- 4 days ago
Ecuador's Kichwa tribe fights against oil companies to protect the environment in the Amazon. Refinery29 works with We Are The XX to tell their stories.
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00:00Forests are one of the last lines of defense against catastrophic climate change.
00:05And yet, they are still disappearing at an alarming rate.
00:08Nearly half of global forests have already been lost.
00:12Though in Ecuador, there's a brave group of women who are fighting back.
00:16We're traveling deep into the Amazon rainforest to witness what happens
00:20when tradition, feminism, and environmental activism combine.
00:33We're here in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, to speak with Esperanza Martinez,
00:38who is the co-founder of Oil Watch.
00:41We'd love for you to share with us a little bit about why environmentalism
00:45and the female plight are so interconnected here in Ecuador.
00:49I think there's a close relationship between women to nature
00:52for work reasons, for practical life reasons.
00:55We're the women who we sow. We're the women who we sow.
01:00But there's also a little more spiritual relationship.
01:03That relationship that is related in many of the indigenous stories
01:08where they reveal how the gods or the beings of nature
01:14were giving women these keys to understand
01:18what is the way to relationship with nature.
01:20How do you believe your tactics to fighting big companies
01:25and capitalism is different?
01:27The capitalism, to be able to work, has to, for one part,
01:33exploit nature, but for the other, exploit women,
01:35invisibility women in their work, minimize their role.
01:41Another prominent oil watch activist, Gabriela Ruales,
01:45describes this type of capitalism as the new patriarchy.
01:48I think that the struggle for the defense of the nature
01:52summed with feminism
01:55generates more conviction
01:56that it is important to transform
01:59and destroy the patriarchy system.
02:02Because when we look at how
02:05the petrol activity in these territories,
02:07from the extractivism that requires
02:10that requires the colonization, that requires the violence,
02:14that generates machismo in the territories,
02:18those relationships are established
02:19between men and women,
02:22and they are resisting there.
02:25They are raising their voice and saying
02:27that they are just saying
02:28that they are going to decide for us.
02:31That's why I think that the ecofeminism
02:33is something important to transform the world.
02:43We arranged to meet one of these young women
02:45to have a better understanding
02:47of why they continue the fight.
02:48We're here on the Bobanasa River,
02:50right outside of Puyo.
02:52We're about to join Nina
02:53on a five to seven hour canoe ride
02:56into her village of Sarayaki.
03:04But the views are pretty incredible.
03:07We just have, you know,
03:08four and a half, five more hours.
03:09Nina seems okay with it.
03:11She seems okay.
03:12Nina Gualinga is a force to be reckoned with.
03:15Born in Sarayaki
03:16and educated in Sweden
03:18from the age of seven,
03:19she returned to her ancestral land
03:21to continue the fight
03:22of the 21st century indigenous resistance.
03:26We made it!
03:27Sarayaki is a force to be reckoned with.
03:28Sarayaki, which means river of corn
03:30in the Quechuan language,
03:31is a rich, biodiverse territory
03:34on the Bobanasa River
03:35in the region of El Oriente.
03:38About 1500 Kichwa-speaking people
03:40call this land home.
03:42This is a school for the children.
03:46We all see each other.
03:47We all get together here.
03:50These houses have solar energy,
03:52so we have lights.
03:55Tell me what the girls learned how to do
03:58growing up here.
03:59Make chicha,
04:01make pottery,
04:02and take care of children.
04:04Yeah.
04:05Tell stories.
04:06I remember my grandmother
04:07always told stories
04:09when we were making chicha
04:10because you'd do that together.
04:13Instead of the shower,
04:15you can come here.
04:16Is this just your spot to bathe,
04:19or do lots of people use it?
04:20No, a lot of people come here.
04:21Yeah.
04:22It's so beautiful.
04:24After seeing all the beauty
04:26this land has to offer,
04:28it's obvious why the people here
04:29would do anything to keep it safe.
04:32The Quechua tribe has won
04:34a rare and stunning victory
04:35in the fight for environmental
04:37and tribal rights.
04:38They have successfully pushed out
04:40both the Ecuadorian military
04:42and the major oil companies
04:44who were clearing their forests
04:45and destroying their land.
04:46They formed an activist group
04:48to protect their rights,
04:49then sued the government of Ecuador
04:51and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
04:54In 2012, the Ecuadorian government
04:56lost and had to apologize,
04:59paying out $1.25 million to the community.
05:02We spoke to Nina about how feminism
05:05played a role in this victory.
05:07A lot of people want to define feminism
05:09as just one thing,
05:10but every place has different values,
05:15different principles.
05:16I know that something that is really important
05:19to women in Sarayaku
05:20is to defend our territories
05:24and to take care of Mother Earth.
05:27I think women have a very deep connection
05:31to Mother Earth
05:32and feel the need to protect her
05:35as women.
05:37So you feel that the Earth is female?
05:39Yeah, I feel that.
05:40I don't know, it's like my mom.
05:43It's hard to capture what it feels like to be here.
05:46We're excited to continue exploring tomorrow.
05:56This is Wayusa,
05:59and it's a tea that we drink every morning.
06:02It's a space where we talk about our dreams.
06:06We guide ourselves with our dreams.
06:11What kind of stereotypes
06:13do you all have to fight against here in Ecuador?
06:16People see indigenous people like very primitive,
06:22and many times the government,
06:25well, our president,
06:26he has called a lot of our leaders,
06:29like, stupid, ignorant.
06:31I know that the things that I'm doing
06:32will probably have a consequence in the future,
06:35but I'm not afraid.
06:38Nina wants to show us
06:39why she keeps fighting for this land,
06:41so she's letting us experience firsthand
06:44what the women do here every day.
06:46Make chicha,
06:47a sweet-for-minute drink
06:49made from the yucca root.
06:51Traditionally,
06:51all the females of the community
06:53will join together
06:54to collect the yucca root
06:55in the chakra,
06:56or rainforest plantation.
06:58This is my grandmother's chakra,
07:01so now we came here
07:02to take some yucca back home
07:04to make chicha.
07:06I'm going to try to chop some yucca.
07:09Need it like this.
07:11You have to do it like this.
07:13You have to sweep.
07:15What is the yucca ceremony
07:16that the women do
07:17with the red paint?
07:19When we are planting the yucca,
07:21it's like a fruit called achiote.
07:23It's red,
07:24and then you put it on the yucca sticks
07:27that you're going to plant,
07:28and then you paint your face,
07:30and you do that because you're giving blood
07:34to the yucca so it can grow.
07:36For the women here,
07:38fighting the oil companies
07:39isn't just about climate change.
07:41It's about maintaining a way of life,
07:44living in concert with the jungle
07:46in a way that has served their community
07:48for generations.
07:51And this makes your hair shiny?
07:54Yeah.
07:55Because the hair is one of the most important parts
07:58of the beauty of a woman.
07:59Mm-hmm.
08:00When it comes to community organizing
08:02and influencing your community,
08:04what kind of roles do women play?
08:06Here in Sarayaku,
08:08the women have had a very strong role
08:12when it comes to defending our territory.
08:17How have oral companies affected your land?
08:19We have a constant threat.
08:22Mm-hmm.
08:23And we always have to be, like, you know,
08:27on our guard.
08:28There's not one moment that I can just, like,
08:31lay down and say,
08:32okay, this place is safe.
08:33Mm-hmm.
08:35Making chicha is a lot of work.
08:37Large groups of women are needed
08:39to chew and spit the yucca root,
08:41which starts the fermentation process.
08:43It's impossible to do this alone.
08:45Yeah.
08:46Yeah, that's true.
08:47Yeah.
08:48Nina's grandmother's chicha in particular
08:50has been a favorite among surrounding tribes.
08:52It's strong, y'all.
08:53Why is your chicha so good?
08:54Because it's strong.
08:56It's strong.
08:57It's strong?
08:57It's strong.
08:59It's strong.
09:05How long does it usually take for you?
09:08A couple of hours.
09:09Yeah.
09:10And then you let it ferment.
09:12Chicha.
09:13Mm-hmm.
09:14Making the chicha.
09:18We just spent the last few days
09:20with the chicha.
09:20And Nina's village in the Amazon.
09:22And to witness and better understand
09:24the environment they are trying so hard to preserve.
09:27But now we're headed back to Puyo
09:29to see just how large the indigenous movement has become.
09:40This parade is a celebration of a famous 1992 march
09:44made by indigenous tribes fighting for justice.
09:46Up front are all the national leaders
09:49as well as the Amazonian queens.
09:52As many as 5,000 people walked 160 miles
09:56from Puyo to Quito
09:57to raise awareness for the indigenous uprising.
10:02What are some of your future hopes
10:05for the Ecuadorian indigenous community?
10:08I hope that indigenous people in Ecuador
10:11and all over the world decide about things
10:14that are going to affect their lives
10:15and not having someone else deciding that for them.
10:19Although the government treats indigenous people
10:21as less than and criminalizes their protest,
10:25they will not quit fighting for their basic human rights.
10:28I know.
10:30As Nina and these young women continue to bring these issues
10:33to the global community, they are close to saving their homes
10:36and the rest of the world in the process.