives will have to find other living surroundings where they will be able to survive.

The destruction of the natural habitat, the deforestation and the disappearance of several species of plants and animals will be a fait accompli.

We know that a simple image is the equivalent of a thousand words; it shows the price to be paid for the “quality of life” of our so-called “modern comforts.”

There is no space in the world anymore for those who live differently. Everything has to be smoothed away, that everyone, in the name of globalization must lose his and her identity and way of living.

If this enrages you, I urge and implore you to forward this message to all your friends, relatives and acquaintances.

Thank you in the name of life, nature and biodiversity.

The image of the Kayapo Chief Raoni shows his heartbreaking reaction just moments after receiving the devastating blow.

This news is in the wake of a series of lies told to the Kayapo people about their protection from government encroachment that might threaten their land. The Kayapo tribe has been fed mere fiction by the Brazilian government’s National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI).

Currently unprotected by legislation, FUNAI president, Marcio Miera, assured the Kayapo tribe of eventual protection, through the designation of land as indigenous territory. To date, Mr. Miera has failed in his promise and left the Kayapo people vulnerable to physical threats, land invasions and now, plans to erect the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River.

The dam will be the third largest in the world and is promoted as an answer to climate change. The dam will harness natural energy, but at what cost?

For the people of the Kayapo tribe, earth is life. Land cannot be measured in simple acreage, but in the lives it supports; this dam will threaten the Kayapo’s way of life because it threatens to destroy the ecosystem it touches.

“We are just a few. We need help. We really need help.”

Here’s how you can help: Belo Monte: Justice Now!

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Ed: Bryonie Wise