With just a few weeks left to go to the opening of the World Cup, The Third Eye’s attention is turned towards Brazil. Not because The Third Eye is a sports fan. But rather, it is to show our total solidarity to Brazil’s indigenous peoples ahead of the World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

The Third Eye converged with Brazil’s tribal heart for the first time in the current issue of the magazine, in a feature with the Huni Kuin tribe by our beautiful Brazilian contributors JULIANA NABUCO and BHAGAVAN-DAVID BARKI DI LIMA.

Amidst Brazil’s repressive preparatory measures for these sports mega-events, widespread civil unrest has been rising. At the heart of the resistance, are Brazil’s first peoples, who continuously confront the threat of the extinction of both their peoples and culture, and the loss of their ancestral lands to the profit and expansion of the capitalist model on Brazilian territory. Their rights are ignored – all in the name of so-called ‘progress’ and ‘development’ objectives.

“It is for the whole world that I am fighting”, says Chief Raoni.

In this video, the famous CHIEF RAONI, whose impressive lip plate is immediately recognisable, calls out to leaders and peoples of all nations to defend both indigenous peoples’ rights and the Amazon rainforest. Chief Raoni is the leader of the Kayapo People who live in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, south of the Amazon Basin and along Rio Xingu and its tributaries. Over the past decades, Chief Raoni has become the living symbol of the fight for the preservation of the Amazon rainforest and indigenous culture. He has traveled extensively to share the cause of Brazilian Indians with the world, notably visiting Europe to promote the international petition he has made calling for the stop of the Belo Monte Dam’s construction.

Set in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, Belo Monte will be the world’s third largest hydroelectric dam. It is the biggest and most polemical construction going on in Brazil today. Chief Raoni speaks about his total commitment to this struggle for both nature and humanity. “It is for the whole world that I am fighting“, he says.

In the most recent report entitled Mega-Development Projects in Amazonia: A geopolitical and socioenvironmental primer, published in Lima on April 25 by anthropologist Paul Little, it has been revealed that 412 hydroelectric dams will be built across the Amazon basin and its headwaters if current plans go ahead. This would potentially lead to huge social problems, the “end of free-flowing rivers” and accelerate “ecosystem collapse”.

This June 2014, Raoni will once again be touring Europe. Raoni and Megaron will notably be launching ‘S.O.S. AMAZÔNIA’ from Paris on World Environment Day, June 6.

“Do not boycott the World Cup, but use it as a media weapon for the benefit of the peoples of Amazonia and the oppressed, expelled outside the stadium”, affirms Chief Raoni’s website.

Visit www.raoni.com to find out how to get involved and to read more about the S.O.S. AMAZÔNIA campaign. If you are available at least part-time until mid-June, join their team: info@planeteamazone.org

Text Sophie Pinchetti