<
https://latina.com/reclaiming-the-narrative-nemonte-nenquimos-fight-for-her-people-and-the-earth/>
"“For us, stories are living beings,” writes Nemonte Nenquimo in the
introduction of her memoir,
We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People,
co-written with her husband, and fellow activist Mitch Anderson, “A story dies
when no one tells it.”
“This book centers my thoughts: how I look at evangelicals, how I look at white
people,” Nenquimo shares with me over a video call while on a family vacation
with her in-laws in Petaluma, California, a drawing of a densely populated
jungle hanging behind the white couch Nemonte sits in with her husband and
children.
We Will Be Jaguars, released in the U.S. on September 17, is a
testimony of her upbringing. “I asked my dad, ‘How about sharing our collective
struggle? Our memory. Making the world understand is necessary,” she recalls.
“We began remembering with my dad, my mom, my brothers, aunts. Many times,
evangelicals, and anthropologists have given their perspectives. But no one has
written, our memory, the true history.”
Nemonte Nenquimo is among the world’s most recognized Indigenous climate
activists. On April 23, 2019, she was the lead plaintiff in a landmark suit
against the Ecuadorian government’s planned auction of Waorani land to oil
companies. After a three-day trial, the verdict stated that the government had
conducted a faulty consultation process with the community prior to putting
their territory up for sale. Under the leadership of Nenquimo, the Waorani
people asserted their right for self-determination, culminating in the
protection of half a million acres of their rainforest. On April 26, hundreds
of Waorani flocked to Puyo, Ecuador, streaks of achiote red pigments adorning
their eyes and declared them Waorani. They had won over a system that long
deemed them voiceless."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
