Launching the "ER Amazonia – People of the Earth" Campaign

Pachamama calls...can you hear me, can you hear us? On December 9, 2020 URI Multiregion and URI Netherlands hosted the " Emergency Response /ER Amazonia – People of the Earth” online gathering. We heard the stories of local people who have been hardest hit by COVID-19 and lost not only their jobs and source of income, but also loved ones.

Morgana Sythove and Samira Barucija welcomed us and Rosalia Gutierrez lead the Spiritual Opening.

The documentary "ER Amazonia - People of the Earth" was shown. Many people have worked on this film and Francisco Morales explained how and why this campaign came about.

Rosalia, Rosaura, and a number of local people tell their stories of how the pandemic has affected their lives, their livelihood. How the pandemic has not only affected their lives but the lives and future of their children.

ER Amazonia photo — (Rosalia Gutierrez & Francisco Morales at the weekly market in San Telmo, before the lockdown.)

Lauren Van Ham tells us more about the environmental issues and the effects of the climate crisis. She said, "When corporations and governments continue to support the taking of land and wild spaces from indigenous people we have very little to gain in the short term and everything to lose in the long term.

Indigenous and community-owned land represents 18% of all land, which includes at least 1.2 billion acres of forests and that forest, that forest sequesters 37.7 billion tonnes of carbon!

It is time to expand these numbers by returning land to the indigenous so that all might benefit from traditional knowledge and wisely honed stewardship.”

The socio-economic concerns are highlighted by Morgana. As she points out “As I became more aware of the situation in Latin America it was also becoming clearer that the call for help was not so much to do with COVID, although certainly exacerbated by it, but an accumulation of years of frustration and desperation. As one person said on the loss of income – ‘we won’t die of the virus – we will die of starvation’.”

Kiran Bali explores the spiritual aspects and the importance of sharing indigenous wisdom:

“Living through a pandemic; this is such a difficult time. But through our beliefs and values – we can overcome many obstacles. We can save our land our resources and give our respect. Dear Mother, we stand for your dignity and we will continue to protect and guard the Earth.

This is a plea for everyone to join us in spirit, in action and unity, exercising spiritual resilience by cultivating compassion and community. Indigenous sisters and brothers we feel and share your pain. Now we must work together in making changes that are sustainable!”

During the panel discussion, after the viewing of the film, participants were able to ask questions.

Morgana also explained a little bit more about the long term strategy and the creation of a Cooperation – or indeed Cooperative – Circle to be established on the principles of Fairtrade. As Rosalia pointed out “This is the opportunity that we believe that the pandemic is giving us; to be able to transform the model that keeps us in a situation of inequality … and there the Indigenous Peoples, as we have always said, we have a lot to contribute. We have our ancestral knowledge, which we are using to face the Pandemic, we have our governance models, our Reciprocity practices and an economy in balance with Mother Earth.’ Sharing our resources and not just receiving a handout. Dignity, not Charity!

Rosalia lead us in the Closing Ceremony.. she thanked all of us for making this campaign possible. Now the real work begins! Help us to help them! Please donate generously.

A BIG thank you, Muchas Gracias! 😉

Practical information about the campaign:

Donations can be made to the PayPal account:

URI Netherlands Foundation: [email protected] or by bank transfer (NB 'TransferWise' is a very good option if you are outside the EU)

Beneficiary: URI NEDERLAND, Amsterdam

ING Bank, Amsterdam

IBAN: NL74 INGB 0004 6391 68

BIC: INGBNL2A

Payment description: 'Donation ER Amazonia'

Spanish/En Espanol

Pachamama llama ... ¿me oyes, puedes venir aquí? El 9 de diciembre de 2020, URI Global & URI Netherlands organizó la reunión en línea "Gente de la Tierra - Respuesta a Emergencias / ER Amazonia". Escuchamos las historias de los habitantes locales que han sido los más afectados por COVID-19 y han perdido puestos de trabajo y han perdido ingresos.

¡Ayudenos a ayudarlos!

Un gran gracias.

La reunión en línea, ¿ven? Transmisión en vivo a través de la Red Indígena Global URI:

https://www.facebook.com/samira.barucija/videos/3588402037922123

La película, 'ER Amazonia - Gente de la Tierra':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lpl6PWEEr8&t=1019s

Información práctica sobre la campaña: se pueden hacer donaciones a la cuenta de PayPal:

Fundación URI Netherlands: [email protected]

o por transferencia bancaria ... (NB 'TransferWise' es una muy buena opción si está fuera de la UE)

Beneficiario: URI Netherlands, AMSTERDAM

ING Bank, AMSTERDAM

IBAN: NL74 INGB 0004 6391 68