Boat parade marks the opening of the people’s summit with a river manifesto for life and territories
On Tuesday morning (November 12), the waters of the Amazon became the stage for one of the most symbolic moments of the People’s Summit: the Boat Parade, a political act on the water that officially marked the opening of the meeting. With around five thousand participants and more than 300 boats, the procession sailed through the Brazilian Amazon waters of the Guajará Bay in Belém do Pará, carrying messages of struggle, hope, and resistance from affected peoples around the world.
Beginning early in the day, delegates from the IV International Meeting of Communities Affected by Dams and the Climate Crisis organized themselves to join the mobilization, which brought together caravans from various countries and Brazilian states. The boat parade was a true fluvial manifesto, denouncing false climate solutions and reaffirming that the true answers for a sustainable world come from the peoples of the waters, the forests, and the peripheries, where people resist with their collective, agroecological, and ancestral practices.
The ferry at the International Meeting was a portrait of diversity and popular strength. Flags from different countries and social movements colored the space, amidst songs and dances, including the sound of Pará’s carimbó, which blended with Latin American musical rhythms and the joy of those who, even while speaking different languages, share the same horizon of struggle.
The waters of the Amazon filled with colors, voices, and flags as the Boat Parade opened the People’s Summit in Belém. Photos: Joyce Silva / MAB e Joka Madruga / MAB
The crossing, which began at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), where the People’s Summit is taking place, covered approximately seven nautical miles along the Guamá River, where it meets the Guajará River, until reaching Vila da Barca, a stilt-house community that has resisted real estate speculation and public neglect for decades. From there, the boats returned to the UFPA port, ending the journey around 1 pm.
On the ferry, about 200 delegates from 45 countries, from five continents, joined together on the Amazonian waters. Amidst the intense heat of Belém, the wind that cut across the river brought relief and renewed energy after five days of study, exchanges, and debates.
More than a procession, the boat parade was an internationalist celebration of the struggle of affected peoples. One day after the plenary session that marked the creation of the International Movement of People Affected by Dams, Climate Crisis, and Socio-environmental Crimes, the river event reinforced the mystique and unity that transcends borders and languages.
