In the garden of her shabono, a palm-thatched communal dwelling slung with hammocks, Mariazinha, a Yanomami community leader in Brazil, is speaking to a video camera. Soberly, she recalls the invasion by gold miners of the rainforest where her people live, and she describes the disease and violence that the intruders brought with them. But today, Mariazinha says, she is happy—and that camera is one reason why. “If we see illegal gold miners on our land, or if outsiders try to kill us, I will…

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Read more stories by Alicia Clegg.