By Lygia Zamali Fernandes with Edson Krenak (Krenak, CS Staff)
By Lygia Zamali Fernandes with Edson Krenak (Krenak, CS Staff)
Why are Indigenous Peoples occupying Fazenda Cristal?
To protect their last water sources from lithium mining, after companies and governments had ignored their pleas for years.
Water = Life, Lithium = Destruction
Mining in the Jequitinhonha Valley dries up rivers and poisons the land, violating the rights of the Pankararu and Pataxó Peoples, whose survival depends on these waters.
They stand on the frontlines!
Several political sectors from the center and right—primarily aligned with agribusiness, and mining interests—pushed through the approval of Bill 2.159/2021 in the Brazilian Federal Congress during the early hours of Thursday, July 17, 2025. The bill passed by a vote of 267 to 116 and is being condemned by more than 350 Indigenous and civil society organizations as the most significant environmental setback in Brazil since at least the 1980s.
Cultural Survival expresses our solidarity and support to the Indigenous leader of the Xakriabá Peoples, Célia Xakriabá, who, while serving as a congresswoman in Brazil, was racially attacked by other representatives in the Brazilian Congress, without a proper response from the Speaker.
OPEN LETTER TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AUTHORITIES
Barra Velha / Bahia – Brazil, March 21, 2025
To the authorities of the Federative Republic of Brazil,
To the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,
To the United Nations Human Rights Council,
To the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
To international organizations, the media, and global civil society:
By Cristina Verán
By Carmem Cazaubon (CS Intern)
By Xiting Tong (CS Intern)
“We who have the spiritual strength and relied on our land as a source of life are now selling our wealth and allowing them to be devastated in the name of progress…So what kind of progress is this?” asked the resident of the Jequitinhonha Valley, questioning the false promise of lithium mining corporations.
By Xiting Tong (CS Intern)
“Resisting the ‘avalanche’-like encroachment of the lithium mining industry is not only a collective fight in the community, but most importantly, it is a fight in one’s own heart and mind,” says one of the participants of the agricultural projects in Girau.
By Edson Krenak (Krenak, CS Staff) in collaboration with APIB
Indigenous Peoples have long participated in international gatherings, often bearing witness to how the lack of leadership, vision, and decisive action perpetuates injustices and exacerbates the multiple crises facing the world. The G20 Summit is no exception.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
