(Cover photo: https://www.wur.nl)
We, the people of the world,
Implore you keepers of the lungs of our common home,
To forgive us all for abandoning you,
For not fighting for you
For not fighting with you
Even when we did not fight against you
When you, to keep us alive, fought,
We left to and for you the fight
We ignorantly and foolishly thought
That to keep yourselves alive you fought
We urge you the Munduruku and the Makuna
The Matis, the Amahuaca, and the Apurinã,
The Barasana, the Catauxi, the Deni, and the Hupda,
All of you! To please pardon our inertia
Your tears are our tears,
Your fears – resoundingly our fears,
Their jeers to you echo horridly in our ears
The wailing souls of the giant anteaters,
The weeping spirits of the macaws,
The furious lives of the conifers,
In union, in communion, so much hurt our hearts
From lands afar,
Bound by one common home
United by our common human ancestry
Vow to fight with you for the Amazon
Encourage you not to relent
We stand with the Amazonia
Her peoples, her animals, her plants, her life!
.
David N. Munene,
CYNESA Programs Manager.
.