I’m Brazilian. I live in the Espírito Santo state. Here in our state, we are tired of seeing our lands being invaded by eucalyptus plantations for cellulose production, which will be exported to first world countries. To Europe, to the United States, to the Nordic countries. We suffer all kind of consequences, of negative impacts of these great projects, these great enterprises. At the moment, I act with indigenous populations, Tupiniki and Guarani, in our state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. And we are living a historical moment, where for more than thirty years the communities have been struggling to get their lands back, which are now under a company’s power, a multinational megacompany, Aracruz Celulose. And we are now working with the Indians, organizing, so that they have their rights respected by this megacompany. So that their rights are recognized in our country and abroad. So that foreigners, strangers in our land, don’t come and take our properties, the land, life, the environment. The life of this population that has lived here since the arrival of the first Europeans. We are not going to settle while they are colonizing us. Colonizing the people, colonizing our land, colonizing the environment. We want our lands back, we want that the lives of our indigenous peoples be respected and given back.
Arlete Pinheiro is an activist in Brazil.