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Thursday, May 15, 1997
Poets and Writers Against the Destruction of Amazonia (PWADA)
The destruction of Amazonia is old news: the media gives it now but a
passing reference. Earth Day, though still important, has often become a
series of local informative events and homages to Mother Earth and a
ritual
of self-congratulations for our munificence. Yet the distance between us
and
the trees that are cut down, the land gouged, upturned and depleted, and
the
contaminated Amazonian waterways, grows shorter. The separation between
the
destiny of humans and Amazonia will disappear as long as we remain
spellbound by the flowing self-importance of our human affairs and
isolated
self-interests.
To develop an ethical relationship to the land, as Aldo Leopold stated,
echoing ancient Amazonian beliefs, we must have love, respect, and
admiration for its value--which goes beyond an annual day of remembrance
of
Earth's ecological endangered wholeness. Every day must be Earth Day.
The news from Amazonia points to a contrary attitude towards the land and
its indigenous people. The Secoya Indians of Eastern Ecuador have
rightfully
accused the Texaco Oil Company of "turning their homeland into a poison
tar
pit--and they want Texaco to pay for health care and a major
environmental
cleanup" (The Observer, January 13, 1997). As Cristobal Bonifaz, the
lawyer
who took up their cause, has noted, the dumping of product waters by
Texaco
and other oil companies has been a deadly lightning bolt on all the fauna
of
the Napo River which runs through the Secoyas' land and which has
traditionally fed them (see also The Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 12,
1995). On the Brazilian side, gold prospectors' attempt to revive the
1980's
boom (Boston Globe, October 26, 1996) that enriched some and caused an
ecological catastrophe. The New York Times notes that the burning of vast
acreage of Amazonian forests continues unabated (Sept, 12, 1996, v145,
pA3(n) pA31 col 1). Logging operations still threaten forest resources in
all the countries of the Amazonian basin (see Los Angeles Times, Dec. 16,
1996).
We poets and writers owe our allegiance to the procreation of forests.
For
centuries we have depended on wood pulp to disseminate our words. As
human
beings we owe our continuing existence to the uninterrupted cycles of
nature. Let us then assume the responsibility to at least put our words
on
the line. I ask my fellow Amazonian writers, North American, as well as
world writers to promote the preservation of Amazonia.
To participate in and support the association of Poets and Writers
Against
the Destruction of Amazonia (PWADA) please send us your name and
address--it
will be included in our Center for Amazonian Literature and Culture
homepage. Poets, feel free to submit poems for our projected anthology.
If
these are written in languages other than English, please provide a
professional quality translation or request one from us. We apologize
that
unused manuscripts cannot be returned.
If you've published books, in any language, related to the theme of
Amazonia
kindly consider donating a copy to the Center or send us the title of
your
publication(s) so we can purchase them and make them available to the
public
through our library.
Please consider becoming a member of CALC, which includes its forthcoming
book-length publication, Amazonian Literary Review.
Nicomedes Suárez Araúz, Amazonian writer
Mailing Address:
Nicomedes Suárez Araúz, Co-director
E-Mail to: nsuarez@sophia.smith.edu
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