Fires in southern Argentina: "They kill the land and its guardians"

The Mapuche weychafe Moira Millán writes about the fires in Chubut, Argentina.

March 12, 2021

By Moira Millán

Photos: Indigenous Women's Movement

When terricide makes the air unbreathable, it can't be solved with an oxygen mask. The air and the land must be cleansed; centuries of filth and filth that form the foundation of power must be removed. Everything smells rotten, like an ancient decay that seems never-ending. Our stomachs are in knots. So much impunity makes us nauseous, yet we still can't overcome our fears to go out and cleanse the territories and liberate them from the terricides and profiteers of death. Thousands of hectares burned, added to thousands more, become millions.

"They burn our souls by setting our land on fire."

The earth groans its lethal pain, and we Indigenous women begin to roar with earth-shattering cries for our deaths, and those of our children, now not only from famine, pollution, water theft, or racist violence. Now they burn our souls by setting our land ablaze. We have become disposable bodies, expendable territories, disposable lives, without justice. They kill the earth and its guardians, and it seems not to matter. The violent evictions continue, and the territories are handed over without the slightest blush of shame to mining, oil, forestry, and all kinds of earth-destroying companies. I wonder if our bones and the remains of this earth-destruction will find human life to collect them in the future. It is said that the Indigenous genocide was necessary for the birth of this bloody colonial nation-state.

From this ongoing destruction of our land, what kind of birth do we hope to achieve? We still don't have exact figures for the areas burned this summer because the fires are still burning. All of them intentional. Nor do we have statistics on femicides and feminicides because they continue to murder us; we don't have the exact number of deaths and the different ways the system kills. But we are certain of one thing: we must do something urgently to stop so many deaths. You will surely say that this COVID scenario is not conducive to taking to the streets and fighting, but it is conducive to the advancement of mega-mining, fracking, dams, and extractive industries of all kinds. States are determined to prevent us from dying from COVID; however, they themselves can kill us, through hunger, pollution, repression, and sexism. But dying from COVID is forbidden.

"We are being punished for defending life."

I have seen the mountains ablaze with a reddish hue and I have thought that it is the red of anger, of the fury of power against the people who say, "No to mega-mining!" They are punishing us for defending life; but the clear light of dawn will prevail, bringing the truth. That is why we Indigenous women say, until we have justice, there will be no peace for them! I ask you from the depths of my heart for all your support. Terricide must be considered a crime against nature; and the perpetrators must be condemned. Xepenge kom pu che! From Puelwillimapu, Chubut.

All of our content is open access. To continue providing independent, inclusive, and rigorous journalism, we need your help. You can contribute here .

We are Present

We are committed to a type of journalism that delves deeply into the realm of the world and offers in-depth research, combined with new technologies and narrative formats. We want the protagonists, their stories, and their struggles to be present.