What students, instructors and researchers can do
Message from "Teia das 5 Curas" Indigenous network
Education has been the most powerful tool to colonize the imagination: the people with the most educational credentials are the ones who become most invested in the fantasy of separation and superiority that is destroying our planet. We need a kind of education that can help us face what we have done to each other, to other species, and to the planet. There is no way to move forward without dealing with what has happened in our past, and what continues to happen today. If we do not go through this difficult learning together, our hopes and solutions will only reproduce the same harmful fantasies that have brought us to the brink of extinction.
Organize teach-ins and stage collective protests
We need a different kind of education that can help us face and work through the difficult global challenges ahead together, with the compass of maturity, discernment, and responsibility.
In Brazil, we are facing an emergency in which the rights and land titles of Indigenous peoples are being cancelled, and protections for the Amazon forest are being removed. In light of this and other climate-related emergencies, we will need our educational institutions, especially universities, to provide a more relevant education that can support us to develop the stamina to work together in challenging contexts.
It is important to remember that, although the most urgent threat to Indigenous peoples and the Amazon at the moment is the Supreme Court Case being ruled in August, the Brazilian government has several laws being voted on in congress to cancel Indigenous rights and to remove environmental protections around ecologically sensitive areas in Brazil. It is a coordinated attack on the Amazon and on Indigenous peoples. We need you for the long-haul of this fight, especially in case there is a humanitarian emergency and the threat of a new wave of genocide in Brazil.
If you are a student, an instructor, or a researcher, we invite you to do the following:
- Organize teach-ins about the emergency in Brazil (for resources, click here). You can do it online or in person, in any case, please take a picture of your teach-in and upload it to this dropbox (we will include it in our gallery). Please also share it on social media, under the hashtag #allfortheamazon
- Produce videos like the one below and send us the link for our playlist. Tiktok videos about the emergency are also a huge help!
- Contact your union and your professional associations and ask them to disseminate information about the campaign and support action (e.g. teach-ins, videos, mini-protests, statements).
Examples
Students in Aotearoa/New Zealand
A song by Azul calling everyone to face reality with discernment and responsibility.
Researchers in Canada explain why what is happening in Brazil affects everyone of us.
Mini-protest at the Brazilian embassy in London on 30th June 2021 that inspired the main strategy of our campaign.