{"id":72890,"date":"2025-11-08T14:43:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T17:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/?p=72890"},"modified":"2025-11-11T18:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:09:09","slug":"profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/en\/2025\/11\/08\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\/","title":{"rendered":"PROFILE| \u201cNo one fights alone against a dam, or against the world\u201d: Erika Mendes\u2019 story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Photo 1: In the capital of Mozambique, Erika Mendes Na capital mo\u00e7ambicana, Erika Mendes grew up aware of the urgency of fighting against local political elites and transnational corporations. Photo: Marcelo Aguilar \/ MAB\" class=\"wp-image-72472\" style=\"aspect-ratio:3\/2;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-205x137.jpg 205w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo 1: In the capital of Mozambique, Erika Mendes Na capital mo\u00e7ambicana, Erika Mendes grew up aware of the urgency of fighting against local political elites and transnational corporations. Photo: Marcelo Aguilar \/ MAB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Erika Mendes comes from Maputo, Mozambique, but her gestures carry the memory of other places: communities swallowed by dams, diverted rivers, open-pit mines, women who resist with their hands in the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her childhood was marked by a smell that spans decades: the chemical odor of pesticides piled up in a cement factory in the city of Matola. These were toxic residues brought from Denmark to be incinerated in African territory, a common destination for poisons from the Global North. Erika, still a child, walked with her grandmother, Anabela Lemos, knocking on doors; she handed out leaflets, explained the danger. It was the beginning of the largest environmental mobilization in Mozambique in the 1990s. They won. The pesticides went back to where they came from. &#8220;That&#8217;s where I learned that when we come together, things change,&#8221; she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was from this victory that LIVANINGO, the country&#8217;s first environmental organization, was born. But the initial joy soon clashed with bigger dilemmas: there were those who wanted to follow a path understood as neutral, without confronting the powerful; and there were those, like Erika&#8217;s family, who wanted to denounce the model behind the destruction \u2013 the pact between local political elites and transnational corporations. The division was inevitable. Thus was born Justi\u00e7a Ambiental (Environmental Justice), an organization of which Erika is still a part today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mozambique was rehearsing its newly won freedom. Independence from Portugal was only two decades old. The civil war had recently ended. The country was emerging from a socialist project only to plunge into a neoliberal economy. The rivers ceased to be just rivers; they became energy sources, sources of profit, export corridors. Mining companies, gas companies, and monoculture plantations for export arrived. Promises of development, roads, schools, and hospitals also came \u2013 almost always only on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the flags planted in Mozambican territory was one well-known to Brazilians: that of Vale. The mining company established itself in the province of Tete to exploit coal. In exchange, it left dust, cracked houses, and polluted rivers. \u201cAfter they took everything that mattered, they left saying it was because of climate change. But we know: it was because it was no longer profitable,\u201d says Erika.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She speaks of Vale with the naturalness of someone who lived with the noise of dynamite. And it is at this point that her story crosses the Atlantic. \u201cBrazil and Mozambique have similar wounds,\u201d she says. She mentions the Rio Doce covered in mud, and the Zambezi River dammed by reservoirs. \u201cThe map changes, but the logic is the same: wealth goes away, destruction remains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Erika is a member of the Mozambican NGO Justi\u00e7a Ambiental (Environmental Justice) and denounces how Mozambique is experiencing the intensity of the unfolding climate crisis. Photo:\u00a0 Juan Carlos Gallego\" class=\"wp-image-72478\" style=\"aspect-ratio:3\/2;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-205x137.jpg 205w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Erika-integra-a-ong-mocambicana-Justica-Ambiental-e-denuncia-que-o-pais-africano-vive-em-cheio-a-crise-climatica.-Foto_-Juan-Carlos-Gallego-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Erika is a member of the Mozambican NGO Justi\u00e7a Ambiental (Environmental Justice) and denounces how Mozambique is experiencing the intensity of the unfolding climate crisis. Photo:\u00a0 Juan Carlos Gallego<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The first time Erika heard about the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), she was still a teenager. Years later, she would be sharing plenary sessions with Brazilian farmers, exchanging organizational methodologies, chants of struggle, and maps of flooded rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe Portuguese language, which often isolates us in Africa, has become a bridge to Brazil,\u201d she says. Today, Mozambique and MAB share more than just language: they share resistance strategies, youth exchanges, and political training for affected women.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>But Erika doesn&#8217;t romanticize the struggle. She speaks of international treaties that bind governments in the Global South. She explains that companies can sue entire states if public policies threaten their future profits. The mechanism has a name: Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). &#8220;It&#8217;s colonialism with a signature and a lawyer,&#8221; she summarizes. &#8220;A country can decide to protect its river, but if that affects the projected profits of a mining company, it&#8217;s taken to international courts and ordered to pay billions.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While rights crumble into legal formulas, the climate collapses. Mozambique is one of the countries most affected by cyclones in the world. Cyclone Idai, in 2019, killed more than a thousand people. Cyclone Kenneth arrived a month later. Rains that sweep everything away, droughts that last for months, coastal communities swallowed by erosion. &#8220;We live in the eye of the storm of the climate crisis and we are the ones who contributed the least to it happening,&#8221; she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Mozambican woman closely follows the situation in Brazil. She heard about the floods in Rio Grande do Sul; the drought in the Amazon, which left boats stranded in the middle of the rivers. \u201cExtreme weather events are no longer exceptional news, they are routine,\u201d she states. And it is in this scenario, between dammed rivers and burning forests, that she advocates for an international alliance of the affected peoples. Not out of internationalist romanticism, but as a concrete strategy. \u201cCapital is global. If resistance isn&#8217;t, we lose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November, Erika traveled to Brazil to participate in a collaboration with popular movements in the Amazon. From the plane, she saw the rivers cutting through the forest, winding like veins. When she landed, she learned that they wanted to dredge one of them to transport soy and ore. \u201cThe rivers are also becoming roads for profit,\u201d she observes. In Par\u00e1, she spoke with quilombola communities, fishermen, indigenous people, and MAB activists. The feeling was like a mirror. \u201cThe accent changes, the biome changes, but the question is the same: who controls the territory?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of our conversation, she states: \u201cThere\u2019s one thing we learned early on: nobody fights a dam alone. Either the whole community rises up or the water covers everything.\u201d She pauses. \u201cI think that applies to the world as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/en\/support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"90\" src=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-1024x90.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-72636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-1024x90.png 1024w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-300x26.png 300w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-768x67.png 768w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-1536x134.png 1536w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-205x18.png 205w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN-480x42.png 480w, https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Apoie_EN.png 1599w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Mozambique to Brasil, Erika narrates how destruction has a global passport and how resistance must have one too<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":72472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_related_point":[]},"categories":[5477,4599],"tags":[5347,5496,5513,5284],"autor":[5511,5512],"editoria":[4585,4613],"class_list":["post-72890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iv-international-meeting-peoples-summit","category-special","tag-affected-by-dams-en","tag-iv-international-meeting","tag-mozambique-2","tag-women-affected-en","autor-carolina-scorce-mab-3","autor-rodrigo-gomes-mab-3","editoria-dams","editoria-women"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-08T17:43:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-11T21:09:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mab.org.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-scaled-e1762626035853.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dalila Carla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dalila Carla\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/\",\"name\":\"PROFILE| \u201cNo one fights alone against a dam, or against the world\u201d: Erika Mendes\u2019 story\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-scaled-e1762626035853.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-08T17:43:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-11T21:09:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-scaled-e1762626035853.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/Na-capital-mocambicana-Erika-Mendes-cresceu-consciente-da-urgencia-da-luta-contra-as-elites-politicas-locais-e-as-empresas-transnacionais.-Foto_-Marcelo-Aguilar-_-MAB-scaled-e1762626035853.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/08\\\/profile-no-one-fights-alone-against-a-dam-or-against-the-world-erika-mendes-story\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"In\u00edcio\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"PROFILE| \u201cNo one fights alone against a dam, or against the world\u201d: Erika Mendes\u2019 story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mab.org.br\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"MAB - 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