Brazilian rainforest: Remote tribes given smartphones to prevent 'being massacred by ranchers'

The Tribal Voice project which launched on Sunday 9 August is enabling the world's remotest tribes to broadcast live from the rainforest.

Guarani Indian Damiana Cavanha appealed to the outside world when she was evicted from her ancestral land in southwest Brazil, saying: "We Guarani Kaiowa are being massacred by ranchers who want our land."

She recorded her message via videophone while she walked among the graves of her ancestors.

"If the government don't map out our land we will die. Do they want to kill us all?" she said, according to a Sunday Times report.

Nearly half a century after colonisation which led to massacres of indigenous people, Indians in Brazil are still being killed for their land.

In a bid to document human rights breaches, the tribes have been given solar-powered, waterproof smartphones by Survival International, an organisation campaigning for the rights of tribal people.

"Video is a really important weapon in their fight for land rights," said Sarah Shenker, project leader for the Tribal Voice project.

"There's always a delay about hearing an atrocity, then sending a researcher in, so we thought: why shouldn't people speak to the world directly?"

She added: "In the face of the Brazilian government and multinationals trying to silence tribal people, [who are] being murdered and called primitive and backward, it's a chance to show they are human beings and have a different kind of life."

The Guarani in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul are battling against ranchers who they say have taken their forest land to make way for cattle ranches, soya and sugar cane plantations.

The tribe has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and live in crowded reserves with high incidences of alcoholism and violence.

The leader of the Guarani, Marcos Veron was killed in 2003. The tribe were forced to leave their land and Veron stated: "This here is my life, my soul. If 
you take me away from this land, you take my life." According to Survival International, Marcos was attempting to return to his land when he was beaten by employees of a rancher and died as the result of his injuries.

A video message from a Guarani tribesman shows the ruins of his house, burnt to the ground by local ranchers. "We have lost everything, even our IDs," he said.

Another tribe making videos are the Yanomami who live in the forests of northern Brazil and most of the people have had no contact with the outside world.

Mariazinha Yanomami was the first to upload a video. "I am very happy. If we see illegal goldminders on our land or if outsiders try to kill us, I will be able to let everyone know."