Moments of PoWR - Bring me a Wider Love
Daiara Tukaro speaking during the second Climate Change Assembly of the Parliament of the Worlds Religions 2023: ‘A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights.’ 📸 Shannon MD Smith
“Good Morning, thank you so much for being here… the people that is here really to listen to Indigenous voices are really important persons to us because the Indigenous peoples are for too long not listened to. And and that is time to say, once again that Indigenous territories protect more than 82% of biodiversity in the world. We protect, as he was saying before, the sources of clear water, we protect the forest, the knowledge, the memory and history of the life, the histories of our planet. I have been to many indigenous territories under attack. We must say no to oil exploitation, gold exploitation, wood trafficking. The deforestation is going also by the pressure of the agribusiness industry. And so we need to understand that we must fight back, we must take action to protect this Amazon forest in so many ways but especially standing side by side with Indigenous people.
Some years ago I went to the Guarani territory in Brazil and I saw a whole village under attack. The sugarcane plantations put fire on the village and the bounty killers were shooting. They gave me the responsibility to take the kids and so they just the elders remain in the village and they keep praying. They were praying with so much love and so much faith and I just asked grandmother, grandfather What are you praying? What is the word that you are saying in your prayer before this terrible attack? And they just explained to me, “We are praying for the heart of the white man to be clear of all his pain. We are praying to the heart of the farmer to be clear of all hate. We are praying so he can have good health. We are praying for his family so he can be happy and he stop attacking us.” So I thank the Great Spirit, Mother Nature, the grandfather, and the grandmother of the universe. For keeping this wisdom of a wider love for life in each Indigenous nation, and I celebrate this opportunity of union and diversity. Thank you so much for the Parliament of the World's Religions.”
- Daiara Tukaro, Indigenous artist, activist, educator and communicator.
Learn More - WATCH: An Urgent Call to Protect the Amazon
Since the Parliament’s convening, Brazil’s Supreme Court made an historic vote to respect Indigenous people and their connection to the territories they protect from exploitation for the good of current and future generations.
Read more in The Guardian.
Related WoW Content: Parliament of the World’s Religions / A Year in Water 2023
