REJECTION MOTION AGAINST BOLSONARO GOVERNMENT PROJECT TO REGULATE MINING, ENERGY VENTURES AND AGRIBUSINESS IN INDIGENOUS LANDS
The Coalition of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) comes to the public to express its vehement rejection of the displays of visceral hate and racism that the Bolsonaro government has, since its first day of government, routinely and publicly expressed against the indigenous peoples, organizations and leaders of Brazil, in the last few days materialized by the announcement of a bill that aims to define
“specific conditions for search and mining of mineral resources, including artisanal mining and oil and gas, and production of hydroelectric energy in indigenous lands”, an announcement made up with false good intentions and rhetoric that induce the co-optation and division of the peoples, distorting the real sense of autonomy, to actually also authorize the invasion of indigenous territories through other ventures such as extensive agriculture, livestock production and other predatory ventures.
The vile statement that “The Indian is a human being just like us. He has a heart, he has feelings, he has soul, he has desires, he has needs…” repeats the ethnocentrism of European invaders, who more than 500 years ago massacred millions of our brothers, a practice that nowadays constitutes a non-bailable racial crime.
Bolsonaro government’s “dream” is actually the will to serve the economic interests that boosted its candidacy and that support his government, even if it implies total disregard for national and international legislation that guarantees our fundamental rights, our original right, congenital right, to a traditional occupation of our lands and territories, our right to exclusive possession and enjoyment, and our right to consultation, free, prior and informed consent on any administrative and legislative measures that affect us.
It has to be said, the majority of indigenous peoples and communities in Brazil do not share the desires of a minority of indigenous individuals who delude themselves and bend to the camouflaged evil intentions of this government.
The APIB, therefore, denounces Bolsonaro Government’s manipulation of our right to autonomy and repudiates this death project that is planned in indigenous territories at any cost, with irreversible impacts particularly on isolated and recently contacted indigenous peoples, and calls to all its base and movements, organizations and supportive segments of national and international society to join us in this battle for life and wellbeing not only of indigenous peoples but of all humanity and the planet.
Brasília – DF, February 6, 2020.