19-year-old Brazilian Indigenous activist Artemisa Xakriabá talked to us about what led her to activism, the perils of ignoring her people, and climate justice
Xakriabá’s message — to Bolsonaro, to the protesters that day in New York, and in the conversation below — is in part a show of global solidarity for her fellow young people, bolstered by an urgent warning of the perils of ignoring Indigenous peoples and undervaluing the environment. MTV News spoke with her about the experiences that led her to activism, life under Bolsonaro, and the inextricable link between Indigenous rights and climate justice.
: I’m from Xakriabá, from the north of Minas Gerais. It’s southeast in Brazil. When I left my territory and went to the city [of São João das Missões, in northern Minas Gerais] for the first time at 7 years old, I was [shocked] by the pollution and how warm it was. I could feel that it was a bad situation, not just for me but also for everyone who was living in that city.
When I was 15, I moved to Ribeirão Preto, the biggest city close to my territory, to study. It was not healthy for me. I felt really bad all the time living in Ribeirão Preto because of the pollution. I couldn't breathe well; it was very warm. And then I decided to increase the way I was fighting for nature.
At that time, I was already doing music. I’m a composer and I play guitar. I started composing music to attract attention to those problems in my territory. And then there were some Indigenous women who organized a march in Brasilia in August this year, and I decided to go [and] participate in the Indigenous women's march, which was organized for Indigenous women's rights and for climate change.
MTV News: What do you want people to know about the link between climate justice and Indigenous rights?: We talk about climate change and Indigenous people. For me, it's the same subject. It's all related. It's just one thing. I understand that the government of Brazil now, they’re provoking ecocide, genocide, and ethnocide against Indigenous people. For me, it's why there's this dry period.
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