Demarcation Diaries
12 September 2001
"If you drive a plane and crash on my land, I would drive
another plane and hit yours!" Vabishi told me with a smile
on his face. Earlier Marcio was joking to him that I would drive
a plane and crash on the Deni land. Suddenly, the terrorist attack
has become a topic of the conversation between us and the Deni.
We managed to forget the tragic event most of the time. We worked
in the forest from 8am until 4pm, and our attention had gone to
the piums and mosquitoes that bombarded us from all sides, rather
than the planes that hit the World Trade Center.
The thick canopy blocked the tropical sun, it also isolated us
from the outside world. We cleared a path 1.5 metres wide, 500
metres long, and it was a hard day's work.
But the US attack which seems so far away has made its impact
on us. Not only has it become something we all talk about, but
it also has an impact on the campaign which we are all involved
in.
Global TV, which is the largest TV network in Latin America and
one of the largest in the world, visited us a couple days ago
for a feature story about the demarcation. The story was supposed
to show on the prime time news program on 11 September, but because
of the terrorist attack, it was taken out from the program.
Some journalists, including reporters from Next Magazine in Hong
Kong, cancelled their trip to come here because they were all
going to New York. The Greenpeace campaigners who had worked so
hard for to help prepared the demarcation for months can not help
feeling disappointed. Who could have imagined such thing would
happen at all?
We received an e-mail from Paulo Adario, Greenpeace campaigner
in Manaus, in which he expressed a feeling which was felt by the
volunteers on the ship as well. "The terrorist attacks in
Washington DC and New York not only killed an unidentified number
of innocents and put the whole world in the corner, they also
helped to silence the voices of Haku Varashadeni and his people.
Distant of the global political nightmare, they don't even know
what is happening."
But we are determined to carry on helping with the demarcation,
with or without media attention. Protecting the land of a few
hundred indigenous people may not seem as important and dramatic
as the collapse of the world's financial pillars and the tragic
death of thousands of people, but we are able to help a good cause.
We are making a great effort for a small change. Even if the
Deni's land is demarcated, there are still 302 Indian communities
whose land has yet to be demarcated. But it is all worth it. In
the midst of the current political chaos, what we are doing seems
more valuable, no matter what kind of political opinion you have,
terrorist acts and brutal retaliation would not solve any problems
human kind is facing now.
If I am allowed to change a famous slogan of the early environmental
movement to suit my needs here, I would say what we are doing
is "small but beautiful."
All the while the Deni are missing the inter-village football
competition and three-night long party which will be held on 15
September, and we are still trying our best to learn more about
their culture and life. I am sure I will miss the beautiful simplicity
of the Deni people and life in the Amazon when I go back home,
to the "outside" world.
Kontau
(Team A)
Find out about the different
volunteers on the demarcation project.
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