On the Yanomami struggle against the invasion of their land, and a warning to the merchandise people: when the forest dies, we die with it.

For the Yanomami, the sky has already fallen to earth once, and it could fall again. The ones holding it up are the xapiri, the spirits of the forest, and the shamans who know how to summon them.

Davi Kopenawa is a shaman and spokesperson for the Yanomami people, who live in the forest between Brazil and Venezuela. For over forty years, he has been bringing his people’s message to cities, governments, and the United Nations, speaking out against the invasion of miners that has brought disease, hunger, and rivers poisoned by mercury.

Davi Kopenawa is the founder of Hutukara Associação Yanomami. Together with anthropologist Bruce Albert, he wrote The Falling Sky, a warning addressed to consumerist societies he calls the “merchandise people.”

In October, Davi Kopenawa traveled about 7,000 kilometers from the Yanomami Indigenous Territory to visit Portugal for the first time. It was a gesture of immense generosity. He spoke to packed audiences at FOLIO in Óbidos and at universities in Coimbra and Lisbon, met with the President of the Republic, and was received by political parties at the Assembly of the Republic. Wherever he went, he reminded us that, despite the distances, we share the same planet.
We spoke with Davi Kopenawa in Óbidos during FOLIO, whose theme this year is “Beyond the Skin.”

Play the video version below (English subtitles available), or scroll down for the podcast version (dubbed in English) and for the English transcript.

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TRANSCRIPT

AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD | THE YANOMAMI PEOPLE

Good afternoon, relative, brother. We are the children of Hutukara. My name is Davi Kopenawa Yanomami. I am a leader and representative of the Yanomami and Ye’kwana Peoples. I am also a shaman. A shaman is the spirit of the forest. I am the spokesperson for my People.

My community is called Watoriki. I am from Roraima, up there, at the edge of the world. The Yanomami culture is different. It was born there, at the heart of the world, at the core of the world. No one moves to another place. Nor does anyone sell our land.

That is where I come from, all the way to here, in order to meet people who support and who help in the defense of the Yanomami People.

FOR THE SOUL OF THE STREAMS | FIGHTING THE GOLD RUSH

The history of invasion goes back a long way. When I was little, I didn’t know anything. I grew up and became a boy. I also kept hearing the name of the people who came, who arrived in Yanomami territory and in Brazil. They came looking for precious stones and timber. I remember the name of the government. It began to violate the rights of my Indigenous People in Brazil. And that president was a military man.

So, the first time I saw the gold miners arrive was in 1988. First, the road was built. Then, later, the invading miners came. About 40,000 miners arrived without consulting anyone, not even the traditional Yanomami leadership. They just came in, as if they were entering their own home. Some came by plane, by helicopter, others came on foot or by boat.

Many miners came, spreading out along the river and the streams. They brought small machines and completely ruined our streams. They killed the soul of the stream. And they eroded the banks of our rivers. They set up a raft and attached a motor to lower the suction hose to extract ore and gold.

And first came death. They brought measles. And malaria. A very severe flu. And at that time, the government also failed to recognize their rights and did not provide health care before the invaders arrived in Yanomami territory. So they came in already infected. They contaminated our waters. The Yanomami also tried to drive them out, but it didn’t work. The miners got angry, they killed four people at first. Then I went there too to help them and to calm things down.

I joined the fight to defend my Yanomami and Ye’kwana Peoples. That went on for four years. And during that time, I traveled a lot to speak with Brazilian authorities. I sought out many people to help get the miners out. But it took a long time. It was very, very hard for me.

In Brazil, I wasn’t able to succeed. Politicians are very powerful. They’re united. Congressmen, senators, governors, the government, mayors, and others.

Then it happened that non-Indigenous people recognized my struggle. Very slowly. It doesn’t happen quickly. I had an Indigenous friend, named Ailton Krenak, and another, Marcos Terena, and another, Jorge Terena. We all got together to draft a letter. They sent it to the UN, saying: “Davi is fighting alone.” They asked for support, for the UN to take notice of me. Then, they nominated me for the award, the UN Global 500 Award.

I got to meet thousands and thousands of people around the world. I went to Europe, to the UN, to every place where they gathered to hear me speak. There, I told them about the situation of my Yanomami People: “The miners have been killing us. And disease is killing us, too.”

In Brazil, I couldn’t get anything done. But then the UN launched a major campaign. They ran a huge campaign to raise awareness worldwide, to save my Yanomami People. That’s when the Europeans and Americans really stepped up, putting pressure to remove the gold miners and to officially recognize our Yanomami lands. A single, unified land. Not just little pieces. One, large, unified land.

DEMARCATED, BUT NOT RESPECTED | FROM THE BOLSONARO YEARS TO 2026

The land that has been officially recognized is not being respected. Because the miners want to work underground, to this day.

And another government, it was headed by Jair Bolsonaro. He’s a military man who was president of Brazil. It was really bad. He killed half of my People. My brothers, my young relatives, whole families. 570 children died. Adults died, too. Uncles, aunts, and other relatives who died of disease: malaria, the flu, dysentery, vomiting. And they were drinking contaminated water. They gave them poison, I call it poison: alcohol. Firearms. They traded them so the Yanomami would stay silent, stay quiet.

We’ve dealt with that. Now there’s another person, Bolsonaro’s son, who’s campaigning to be president. His plan is to destroy our Brazil. It’s not just the Yanomami Territory. It’s Brazil. He’s going to ruin everything. That’s our concern.

The situation of the Yanomami people, the water, the river. The fish have died, too. So, on our side, things aren’t good. But on the other side, things are OK. Where there’s no gold mining, we’re holding out. We’re dying, but we’re continuing to fight.

HUTUKARA | WORLD, WORD, ASSOCIATION

Hutukara is a land. The land is everything. It’s not just that one place, no. It’s all places. Planet Earth, as a whole. The Yanomami People, our ancestors, gave it that wholesome name. This name is very powerful, very profound, very rich.

Within Hutukara there are many material things. Not the kind of material used for clothing, no. It’s not about shoes, no. It’s about the stones, the sand, the precious stones, water, and the forest, the rocks, the big mountain, the moon, the rain, the light, and us. The creator who created us. Not just the Yanomami. Everyone: white people, Black people, Indigenous people, game, fish, just as I’ve been saying.

Every place has a white man’s association. Every Indigenous place has an association. The only one missing was the Yanomami association. So I decided to create the Hutukara Yanomami Association. The Hutukara Yanomami Association is specifically for the Yanomami. The Yanomami and the Ye’kwana Peoples.

This has become the Hutukara Yanomami Association, so that white people can recognize what Hutukara is. Hutukara is the world, where we live. Hutukara is the weapon of the Yanomami people. To defend the right to land, the right to health, the right of the shamans, the xapiri, of everything we have in the Yanomami Territory. The defense of the indigenous People. The defense, too, of the merchandise people.

MERCHANDISE WON’T FEED YOU | A MESSAGE AGAINST CONSUMERISM

It’s for everyone, my message that travels far. It goes to other places, where the Yanomami don’t go. This is very important: for the merchandise people to listen, to hear, and to believe what I say about merchandise.

Merchandise is the modern houses, made of stone and sand. Freezers, refrigerators, televisions, electricity to light up the city. Fuel, oil. Trains, subways, airplanes, cars, bicycles, boats. Everything the merchandise people have already extracted from beneath the earth. And it’s creating a lot of garbage.

Another new commodity that has appeared is the smartphone. It’s a very powerful commodity for the whole world. It’s manipulating your thoughts, our thoughts, so that we just keep looking beneath the earth, where wealth lies buried.

We no longer need to extract commodities from the earth. Oil, minerals. We have to stop this. All this merchandise is already stocked in the store. This merchandise isn’t food. It’s not food your child can eat. This “food” is metal, which just sits in storage.

I speak, but the man of merchandise won’t believe me. He doesn’t want to hear a thing. He has big ears, but then he closes them off. He has the eyes to look into my soul, and he can’t do it. But I can. And these men are wrong. They’re producing merchandise that creates problems, that creates conflict, that creates disease. Many bad things.

But let’s think together. Let’s think in harmony with the power of nature, the power of our Mother Earth. Let’s look far into the distance. Let’s look at the landscape of our forest. The landscape of our world, the sea, the sky, the moon, the ground. Let’s protect it. Non-Indigenous people don’t talk about protecting, caring for, or respecting. Let the water be at peace. Let it remain at peace as it was when it was born. Leave the ore where it’s kept, beneath the earth.

Now, it’s better to protect our forest, like this. That is health. The health of our children, of the generation that is coming, of the generation that is growing up. What is bringing this sickness? It’s capital. Capital and the State are destroying everything. Capital wants to feed itself, to turn everything into merchandise.

That’s what I wanted to say, hoping that I can reach your mind, that I can reach your heart. Just as I’ve learned, so must you learn. We are human beings. You have to learn to listen, to respect what the man of the forest is asking for, and to take care of the forests. The forest takes care of us, as does clean water. They provide for us. Our children, who want to follow this path, must walk together. Together, we will care for the soul of our world.

DISEASE HAS NO BORDERS | MINING AND THE EARTH’S REVENGE

Mining is very, very dangerous. And not just for us. For the Earth, too. It’s very bad. It ruins the river. Especially the river. The Earth is already suffering. The Yanomami land is already covered in holes. Wherever water flows, where rivers and mountains are born, it’s already polluted.

Who’s behind the gold mining, behind the miners? The Americans. That’s where mining began. That’s where they started killing my people, killing my relatives, the Indigenous people. They killed many. They also ruined the land. It’s a crime. They killed my people, the Indigenous Americans, who were protecting this place for them.

This disease has already reached my home. I already know that the disease will spread far and wide. The disease knows no borders. Wherever ore goes, on Indigenous lands, in the sea, the disease goes too. It’s not just a disease, it’s also a crime. I’ll keep speaking out to unsettle their minds. They unsettle my mind. It makes me angry. But I, Kopenawa, will not bow my head. I have the right to speak out. I have the right to remember how it happened.

The ones who like to set up large-scale mining operations are the men with plenty of money. All they think about is extracting the earth’s wealth. Their minds are set only on getting money. Money is like a rock. And also cash, dollars. Dollars aren’t food. Ore isn’t food either. Our children and their children won’t eat either. They only know money, they only know ore. They don’t talk about health. The health of the land, the health of the world, the health of Indigenous Peoples, the health of the merchandise people, the health of our children. They don’t talk about any of that.

So, that’s my message to them. For them to hear. They might hear it, but they won’t learn. They won’t respect it. If they doesn’t respect it, what’s going to happen? Climate change. Too much rain and too much heat. In some places are already in flames; in other places there’s already too much rain, and homes are already sinking.

The man who likes to mine ore will also suffer, just as we are suffering. And our Mother Earth will take her revenge. That is the earth’s revenge. That is the message I’m sending them. It’s not for me, it’s for them. It’s for them to listen.

This is my defense of my Yanomami People. I need my People alive. I need my People united. Living and working in peace. But if they bring miners into my home, I won’t like that at all. You know, I won’t kill them. But nature will kill them. The miners will destroy all the forests. If they destroy all the forests, we will all die as well. The forest dies, and we all die. If the forest dies, the city will also become too hot, and the problem will come back to haunt them.

I’m warning them to think twice, to respect us, to stop, and not to let our rivers be polluted. It’s better to take care of our land, take care of our environment, take care of our waters and our land, so we can have a good life.