I am Benki, a young son of the Earth. I am here on behalf of my father, Antonio, and my mother, Francisca. For me, the forest is part of a life cycle in which I take part as an Ashaninka, when I bathe in the river or breath the pure odour of flowers, when I work by day or rest at night, when I eat fruit, or sing with birds and animals. My happiness gives me strength to face the world to help the planet by creating a strategic plan to develop a sustainable and balanced way for humanity.
We Ashaninka have a concern for what is happening in the world. There is already plenty of proof obtained through research that points to the problems caused by deforestation, by the pollution of rivers, by gold mining, by the extraction of petroleum, by the creation of modified seeds, by the construction of roads and dams, by the pollution caused by industries and garbage.
Our government’s policies now make us even more apprehensive, with their enterprises for the construction of dams, for the destruction of the forest, the extraction of minerals, with its reduction of indigenous lands, its investment in cattle breeding and in planting monocultures with the use of poisons which will then destroy our rivers. What are we going to do if our government does not know how to reflect upon its socioeconomic plans, leading the country to a human disaster?
I know that we, the Ashaninka, are showing our concern to the world by undertaking projects which help to generate economic sustainability and greater equilibrium for all humans, by creating social projects for schools, and generating conscience so as to maintain a cleaner and richer planet, planting forests and taking care of the Earth as part of our lives.
We want all the nations of the world to alert and warn our government to wake up and to go back a little. So that it admits it has committed mistakes which are now killing us all. This message comes from the Earth, as a request for Humanity to understand that we are transient beings here and one cannot just look at one’s own well-being. We have to look toward future generations and what we will leave for them. We have to think of our children and of the Earth. We cannot leave the country impoverished and poisoned, as it is happening now. Today, we can already see great disasters beginning to happen, people emigrating out of their countries in search of water to drink and food to eat. We see a war going on for the money now, and soon we will be seeing the war for water and for food. Please give heed to what I am saying. Shall we wait, or shall we change history? Join us!
Benki, son of the Earth.
