Wars of the Interior

The documentary "Wars of the Interior" explores the human cost of consumables in Peru, where global industries are plundering the Amazon and the Andes. It follows charismatic activist Edwin Chota, farmer Maxima Acuña, and the awajun community of the northern Amazon, who are facing tragedy, violence, and corruption due to the extraction of gold, wood, and oil. The film also highlights the rich, surprising world of Peru's indigenous communities and local heroes and activists who are fighting to protect the Amazon.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 04 February 2021
Publisher: Granta Books

When you fill up your car, install your furniture, or choose a wedding ring, do you ever consider the human cost of your consumables? There is a war raging in the heartlands of Peru, waged on the land by the global industries plundering the Amazon and the Andes. In Saweto, charismatic activist Edwin Chota returns to his ashaninka roots, only to find that his people can't hunt for food because the animals have fled the rainforest to escape the chainsaw cacophony of illegal logging. Farmer Maxima Acuña is trying to grow potatoes and catch fish on the land she bought from her uncle - but she's sitting on top of a gold mine, and the miners will do anything to prove she's occupying her home illegally. The awajun community of the northern Amazon drinks water contaminated with oil; child laborer Osman Cuñachí becomes internationally famous when a photo of him drenched in petrol as part of the clean-up efforts makes it way around the world. Joseph Zárate's stunning work of documentary takes three of Peru's most precious resources - gold, wood, and oil - and exposes the tragedy, violence, and corruption tangled up in their extraction. But he also draws us into the rich, surprising world of Peru's indigenous communities, of local heroes and singular activists, of ancient customs and passionate young environmentalists. Wars of the Interior is a deep insight into the cultures alive in the vanishing Amazon, and a forceful, shocking exposé of the industries destroying this land.

Weight: 186g
Dimension: 131 x 198 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781783786152