Nemonte Nenkimo offers: we are not saved Rather than relying on the observations of anthropologists, missionaries, or foreign adventurers, it reflects the life experiences and environmental philosophies of actual forest dwellers.
This powerful story vividly depicts Nenkimo’s fierce determination to ensure the future of the forest, where life is intricately intertwined, and the people who live there. And this is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of the rainforest, and ultimately our planet.
In recent years, we have seen many articles about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest through logging, cattle ranching, soy cultivation, and mining. The focus has been primarily on what was happening in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly under the Bolsonaro government. This important book focuses instead on Ecuador, one of nine countries that holds parts of the Amazon rainforest.
rainbow
Nenkimo is a member of the Huaorani tribe and lives in one of the most biodiverse forest regions on Earth. Through the practices of everyday life and the rich stories of hunting, fishing, gardening, and gathering passed down from our elders, we are introduced to a world where humans and nature are inextricably linked.
The inner workings of tribal communities living in a rainforest environment have never been so eloquently revealed. People live fulfilling lives without shopping malls, cars, or government services.
Material concerns are connected to a deep spirituality in our daily encounters with the wild. Life continues largely unchanged from generation to generation. The rich stories told by the Huaorani and other Amazonian tribes are imbued with a passionate love of the forest.
Nenkimo says: “For us, stories are living things. They breathe life into our homes and forests. They pulsate in our blood, in our dreams. They inspire us like jaguars. It stalks, it crows like a peccary, it sails like a macaw, it runs like a fish…
“Like rainbows, they bring peace. Like lightning, they bring war. And they are always changing. In doing so, we know that they are alive. You can tell. A story dies if no one tells it.”
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we are not saved is a truly remarkable collection of such stories, told by people who have harvested the forest’s bounty sustainably since time immemorial.
But then the invaders come. First the missionaries, then the loggers and oil companies. The noise of chainsaws begins to drown out the sounds of parrots and howler monkeys.
Vast areas of forest are disappearing in the name of progress, leaving hellish landscapes polluted by oil spills and cluttered by drilling rigs.
Proud indigenous peoples are becoming less valuable, becoming low-paid employees of companies based in New York or London. Oil spills into rivers, fish die, children can’t swim, and river water becomes undrinkable. All in the name of progress.
In recent years, the Ecuadorian government has auctioned off millions of acres of rainforest to foreign companies, which have taken over more land to extract oil and minerals as the forests are destroyed. Meanwhile, the tribesmen pray to the new Christian God for help, but God never answers.
variety
As a young Huaorani woman, Nenkimo is for a time fascinated by missionaries and their magic, but then she begins to understand that her culture is disappearing. If her people lose their stories, the forest will collapse and the tribe’s life will be lost forever.
The Ecuadorian government has a practice of auctioning off blocks of rainforest as if they were uninhabited.
But now a new spirit of resistance is emerging. Tribal people have united with activists from Europe and the United States to resist the onslaught against the forest and its people.
With the help of satellite technology and drones, we map forests and pinpoint the wide variety of uses of the forest environment, including medicinal plants, fruit trees, waterfalls, hunting and fishing grounds, and more. It is a meaningful landscape with many villages and their gardens dotted among the trees.
struggle
Ultimately, Amazon Frontline, an alliance of local indigenous groups and American and European activists, won a famous victory against the Ecuadorian government in a major trial in Quito in 2019.
At least for the time being, oil companies will not be given any more land to extract “ancestral blood.” The situation changed with the victory of the Huaorani and their allies.
Tribal groups in other areas will likely draw maps in similar ways to ensure their lands are not considered illegal. Terra Nullius – Land that belongs to no one – a legal concept used by suzerains to justify the conquest of land.
This book is both a treatise on how to prevent the conquest of the forest by outsiders and a vivid portrait of a truly superior woman and her struggle for identity in a rapidly changing world. there is.
invader
Written in collaboration with her American husband, Mitch Anderson, this book explores the importance of keeping forests alive, rather than allowing them to be wiped out in the dying breath to extract wealth from beneath the bed. It is a beautiful document that demonstrates gender.
title, we are not savedrefers to the recognition that tribal people themselves must lead the struggle against colonial conquest.
While outsiders such as international NGOs can also assist in the fight for ecological and cultural survival, indigenous peoples take the lead based on their knowledge of the places they have lived in for thousands of years.
These forest peoples are rapidly acquiring skills to deal with and legally defeat invaders such as foreign oil companies. This book vividly depicts life in the forest and the tools to protect it. What a great achievement.
this author
Herbert Girardet He is an author, filmmaker, and consultant on aspects of cultural ecology. He is a trustee of the Resurgence Trust, which owns and publishes the following books: ecologist online.
