Amazon Indians hold mass rally to oppose dams

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The largest indigenous gathering in the Brazilian Amazon in nearly twenty years will take place from May 19 to 23 in the town of Altamira, Pará, to protest against a series of huge hydroelectric dams being planned for the Xingu River.

Over a thousand Indians from the Kayapó, Ikpeng and other tribes, along with riverbank dwellers and small farmers, will gather to oppose the project. The Xingu is one the Amazon’s main tributaries. The Kayapó say that damming it will destroy their way of life, kill the animals and fish they rely on, and profoundly affect their health.

The Ikpeng people said in a statement, ‘We are indigenous people of the Xingu and we don’t want this dam on the river. We want the fish and the fauna and flora, we want the river to be clean, we want water that feeds us and quenches our thirst. We’re not holding back the country’s progress. We’re defending our rights to life, to our land, and to our way of life.’

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