Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro seems to have no tolerance for the people around him: It doesn’t matter their sexual orientation or where they come from. When a journalist asked him about the more than 5,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 in Brazil, the leader’s response was “So what?“. “My name’s Messiah,” Bolsonaro continued, referring to his second name, Messias. “But I can’t work miracles.” A response that sparked fury amongst Brazilians.
Such feedback strengthens the opinion of Davi Kopenawa, Yanomami leader who said that Bolsonaro “does not understand the value of the Amazon forest…nor like the people who live in it.”
The Yanomami are indigenous people and the largest Indian tribe living in the Amazon Basin. They have lived between the tropical rainforest in northern Brazil and southern Venezuela for thousands of years. And we wish them many more! Their well-being is disrupted by a new event, which they have to overcome: A huge obstacle that indigenous leaders attribute to the president of Brazil.
Recently, 20,000 illegal gold miners have entered the park, threatening the existence of the Yanomami people. This brings back bad memories for the locals, who experienced a terrible period in the late 1980s when about a fifth of the indigenous population died in just seven years because of violence, malaria, malnutrition, mercury poisoning, and other causes. “They are only bringing problems. Malaria is increasing. It’s already killed four children in the Marari region,” Kopenawa said.
Indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable to Western diseases, as they have little to no resistance to them. Given the current global scenario, you understand why the current invasion of miners is an even greater threat to this tribe: The illegal gold miners may become the main cause of the spread of the new coronavirus.
“Today, we’re once more at risk from the Xawara (epidemic) brought in by non-indigenous people which you call Coronavirus. Our communities are far from the cities and are already suffering from an increase in cases of malaria, and there is not enough health care to look after our family members who are sick. We do not want this situation to become even worse with the arrival of Coronavirus,” is the message the tribe wants to convey.
That is why the Yanomami and Ye’kwana Leadership Forum in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo launched the #MinersOutCovidOut initiative, a campaign that addresses this issue and directs people to a petition, kindly asking them to sign it so that the indigenous people can go on with their lives.
The target of this project is the government, which the organization asks to remove the “troops” from the “front” of Amazon. According to Fabiano Higashi, Creative Director at W+K, “The negligence of the government in regards to the pandemic and the indigenous tribes borders on insanity. Our work not only seeks to protect the Yanomami but is also a cry of indignation.”
To put pressure on the authorities, the Sao-Paolo-based agency created a video featuring the “So what?” question layered over a series of illustrations made by designer and political influencer Rapha Baggas. “This video aims to show our struggle for survival. It means to pressure the Brazilian government to fulfill its role and remove the trespassers from our lands. We must sign the petition, please help us make the government remove these invaders,” says Maurício Ye’kwana, a native Brazilian leader and director of the Hutukara Yanomami Association.
The video ends by redirecting viewers to the website supporting the campaign, where they can sign the petition to prevent the decimation of Yanomami people.
Credits:
Client: Yanomami and Ye’kwana Leadership Forum
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo