Les oublies de l Amazonie
Avec les recents incendies de foret au Bresil, les negociations internationales sur la gestion de l'Amazonie se concentrent plus que jamais sur la question du climat et la protection de la biodiversite. Pourtant vivent encore aujourd'hui en son sein des peuples amerindiens dont le devenir est de plus en plus precaire. Grands oublies des debats internationaux, ils se battent aujourd'hui pour leur existence, leur culture et leur environnement.
Dans le cours superieur du fleuve Maroni, les Amerindiens Wayana, actuellement divises entre le Bresil, le Suriname et la Guyane francaise, sont percutes de plein fouet par la modernite entrainant une erosion de leur culture, une destabilisation sociale mais aussi une degradation de leur environnement. Face a ce triste constat, certains tentent aujourd'hui de preserver activement leur culture pour eviter qu'elle ne disparaisse.
Au coeur de la jungle amazonienne, le peuple Wayana a vecu reclus du monde moderne depuis la nuit des temps. Un temps protege par une foret difficilement penetrable, ils echapperent aux premieres vagues de colonisation du debut du XXe siecle pour finalement devenir francais dans les annees 70. Devenus des lors sedentaires, les quelques 900 wayanas vivent desormais dans un chaplet de villages a 3h de pirogue du dernier bourg francais.
Aux premiers abords, les habitants semblent vivre au rythme de la foret, proche de leurs traditions ancestrales. Pourtant, en regardant de plus pres, on observe que la recente confrontation du peuple Wayana au monde moderne vient mettre en peril leur fragile equilibre. En moins d'une quinzaine d'annees, ils ont subit une modernisation rapide qui leur a facilite l'acces a des biens de premieres necessites, mais qui les a aussi conduit a diminuer leurs activites quotidiennes comme la chasse, l'agriculture ou culturelles comme les chants et les rites d'initiation. Cette augmentation du temps de loisir a malheureusement laisse place a l'oisivete, renforcee par des comptoirs chinois approvisionnant les habitants en alcools et objets superflus de la societe de consommation (imitation de vetements et accessoires de luxe). Fragiles et desorientes, les Wayanas doivent desormais faire face a un delitement des relations sociales, qui conduit notamment a un taux de suicide eleve chez les jeunes. Parallelement a cet etiolement interne, l'installation de nombreux orpailleurs illegaux a conduit a une contamination au mercure du fleuve et une catastrophe ecologique et sanitaire sans precedant dans l'environnement amazonien.
Mais face a la perversite de cette modernisation trop rapide, les Amerindiens ne veulent plus restes inactifs et tentent aujourd'hui de sauver leur culture et leur peuple. Nombre d'entre eux ne se voient plus comme des victimes de la colonisation mais plutot comme des resistants fiers des valeurs transmises par leurs ancetres. C'est dans cette perspective que plusieurs initiatives (passant par l'education, les associations de femmes ou la protection de l'environnement) sont mises en place par les habitants depuis quelques annees.
The forgotten people of Amazonia
With the recent Brazilian forest fires, international negotiations on the management of the Amazonia are focusing more than ever on the climate issue and the protection of biodiversity. However, there are still Amerindian peoples living in its midst today, whose future is increasingly precarious. Greatly forgotten in international debates, they are now fighting for their existence, their culture and their environment.
In the upper reaches of the Maroni River, the Wayana Amerindians, currently divided between Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana, are being severely affected by modernity, which is causing an erosion of their culture, social destabilization and also environmental degradation. Facing this tragic situation, some people are now trying to actively preserve their culture to prevent it from disappearing.
In the heart of the Amazon jungle, the Wayana people have lived secluded from the modern world since the dawn of time. A while protected by a forest that was difficult to penetrate, they escaped the first waves of colonization at the beginning of the 20th century before finally becoming French in the 1970s. Since then, the 900 Wayanas have become sedentary, and now live in a string of villages 3 hours by canoe from the last French town.
At first, the inhabitants seem to live in the rhythm of the forest, close to their ancestral traditions. However, a closer look reveals that the recent confrontation of the Wayana people with the modern world is threatening their fragile balance. In less than fifteen years, they have undergone a rapid modernization that has facilitated their access to basic necessities, but has also led them to reduce their daily activities such as hunting or agriculture or cultural activities such as singing and initiation rituals. This increase in leisure time has unfortunately given way to idleness, reinforced by Chinese counters supplying the inhabitants with alcohol and superfluous objects from the consumption society (imitation of luxury clothes and accessories). Fragile and disoriented, the Wayana are now facing a breakdown in social relations, which is leading to a high suicide rate among young people. In parallel with this internal decline, the installation of numerous illegal gold panners has led to mercury contamination of the river and an ecological and health disaster unprecedented in the Amazonian environment.
But to overcome the perversity of this too fast-paced globalization, the Amerindians no longer want to remain inactive and are now trying to save their culture and their people. Many of them no longer see themselves as victims of colonization but rather as proud resistance fighters of the values transmitted by their ancestors. It is in this perspective that several initiatives (through education, women's associations or environmental protection) have been carried out by the locals leaders in recent years.