9:16am August 8, 2013

➸ This Image Should NOT Be Seen By the Whole World

Why is Chief Raoni Metuktire of Brazil’s Kayapó tribe crying? According to a popular meme, it is because he received devastating news about the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam…

The picture is not of Chief Raoni crying and grieving about the Belo Monte Dam. The picture is not a picture of grief at all. His tears were tears of joy after being reunited with a family member, behavior which is customary among the Kayapó. Chief Raoni is not a powerless man fighting an impossible battle. In the fight to protect the Amazon and its people, he is a leader who has been working with local, national and international communities since 1978, when he appeared in a documentary named Raoni on the deforestation of the Amazon. Since then, he has befriended Sting and the President of France, has written a memoir, has traveled around the world, has facebook, twitterand a website, and although he has not yet stopped the building of the dam he and those he has collaborated with have managed to delay, hold up and tie up the project with court battles, controversy and petitions for thirty-eight years. He has also managed to rally the support of 438,707 (and counting) people worldwide using an online petition.

I’ve seen this picture come up on my dash so many times with the heart wrenching story of his supposed grief. It always bugged me, and this article articulates exactly why. Here’s what Chief Raoni has to say about it himself:

“I did not cry because of the authorization for construction and the beginning of the work of Belo Monte. As long as I will live, I will continue to fight against this construction. I want to tell President Dilma, to Lula, to the President of FUNAI, to the President of IBAMA, to the Minister of Energy Lobão, that I am on my way to Brasilia and that I will take along all my warriors to fight against the Belo Monte. I will not stop.

It is President Dilma who will cry, not me. I wish to know who published this picture and spread this information. I would like to see this person. Instead of constructing the dam of Belo Monte, why is President Dilma not taking care of the bandits of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and why does she not stop the destruction of the environment? Does she have no authority?

It has to stop. The President Dilma will have to kill me in front of the Palace of Planalto. Only then will you be able to build the dam of Belo Monte. As long as it has not happened, I will fight until the end. I am before the city council of Colider to show who I am : Raoni! And I will also demonstrate it in Brasilia.”