Kayapó in Brazil

In 1989 Kayapó organized a successful protest against the construction of a dam that would have flooded a vast area of Amazon territory. Kayapó visited the headquarters of the World Bank and secured mass media coverage of their plight. The resulting international protest led the World Bank to withdraw its funding, forcing the Brazilian government to abandon the project. This protest built on successful previous organizing efforts in Altamira and in Brasília during the Consitutional Assembly.

In October 1992 the Kayapó Menkragnotí were finally granted nearly 5 million hectares in the Xingu and Altamira area of the rain-forest.

The Kayapó have two very different perspectives on outsiders – the Gorotire village has retained mining rights, while Kapot has remained distant from commercial interests. Members of the community have hired whites to mine the land, and Kayapó have sold their products to major international corporations such as the Body Shop. Two Kayapó chiefs, Ropni (or Raoni) and Bepkoroti (Paulinho Payakã), have become international celebrities. The international pop star Sting works closely with Raoni on environmental issues and co-authored a book based on his experiences. Despite the amount of contact the Kayapó have with outsiders, there is still internal tension that has enabled them to retain a level of scepticism about outsiders. This balance may help explain some of the economic and political success of the community.