Looking nature in the eye

As you might know by now: Cenaida Guachagmira is the strongest woman in the Intag valley in the subtropical rain forest in northern Ecuador. She is defending her forest against her own government and the biggest copper company in the world. In the last letter/post she told you what being indigenous means to her and why she is defending nature. Here you have the chance to understand this on another level if you can let yourself fall into it.

In this clip she is standing in the middle of the forest, the middle of the concessions, the middle of the conflict. She is standing in front of the waterfall, a source of life for many beings in the forest and for herself. Five minutes she is standing there and looking into the camera while thinking and feeling different things.

Dare to get involved. Look her in the eyes. In the beginning you will also hear her sing one of the most famous liberation songs from Latin America: “Solo le pido a dios” The line she is singing means: “All I ask of God is that I am not indifferent to all these injustices. That the withered death does not find me empty and alone without having done enough.”

You can just watch and imagine the things she is thinking of. Or you scroll down to the end of this mail. There you will find time codes and the instructions I gave her while recording the video. Enjoy and just let yourself fall into her eyes, the sound of her voice and the waterfall. What can you connect to? What can you see in her eyes and in yourself? Tell me, happy to hear what happened.

Recording this moment was magical. Bernada Cornejo the camera woman and me, we felt the power of the forest and of Cenaida and the other guardians. We spent four days with Cenaida traveling into the valley over bumpy roads and then around the waterfall, looking for ants and leaves and light.

I hope you get a glimpse of the atmosphere we experienced during those four days when you immerse yourself in Cenaida’s presence for five minutes. Stop doing anything else, focus on her presence. Just look and play along. Stop thinking. Dive deep. I hope you can connect. To whatever. What is it for you? Share with us.

The idea is to get a feeling, an idea, an experience for what it means to be connected to something outside yourself, something bigger than yourself. To understand without words. Did it work for you?

If you want Cenaida’s words you can have a look in the letter/post from last week with some of her quotes, or you get “The Gospel” as a booklet in German: Die Frohe Botschaft. Here Cenaida will tell you about her connection to nature. There is a lot to learn from her. I can tell you as her friend.

The clip here is from the video “The Gospel” that was exhibited in “Down to Earth - Territories” in Hamburg, curated by Sam Gora. The clip was created as part of the JIVE Labs project carried out by Headliner @jiveshow and @dock_11_ , funded by the Berlin Senate. There will be a stage show with me and more magical material in June in Berlin (13/14) and Hamburg (18). It is about resistance and Rights of Nature, about digital art and journalism. Tickets are available now. Hamburg Kampnagel and Berlin Säälchen. Come and see if another kind of journalism is possible. There will also be other stories, for example from Syria and Spitsbergen.

Here are the time codes for the instructions I gave Cenaida:

2:16 Think of the joy that nature brings you

3:50 Think of the people who are destroying nature

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Down to Earth - Territories

“The amount of plastic in your brain” by Sam Gora

We are nature and nature actually doesn’t accept boarders and boxes. Not between nations and not between humans and the rest of the ecosystem. Nature cannot be owned. If you try to control her you kill her and ultimately yourself. Because you are nature.

Nature is a living being and deserves respect.

This was the core idea behind our exhibition. For two weeks we had an open gallery with several events and spoke about nature with hundreds of humans. And with some dogs and cats and plants.

Beautiful to see how so many people from different backgrounds, professions, cultures and generations could deeply relate to this.

There is more common ground to build something beautiful than we think.

Even though the new government in Germany looks a bit dystopian and funding for such cultural gatherings will probably get less and less in the future.

This time we were still lucky: The exhibition was funded by the city of Hamburg, Winter Stiftung für Rechte der Natur and Katholischer Fonds. Conducted by Gängeviertel e.V. and Radio Utopistan e.V. Curated by Sam Gora. Eight artists from different countries made showed their work. People in the audience showed their hearts. Very happy and grateful for everybody who participated and enjoyed the gatherings.

Happy you are here, happy about your contribution.

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Work with me on your very own story

I now start opening spaces for 1:1 Mentorship on Storytelling. Your story in connection with a collective story. It is about how your story is driving your life and your contribution to the lives of others, your family, your society, the collective. What is actually the story you are telling yourself right now and how could it be more constructive, more joyful and more just? Maybe even more true? Definitely more alive.

First containers will be with three video calls of 90 minutes each over the course of a month. In between we’ll be in exchange via messages and will co-create some magic in four weeks time. Reach out if you are interested. Now for 300€, after I put down the details of this journey the price will rise.

If you want to start slowly and with less commitment, here are the online courses on constructive storytelling. One in German (recorded live sessions), one in English (video tutorials). For contributing members of the RU community there is a discount of 30%.

See you in a more just future

Elisabeth

I am a journalist and writer from Germany. Questioning both, journalism and Germany.

I was working as an investigative reporter and news person in corporate media, then published a book on the revolutionary idea of Rights of Nature and co-founded Radio Utopistan. I wanted to bring more soul to the table than classical media allows. My political heart and mind revolve mainly around nature and Palestine, two seemingly doomed topics that taught me a lot about how to stay constructive in the face of crisis.

I also do readings, lectures and workshops. Every now and then I still publish in classical media like ARD or ZEIT online. Reach out if you want to work with me