Marie Claire Woman Kınd

This month’s global round-up of inspirational women and cultural talking points

- Manon Querouil-bruneel

BRAZIL’S NEW RESISTANCE

As Brazil’s new far-right government abandons environmental policies in favor of lucrative agricultural projects, the Maraguas tribe is fighting for the survival of its land, culture, and community

The 600-strong members of the Maraguas tribe live a precarious existence, split into five settlements on the banks of the Abacaxis river. Their indigenous culture is under attack on all fronts: their forest is being replaced by more lucrative soy plantations and cattle farms, the river is filling up with tourist boats that deplete the fish population, and hunters are shooting protected species, such as jaguar and caiman.

In a country that is the deadliest in the world for human rights activists, Lia Minapoty, 30, is fighting back. She has left her village to move to the nearest town, Nova Olinda, to head up a network of women working with communities to keep the millennium-old Maraguas language and culture alive. ‘In our culture, women are the ones who know the medicinal plants. They are the ones who transmit our knowledge and identity from one generation to the next,’ says Minapoty. The mother-of-three has experienced death threats for organizing protests against the local mayor, who she claims has covered up her tribe’s complaints about multiple intrusions by lumber teams and gold prospectors on their land.

The territory is largely abandoned by the central government, so Minapoty and her fellow protesters take their lives into their own hands every day. One woman, who protested about another tribe growing cannabis and the illegal exploitation of exotic woods, was tracked down and hacked to death alongside her two-year-old child.