Berta Cáceres Was Not Just An “Environmentalist”

This week, I was fortunate to see Berta Cáceres’s formidable daughter speak in person. One of the most powerful insights from her talk was her regret at the way her mother had been portrayed and memorialized in the wake of her murder. Her words, included below, are a useful rejoinder to those who try sanitize her work and legacy:

“Since her death, her legacy has been misinterpreted. She was so much more than an environmentalist. Berta’s struggle challenges a mode of life which has been imposed across the world. It’s a disruptive struggle. A struggle against a racist, patriarchal, capitalist system. A struggle far deeper than that of caring for the environment. She was an internationalist, who firmly believed in the unity of all peoples…The best way to pay homage to her is to preserve her rebellious spirit.”

— Berta Isabel Zúñiga Cáceres, speaking at Honduras In Focus: the struggle of human rights defenders, in Amsterdam, 25th May 2016.