Crossing The River More Than Human Life (MOTH)

Ehuana Yaira Yanomami (Yanomami Indigenous People, Brazil) is an artist, writer, and researcher dedicated to amplifying the voices of Yanomami women. In this episode, Ehuana delves into the ways in which women have reshaped Indigenous mobilization against illegal gold mining and the patriarchal violence accompanying it. She speaks in her mother tongue, one of the six languages within the Yanomami language family.

José Gualinga (Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku, Ecuador) introduces the concept of Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest) and describes its dual meaning: the profound connection between humans and their territory, and the core mission of the Sarayaku struggle. For the Sarayaku People, their territory and the more-than-human world must be protected and should be granted legal rights.

Joan Carling (Kankanaey Indigenous People, Philippines) poses a critical question: how do we respond to the global system that sees sustainability—and our planet's future—as merely another profit-making venture? The third episode of Crossing the River responds to the expansion of green colonialism and the climate crisis by emphasizing the crucial role of Indigenous peoples in the decision-making processes that affect their lives and territories.

Maurício Ye’kuana (Ye’kuana Indigenous People, Brazil), delves into the struggle of the Yanomami Indigenous People to oppose illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon as well as the Brazilian government’s failure to respond meaningfully to this ongoing crisis. In the second installment of Crossing The River, concepts at the heart of the so-called First World – like progress, consumption, and extraction – are called into question as Maurício discusses the steps Indigenous peoples in the Amazon have taken to defend their lives and territories.

In this episode, Juma Xipaia (Xipaia Indigenous People, Brazil) shares her experiences as a woman and as an Indigenous leader while also commenting on the institutional transformations that have taken place in Brazil since the election of President Lula da Silva. 

Crossing the River is a podcast in which we hear from Indigenous leaders that defend life on earth every day: in their own words, because they are the protagonists of their stories. Indigenous leaders are the voices that the world must listen to in order to make the collective decisions that define our present and future. Indigenous leaders have crossed the river from shore to shore many times and used different strategies to talk with Western society, but the West continues to do it only with violence, to colonize, extract, and destroy. This is an exercise to change that.