Sônia Bone de Souza Silva Santos OMC (conceived 6 March 1974), generally known as Sônia Guajajara, is a Brazilian native dissident, preservationist, and government official. An individual from the radical Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), she was at first a possibility for President of Brazil in the 2018 political race, prior to being picked as the bad habit official running mate of chosen one Guilherme Boulos. This made her the principal native individual to run for a government leader position in Brazil. In the year 2022, Sônia was named one of the 100 most compelling individuals on the planet by Time Magazine.
What was Sonia Guajajara’s childhood like?
Sônia Guajajara was brought into the world to a Guajajara family on Araribóia Indigenous Land (Portuguese: Terra Indígena Araribóia), situated in the Amazonian rainforest in the north-eastern province of Maranhão. At 15 years old, she ventured out from home at the greeting of FUNAI and moved to Minas Gerais, where she finished her underlying training at an agrarian all-inclusive school. Guajajara became intrigued by legislative issues early on.
Guajajara would later go to the Federal University of Maranhão, situated in the state capital of São Luís. Guajajara furthermore holds a graduate degree in culture and society from the Institute of Humanities, Arts, and Culture at the Federal University of Bahia. Following graduation, Guajajara worked in various callings, including as an educator and as a medical caretaker.
What is Sonia Guajajara’s contribution to activism and what honours has she received?
Guajajara is the head of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, or “APIB”), an association that addresses around 300 native ethnic gatherings in Brazil. As an extremist, she has conflicted with the ruralistas in the National Congress, a gathering of moderate lawmakers aligned with agribusiness intrigues who favour further improvement on open grounds.
Guajajara unequivocally goes against endeavours to contact uncontacted people groups in the Amazon Rainforest. Guajajara has depicted President Jair Bolsonaro as “a danger to the planet” because of his deforestation strategies. In 2020, she called for earnest ecological activity in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. During her experience as a lobbyist, she has coordinated various exhibits on the side of native privileges in Brazil and worked with a gathering of native pioneers with then-President Dilma Rousseff in 2013.
In the year 2015, she was named to the Brazilian Ordem do Mérito Cultural. She was likewise granted a decoration by Maranhão state. In March 2022 she was among 151 worldwide women’s activists marking Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto, in fortitude with the Feminist Anti-War Resistance started by Russian women’s activists after the Russian attack of Ukraine.
How did Sonia Guajajara’s establish her political career?
Guajajara turned into an individual from the Workers’ Party (PT), the left-wing party that controlled Brazil from 2003 to 2016, in 2000. In 2011, Guajajara passed on the party because of its union with Roseana Sarney, a moderate lawmaker who filled in as Governor of her home province of Maranhão. She went on to join the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), a communist coalition at first established by PT protesters.
In the approach the 2014 official political race, Guajajara condemned the administration of Dilma Rousseff in a meeting, expressing that the “Dilma government was extremely awful for us”. In a similar meeting, she likewise forewarned against the appointment of a traditional Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) to the administration. Regardless of her doubts, Guajajara reviled the prosecution of Dilma Rousseff that prompted the establishment of Michel Temer as President, depicting it as a “overthrow”.
In 2018, Guajajara declared her expectation to run for President of Brazil as an individual from PSOL. Her application was upheld by the help of the Eco-socialist wing of the party. Eventually, she was picked by work pioneer Guilherme Boulos to act as his bad habit official running mate on the PSOL ticket. Guajajara was the primary native individual to campaign for a government leader position in Brazil.