Solidarity with the Mundurucu and Jairo Saw

Jairo Saw is the Mundurucu indigenous leader of the village Sawre Aboy, in the state of Para in Amazonia. The Sawre Aboy village is crucial for the defense of the Mundurucu territory. Unfortunately, Jairo had to spend a considerable amount of time and most of his resources to take care of his wife, Irène Akay, who sadly passed away one month ago in the hospital of Santarem, Para. In his absence, the Sawre Aboy village was looted and pillaged by non-indigenous hunters, miners, and loggers. Jairo now needs our help to return to his village, secure the Mundurucu territory, and rebuild what has been destroyed.

 

 

 

 

My name is Pierre Pica , and I am a researcher that studies the indigenous language of the Mundurucu. As you probably know, I have been working with Jairo Saw for over 15 years on Mundurucu number, geometry, and morality. This cooperation has led to the publication of several articles in Science and other reputable journals, involving other well-known scholars, showing how properties of core knowledge systems interact with language.

 

I decided to start and manage this campaign to thank him for his invaluable contribution to our studies, and help the Mundurucu secure their territory. I am managing the campaign because I am lucky enough to have a good and reliable access to the Internet, which is not the case for the Mundurucu population.

 

 

 

 

Jairo is not only a colleague who has an extraordinary sense of language, he is also a dear friend, and the cacique of Sawre Aboy, a village founded in 2019 in the Mundurucu territory of Sawre Muybu located in the municipalities of Itaituba and Trairão, in the southwest of Para, the Brazilian Amazon. The village was established in a strategic position, near the border of the indigenous lands, with the idea of being a first line of defense of the Mundurucu indigenous territory.

 

A month ago, Jairo’s spouse, Irène Akay, passed away after a long unsuccessful treatment in Santarem (Para) for a neuroendocrine tumor that was probably linked to the high degree of mercury in the local water. To assist Irene in Santarem, Jairo was forced to leave his village. During his absence, the village was subjected to repeated incursion of loggers, fisherman, and non-indigenous hunters who extract and exploit what they consider to be natural resources with a predatory logic.

 

This situation has had considerable consequences for the population of the village of Sawre Aboy, who have to make do without the leadership of their cacique. The presence of the cacique is indeed essential for the coordination of the village’s activities, its relationship with public bodies, the governance of the village itself, and many other projects. The incursions in Sawre Aboy severely undermined the defense and monitoring of the Mundurucu territory that now needs to be restored.

 

 

 

To face these threats and to enable Jairo to return to his village under the right conditions, I would like to launch a call for solidarity asking you to contribute to establishing financial resources in order to consolidate the situation of the village of Sawre Aboy and to strengthen the defense of the Mundurucu. Any support, large or small, will be most welcome.