This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon, Indigenous Rights and #Occupy Worldwide. [All links in this post lead to Portuguese language pages.] For a few hours on October 27, 2011, indigenous peoples from the Xingu region occupied the construction site of the Belo Monte dam following the global movement of “taking the streets against financial slavery, corruption and other forms of capitalist coercion” which started on October 15. #OccupyBeloMonte Movimento Xingu Vivo (Alive Xingu Movement) explains: Cerca de 300 indígenas, pescadores e ribeirinhos da bacia do rio Xingu estão acampados pacificamente, desde a madrugada de hoje, no canteiro de obras de Belo Monte para exigir a paralisação das obras da usina hidrelétrica, em Altamira, no Pará. A rodovia Transamazônica, na altura do quilômetro 50, também foi interditada. O protesto não tem prazo para terminar. Indigenous wields bow and arrow in front of the construction site. © Ivan Canabrava/ Illuminati filmes shared by Xingu Vivo (used with permission) Though the #OccupyBeloMonte protest intended the occupation of the plant – that belongs to the company Norte Energia – to last indefinitely, in fact it only lasted until the following day, as Professor Sonia explains on her blog, Personal Escritor: Foi expedida ordem judicial para que saíssem, mas houve resistência. A desocupação se deu hoje, 28 de outubro de 2011, através de policiais federais e de soldados da Força Nacional. Programmer Walter Gandarella, from the blog Pare Belo Monte (Stop Belo Monte) criticized Norte Energia (North Energy), which he calls Morte Energia (Death Energy, a play with words), for carrying out the construction of the plant without consulting or respecting the surrounding population: Pois bem, dona Morte Ener­gia, vocês não sou­be­ram ouvir as comu­ni­da­des antes do iní­cio das obras, como manda a cons­ti­tui­ção e as leis para licen­ci­a­mento ambi­en­tal, mas se dizem estar fazendo a coisa certa. É mesmo? […] Como quem não deve, não teme, e já que a Norte Ener­gia alega que ouviu todas as comu­ni­da­des que seriam afe­ta­das, qual o pro­blema em pro­var isto levando a público estes rela­tó­rios bem como as pro­vas docu­men­tais de cada reu­nião feita com as comu­ni­da­des? Well, ‘Ms. Death Energy’, you were unable to listen to the communities before the works started, as mandated by the constitution and laws for environmental licensing, but you say you're doing the right thing. Really? […] As one who owes nothing, fears nothing, and seeing that Norte Energia claims that it has heard all the communities that would be affected, what is the issue with proving this by bringing to the public arena these reports as well as the documentary evidence of each meeting held with the communities? Indigenous protestors at the entrance of the construction site. © Ivan Canabrava/ Illuminati filmes shared by Movimento Xingu Vivo (used with permission). And he also criticized the Brazilian press for keeping silent about the occupation, saying that if not “the news would completely destabilize the firm position of the Government to persevere the construction of the dam”: Muita gente, sabendo o mínimo sobre este empre­en­di­mento, já é logo con­tra este absurdo, ima­gina então se a maior par­cela da popu­la­ção tomasse conhe­ci­mento? Real­mente seria uma tra­gé­dia para os pla­nos de “desen­vol­vi­mento sus­ten­tá­vel” do país. Lucas Morais, writing for Diário Liberdade (Liberty Journal), criticizes the government for the intransigence on the construction of the dam: Mas, se o governo insiste na pauta dos Direitos Humanos, o que tem a dizer sobre os indígenas que ali têm suas terras tradicionais? E os ribeirinhos? E os mais de 300 mil habitantes da região que terão suas vidas afetadas diretamente? Será que Dilma Rousseff seguirá insistindo na pauta dos direitos humanos tendo em vista toda essa flagrante violência contra os povos originários e brasileiros? Video from the user Midialivre (free media) on YouTube with images from the dam site occupation: Besides several lawsuits against Belo Monte in Brazilian courts, in April the government was convicted by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS) who has pressured the government to dialogue with the indigenous and river dwellers who will be affected by the dam either directly or indirectly. Refusing to follow the order of the Commission, the country had been once again summoned to explain itself and to negotiate with the local population in a meeting scheduled for October 26 in Washington. Once again Brazil has refused to even sending a representative to dialogue with the organizations that advocate for the victims, which may lead to a new condemnation of Brazil.