Cyberactivism Secret Sarayaku
Sarayaku men take only what they need in order to survive and take advantage of everything they hunt. | Photo: © Misha Vallejo
Ecuador, Amazon Rainforest: A small Indigenous community, confronted with the interests of Big Oil, fights to preserve its land using the tools of its ancestors and the internet. This is their story. A visual essay.
The Kichwa people of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest have always held a physical and spiritual connection with the jungle and its supreme beings in order to maintain equilibrium within their world. They believe in the Kawsak Sacha or the “Living Forest”. The Kawsak Sacha is based on the idea that the jungle is a living, conscious and rights-bearing entity in which all elements, including the plants, animals, humans, rivers, wind, stars, etc., are alive, have a spirit and are interconnected. If one aspect of this is damaged, it will trigger a chain reaction affecting all other parts of the jungle. Thus, the Kichwa take from the jungle only what they need to survive and nothing more. They believe that protecting their home is fundamental not only to their own survival, but also to that of humanity. By documenting their everyday life, this transmedia project offers a reinterpretation of their worldview.At first glance, this story may appear too insignificant to affect life on the planet at large, but not according to the worldview of the Kichwa. The Kichwa people believe we are all part of this big and complex organism that we call Earth. Everything that affects the Kichwa affects all of us. Everything is connected. In the times we live in, implementing this philosophy to our everyday life could mean the difference between extinction or survival.
The Sarayaku territory is not just a physical and geographic space, but also a space within which we can elevate our emotions as we connect with the world of the supreme beings. The relationships we maintain with these beings enable us to uphold our economic systems, our technology, knowledge and science. They guide and accompany our social, cultural and spiritual life. It is with their help that we construct our organizational and political systems, and design our future, autonomously determining our destinies and ensuring the continuance of our community. – Extract of the Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest) Declaration written by the Kichwa Ancestral Community of Sarayaku.
In emphasis of this connection, the Sarayaku have used social media to become cyber-activists: they spread their environmental message and connect with supporters across the globe via a satellite internet connection. The community is convinced that by sharing their life in the jungle, they will inspire people around the globe to implement different strategies in the fight against climate change. They want to get known internationally, not out of vanity but rather because in this way it will be much harder for the government or big oil companies to get rid of them. “People ask me: what can we do to save the jungle? I don’t know, you guys [from the West] invented engines and gasoline. Now you have to invent an engine that runs on water. Why are you asking me this? I didn’t invent that... However, technology used in the right way may be able to save the rainforest”, explains Eriberto Gualinga, a filmmaker from Sarayaku in an interview.
Nevertheless, the connection with the “outside world” via social media is a double-edged sword and has resulted in an ever-greater presence of Western culture within the community’s everyday life.
The worldview of the Sarayaku is not linear. It resembles a circle with hundreds of nodes and international connections. The outcomes of the project are the Secreto Sarayaku photobook and the interactive documentary, both of which are available online.
The book implements a circular narrative which on the one hand, focuses on the relationship between the community and the Sacha Runakuna or Supreme Protectors of the rainforest. These are mythological beings that cannot be seen by the bare eye (or bare camera lens, for that matter), but instead are accessed by the Indigenous yachackuna or wise men through a spiritual connection. On the other hand, this book provides a visual analysis of the peculiar symbiosis between the community and the internet technology.
Keep Our Planet Alive
The web documentary's narrative is split into six sections, each one centered around the life cycle. The chapters explore the concepts of birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age and death through interviews, thought-provoking videos, photographs, audio, texts and other materials, some of which were produced by members of the community themselves. This platform combines Indigenous ancestral knowledge together with Western contemporary knowledge in an effort to emulate the interwoven elements of the forest. Furthermore, in each section the viewer will be faced with choosing between multiple paths, thus discovering new connections between the elements. The website is intended to be explored like a virtual jungle. In addition to the main sections of this website, the platform includes a blog managed entirely by the Youngsters Association of Sarayaku (SAMARUTA). The blog is also connected to the @everydaysarayaku Instagram account, which continually shares photographs of everyday life from within the community.Each of these outcomes may work in conjunction with each other as well as separately. This project is an invitation to explore this jungle of information where Western contemporary knowledge merges with the knowledge of the ancestral Indigenous community. Lastly, this project intends to give the community a strong voice and open the debate on how we can keep our planet alive. It is clear that without the Amazon Rainforest the world cannot exist.
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