08/Jun/2022
Indigenous leaders from Brazil visit France and Belgique during the month of June as a strategy to hold governments and companies accountable for threats to the protection of their territories, as well as to reinforce the complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Bolsonaro government for Genocide and Crimes against Humanity.
The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) visits Paris and Brussels from June 8th to 16th 2022 as part of its strategy to confront the genocidal and ecocidal policies of the Bolsonaro government. Its objectives are to affect the chains of extraction of products, such as gold, and the production of raw materials such as meat, soybean and leather, consumed in Europe and which leave a strong impact on the Indigenous Lands of Brazil. For this, the indigenous delegation will meet with Commissions of the European Parliament to participate in the debate on the legal proposal about a Regulation on deforestation-free products (FERC). Among the various activities, APIB is going to meet with the Brazilian delegation of the European Parliament and with the parliamentary Environmental Department, both on June 14, and with members of the German Green Party on June 15. These events are of great importance as Europe is the second largest market buying soybean produced in Brazil and a big importer of Brazilian beef.
Also during the International Tour, APIB will accompany the acts and investigations of the French supermarket group Casino suspected of lack of traceability of certain products from deforested lands or land grabbing in Brazil. The International Tour is an independent action, which is not linked to any political party or company, organized by APIB to promote political advocacy for the rights of indigenous peoples. Seven indigenous leaders, representing all regions of Brazil, cross the ocean to denounce international threats to their territories and demonstrate that their struggles go beyond Brazilian borders.
“We need urgent international action in the face of the institutional instability scenario that we are experiencing today in Brazil. A scenario promoted by hate speech, with an incidence of the Executive within the Legislative, with action or omission of the Brazilian State that promotes the invasion of indigenous lands and that weakens the institutions that should guarantee the rights of indigenous peoples, mainly FUNAI, ICMbio and Ibama. The institutions are being dismantled, with a significant increase in violations on indigenous lands with the advance of mining, illegal logging and the implementation of large enterprises without respecting biodiversity and the specificities of indigenous peoples”, explains Dinamam Tuxá, Executive Coordinator from APIB.
CASINO case: supermarkets accused of selling products linked to deforestation and land grabbing
In March 2021, indigenous organizations from Brazil and Colombia, together with a group of French NGOs, sued the retailer Casino, which owns the supermarket brands Casino, in France, Pão de Açúcar, in Brazil, and Éxito, in Colombia. The evidence presented points to a pattern of products linked to deforestation and land grabbing in Brazil and Colombia.
“We are taking action on the Casino case because, as has been shown, it purchases products from deforestation and socio-environmental conflicts. These large groups that purchase commodities in Brazil must respect the principles of traceability, as many of these products come from areas of socio-environmental conflict, encourage deforestation in the Amazon and end up violating the rights of indigenous peoples”, says Dinamam Tuxá.
Forest risk commodities (FERC) import law needs to be improved to avoid serious socio-environmental impacts
The proposed Regulation on deforestation-free products (FERC), launched in November 2021 and which will be debated and voted on by the European Union, has a direct impact on the security of indigenous lands and the biomes that these people protect. The regulation will have to define a date on which it will be prohibited to sell products that have evidence of illegal deforestation in the production chains of risky products.
The law provides for regulations on commodities (meat, leather, wood and other products) arising from deforestation and/or forest degradation, but it still has loopholes as it does not recognize mining products, soybean and frozen meat. Furthermore, the law recognizes as risky commodities only those produced in forests following FAO’s deffinition, which excludes ecosystems such as Cerrado, Caatinga, Pantanal, Pampas and others. The measure, which seeks to require foreign importers to monitor the supply chain, excludes a good part of natural environments that are at high risk of destruction and does not specifically consider the negative impacts on indigenous peoples who suffer the consequences of productive and extractive activities.
Mining in Indigenous Lands: the struggle to legalize a predatory activity with indigenous peoples and the environment
The European mechanisms for regulating the gold market only consider certain countries with recognized conflicts to be traceable, but Brazil is not included despite being one of the main exporters of gold extracted from illicit mining in Indigenous Lands or with impacts both environmental and health in indigenous peoples. In Brazil, there is a lack of control over the traceability of gold production, according to a study carried out by the Environmental Services Management Laboratory (UFMG) together with the Federal Public Ministry. The gold declarations in the Financial Contribution for the Exploration of Mineral Resources from 2019 to 2020 showed that only one third of the gold corresponded to the declared origin, with another third being clearly illicit and last third it was not possible to verify its origin.
From 2010 to 2020, the area within indigenous lands occupied by mining grew by 495%, according to data from Map Biomas. Even though the violent consequences of the installation of mining in indigenous lands have been verified, the Brazilian Congress, pressured by President Jair Bolsonaro, intends to legalize such activity with Bill 191/2020. Also, the proposal of Bill 490/2007 pretends to paralyze the demarcations and review Indigenous Lands already demarcated, and the Bill 510/2021 intends to legalize the land grabbing. These are some measures that constitute an anti-indigenous agenda in the National Congress.
“We are going to talk to the European Parliament in order to bring up this concern of institutional instability in Brazil, our democracy is very fragile. We need to try to get the countries of the international scenario to intercede in the Brazilian Parliament in order to put some pressure on them in order to avoid the approval of those Bills violating our rights. In addition, certain trade agreements between Brazil and the European Union can increase deforestation in the Amazon and, in particular, violence against indigenous peoples in all Brazilian biomes”, explains Dinamam Tuxá.
The thesis of the “marco temporal” (temporal milestone) and the risks for the guarantee of Indigenous Lands
In addition to the legislative threats, the President of Brazil has been carrying out his threats: while campaigning in 2018, he said that he would not demarcate any millimeter of indigenous land and so far all demarcations are paralyzed. The right to recognize and demarcate areas traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples runs the risk of being extinguished if the temporal milestone of PL 490, also known as Marco Temporal, is incorporated into the law by the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil. This Bill is one of the main attacks by the Legislative Power on the rights recognized to indigenous peoples in the Federal Constitution of 88 and APIB considers it an “attempted genocide”.
The trial, which began in 2021, was postponed for the third time on June 5th. The session was scheduled for June 23rd 2022 and APIB was preparing to occupy Brasília for the trial. (Read more about the postponement of the Timeframe vote).
“As much as we became aware of the possibility of suspending the judgment of the time frame thesis on the 23rd, this means a lot beyond postponement. This is also a reflection of the political pressure caused by this conjuncture and by a speech of structural and institutional racism promoted by the executive headed by the President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro. It forces us to make advocacy campaigns within an international scenario to prevent these violations. The institutions of Brazil are being silent and the only actions that are being promoted are mainly focused on the withdrawal and violation of our rights”, says Dinamam Tuxá.
Aims of the awareness campaign across Europe
The benefit of protecting indigenous territories is not just for their own peoples: Indigenous Lands are a guarantee of the future for humanity. Therefore, everyone must be responsible for protecting these territories. The relationship with the territory is not one of ownership, exploitation, expropriation or appropriation, but of respect and management of a common good, which serves all humanity. However, the survival of indigenous peoples remains under constant threat. The pressure for deforestation in indigenous territories is intense, through invasions, mining, agricultural expansion and other illegal activities, putting indigenous people’s lives at risk.
We aim for the European Union, as a major consumer of Brazilian agricultural commodities and one of the largest buyers of gold in Brazil:
– take responsibility for their production chains
– impose measures and restrictions to ensure that products imported into European countries do not contain the blood of indigenous peoples
– join the struggle of indigenous peoples and put pressure on the Brazilian government to establish emergency measures to eliminate the genocide of its peoples.
About the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB)
APIB is the largest instance of representation of the Brazilian indigenous movement and has, since its creation, fulfilled its commitment to fight for the guarantee of the constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples. Whether nationally or internationally, APIB and its seven grassroots organizations are mobilized to protect territories, communities and people.
The Indigenous Peoples, articulated through their regional organizations and APIB, seek in all instances the accountability of those responsible for this destruction. Internationally, APIB, in addition to participating in climate events and debates, seeks to make the agents responsible for the dynamics of invasion, illegal exploitation and destruction of indigenous territories accountable, as well as influencing the debate on the formulation of the new Regulation on deforestation-free products (FERC). In Brazil, APIB has historically mobilized the indigenous movement and faced the anti-indigenous policies that are being processed in the Federal Supreme Court and in the Chamber of Deputies, forming the front line of protection of Indigenous Peoples and Lands, and consequently, of the environment and the environment’s future.
Apib, as a national reference for the indigenous movement in Brazil, brings together regional indigenous organizations and was created with the purpose of strengthening the union of peoples, the articulation between the different regions and indigenous organizations in the country. To protect indigenous territories and ensure respect for constitutional rights, APIB resists and advances on different scales.
For more information and to schedule interviews, you can contact the press service:
(61) 982124182
[email protected]
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08/Jun/2022
The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA), the Observatory for Human Rights of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples (OPI) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) inform the public that the expert on Indigenous issues Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips have been missing since Sunday morning, June 5th. They were traveling in a small boat from the community of São Rafael to the city of Atalaia do Norte on the Itaquaí river, a tributary of the Javari river, in the State of Amazonas.
Throughout the day on Monday, June 6, the UNIVAJA Patrol Team contacted and solicited action from institutions that operate in this frontier region in order to expand the search effort that the Indigenous team began conducting Sunday, June 5. Their searches during this period failed to locate the two missing men. The Army’s Solimões Border Command/8th Jungle Infantry, the Tabatinga Fluvial Captaincy, the Tabatinga Federal Police, the 8th Battalion of the Military Police and the Federal Public Prosecutor of Tabatinga were all called upon.
With the exception of 6 military police officers and a team from FUNAI (the federal National Indian Foundation), who joined searches with UNIVAJA yesterday (Monday, June 6), the federal agencies mentioned and the armed forces have so far been absent from the search effort. A request to deploy 25 personnel has not been acted upon by the Brazilian Army. The Federal Police sent just a single agent to Atalaia do Norte with officials from the Navy yesterday. We underscore that no task force has been constituted for search operations.
UNIVAJA and the federal Public Defender (DPU) resorted to the Federal Justice System (petition number 1004249-82.2018.4.01.3200) requesting: “a) The Federal government facilitate the use of helicopters by the Federal Police, be they from the Security Forces or the Armed Forces, in light of the fact that at the present moment there are no helicopters, which are essential, supporting the search; b) expansion of the search teams; c) expansion of the number of boats.” The UNIVAJA petition was made due to the need for both aerial and ground-level searching. We underscore that in this region there are Army border troops available. Up until the present moment there are ample Army troops stationed in the area. So far, however, the number of agents made available is miniscule in relation to the urgency to locating Pereira and Phillips.
All day on June 6, UNIVAJA’s requests had the support of members of Congress and the Senate. The Indigenous Caucus presented an official letter to the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety, the national Directorate of the Federal Police and the Superintendent of the Federal Police in Manaus. The offices of Senators Randolfe Rodrigues (REDE) and Jaques Wagner (PT/BA), the minority leadership of the Chamber of Deputies, reiterated the requests to the Ministry of Justice to deploy additional personnel to the search.
On the afternoon of June 6, the Amazon Military Command (CMA) published a note informing the public that it was capable of a “humanitarian search and rescue mission” but that action would only be taken with authorization from the “higher ranks” of the military. Given that the military’s Amazon authorities are expressly endowed with the logistical capacity, infrastructure, operational abilities, and capabilities for immediate intervention, we are perplexed by the delay, hesitation and slow pace of the “higher ranks” in implementing search-and-rescue procedures.
This morning the Special Press Office of the External Relations Ministry (Itamaraty) published a note stating that “the Federal Police Department is engaging in that region and taking all measures to locate them as quickly as possible. The Federal Police made multiple trips collaborating with the Brazilian Navy, which joined the effort to find the two citizens.” This information from the Brazilian government is not true. As of yesterday, the Navy had not initiated any search activities and only a single Federal Police officer had been sent to the area in question.
The principal facts available at this time are that the Civil Police detained two of the main suspects for questioning on Monday evening. They are fishermen identified only by their nicknames, “Churrasco” and “Jâneo.” The two were taken to Atalaia do Norte to provide information to the police. According to the Indigenous organization, the two suspects were released after the intervention of the municipal government of Atalaia do Norte. There is information that a third suspect, known as “Pelado,” is at large in the forest, in the region of the river communities of São Rafael and São Gabriel.
Faced with chaotic situation, UNIVAJA called all relevant institutions to a situation room this morning, June 7, in Atalaia do Norte. The only representatives of government were the six military police agents previously mentioned.
Today the search continues. Groups comprised of UNIVAJA Patrol Teams (EVU) and the Military Police are searching for the two missing men, as well as the suspect reported to be hiding in the forest.
The region where these events are occurring is the stage for serious conflicts and a climate of violence in which loggers, illegal fishermen, and international drug traffickers operate in and around the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, encouraged by the negligence of the public entities responsible for protection of monitoring of Indigenous lands. This scenario demands an organized, well-coordinated intervention by public safety forces, in close dialogue and cooperation with the local Indigenous organizations, which have led the search effort and investigation from the moment Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips’ absence became apparent.
These events had a tragic precedent in 2019 when the FUNAI contractor Maxciel Pereira dos Santos, of the Javari Valley’s Enthoenvironmental Protection Front, was brutally assassinated by gunmen in Tabatinga. The sense of impunity has grown as Maxciel’s murder, perpetrated, as far as we can determine, by invaders of the Indigenous territory, has remained officially unsolved. The FUNAI protection base on the Ituí river, close to the location of the current incident, has also come under attack, with eight episodes of armed violence against FUNAI agents and the Indigenous personnel working at the base. These and additional incidents have been systematically reported to the authorities by Indigenous organizations, including an action brought by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil in the Supreme Federal Tribunal under the ADPF number 709.
Given this panorama, the need for immediate investigation and a swift search are of the utmost urgency. Every hour that passes decreases the possibilities that the two missing men will be rescued, while cementing the reign of increasingly confident criminals in a land made lawless by an absent State.
Yesterday information circulated about the limitations of the security forces to obtain, among other resources, helicopters to provide the needed support to search operations. This support to river-based teams is essential given the geographic conditions of the region. The armed forces and public safety apparatus should not spare the effort needed to guarantee basic rights, which are endangered in the current conditions that prevail in the Javari Valley.
In this region, violent invasion of Indigenous and other federal lands and repression of the free press threaten the practice of journalism and the very lives of public servants doing their constitutional duties. Given this drastic fracturing of our democracy’s foundations, the effective and swift intervention of the Brazilian government to locate the expert Bruno Araújo Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips is of the utmost urgency.
We are watching, yet again, as the Bolsonaro government abandons its responsibilities amid escalating violence against Indigenous peoples and defenders of human rights in Brazil. UNIVAJA, the Indigenous movement, and their allies, by contrast are sparing no effort, working constantly in the area of the incident to find our friends Bruno and Dom.
Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas, June 7 2022
Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley – UNIVAJA
Observatory of Human Rights of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples – Opi
Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon – COIAB
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – APIB
07/Apr/2022
Photo: Pure Juma| COIAB’S communicator
At the Acampamento Terra Livre, in Brasilia, the panel “For the lives of isolated indigenous peoples and recent contact” warned about the attacks and setbacks suffered under the Bolsonaro government
The panel discussion was held this Thursday afternoon, 7, during the 18th Free Land Camp, and was mediated by the Executive Coordinator of Coiab, Angela Kaxuyana, with the participation of Tambura Amondawa, Adriano Karipuna, Junio Yanomami, from Roraima, Ronilson Guajajara, from Maranhão, Beto Marubo (Univaja), Lindomar Terena, Paulo Tupiniquim, Alfredo Marubo, Gilson Mayoruna and Luis Ventura, representative of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi).
Many people do not know, but in Brazil there are several indigenous peoples who have chosen to live away from imposed “civilization”. They are peoples who, for centuries, have resisted colonization and the process of violence since the arrival of the white invader on Brazilian lands.
By choosing to remain in isolation, they seek to have greater control over the relationships they establish with groups or people around them and to continue living by their means, practices and habits. However, in recent years, under the Bolsonaro Government, the Brazilian State has refused to recognise their existence and guarantee their rights.
Beto Marubo, a member of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (Univaja), attributed the setbacks in the policy of protecting isolated indigenous people to a Bolsonaro policy of genocide of indigenous peoples, which has made the National Indian Foundation (Funai) a threat.
“The Funai was created to protect and should have a responsibility towards these Peoples. Although they are free, they are very vulnerable. Do you know what Funai is doing now? It is denying [the existence of] these Peoples,” emphasized Beto Marubo during the table.
To aggravate the situation, even today there are religious missions that have the intention of colonising the original culture. This represents a great epidemiological threat, which is added to deforestation and the invasion of groups that practice illegal extraction of gold, ore, wood and hunting for trade in these regions.
The Yanomami people are among those who have had the most recent contact. A video was shown with images of the mines inside their territories, the same ones that Bolsonaro proposes to regularize with PL 191. The scenario further accentuates the health problems that the isolated peoples have been facing.
Indigenous leader Júnior Hekurari, of the Yanomami people, president of the District Council for Indigenous Health Yanomami and Ye’kwana (Condisi-YY), stressed that several complaints have already been made at the national and international level about the violence suffered by the isolated and recently contacted peoples in their territories.
“The indigenous land is being invaded by miners. Our relatives are suffering from pneumonia. Every day a Yanomami child dies, the mothers cry together with the forest. More than 25 thousand miners are inside our lands, the miners have taken over the health centers, and the indigenous people are calling for help”, said the Indigenous leader.
Júnior estimated that around 7,000 are sick with malaria. In 2021 alone, 300 children died of the disease, almost one per day. For him, the policy of the Bolsonaro government promotes risk and extermination. “Now Sesai has become a military barrack. There are many colonels, many soldiers working there. The federal government does not plan to guarantee assistance within the community,” he lamented.
Alfredo Marubo, pointed out the deviations in the actions of Funai in this process. “Every day tons of game meat passes in front of the Funai headquarters and nobody does anything. They are doing nothing, they say that we are lying, they do nothing and even threaten the Peoples. Bolsonaro is putting anti-indigenous people to look after the villages, but they just go there for a walk and leave”.
With the ineffectiveness of federal bodies in protecting indigenous rights, exploitation has advanced over the forests and is getting closer every day to the isolated peoples.
In the plenary, the Peoples who had the first contacts centuries ago showed solidarity with these Peoples who are living autonomously in the forest. “We demand respect. We are using this cursed language because we were forced, we were humiliated. We saw our children growing up and dying. Today what is happening in the Amazon, we have already suffered. So we are here to say that you are not alone. We are together. This house belongs to the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil”, chief Júnior Pataxó,from the South of Bahia, expressed solidarity.
The Executive Coordinator of Coiab, Angela Kaxuyana, stressed the importance of this union for the protection of the isolated Peoples, since the Brazilian State has not fulfilled its role of protecting their territories, putting at risk the lives of these Peoples who decided to live in isolation after fleeing from massacres.
“On behalf of COIAB, of the Amazon, we want to express our gratitude and send a message to Bolsonaro that the Amazon is not alone, that it is the essence of this indigenous movement that will win, it is this essence of the indigenous movement that must remain here in the camp of respect, solidarity and a demonstration that we are together. And we have always known, my relatives, that we are never alone, because the Northeast and Apoinme are together with the Amazon”, Angela Kaxuyana concluded.
Deforestation alerts
In 2021, deforestation increased in indigenous lands with the presence of isolated indigenous Peoples, according to the Sirad-I bulletin of the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA). In the year, 3,220 hectares were deforested, with 904 alerts within the territories.
The alerts were concentrated, mainly, in the Piripkura (MT), Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau (RO), Araribóia (MA) and Munduruku (PA) Indigenous Lands. In addition, throughout 2021, it was also possible to detect major deforestation on the edges of these territories, which indicates a tendency of increasing invasions against the territories of these isolated Peoples.
The Araribóia Indigenous Land, located in Maranhão, was one of the most devastated by invasions by loggers and land grabbers, with more than 380 hectares deforested inside it. In addition, in 2021, arson attacks punished the territory.
Isolated or Decimated
The isolated or decimated campaign is headed by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) and the Observatory of Human Rights of the Isolated and Newly-Contacted Indigenous Peoples (Opi), and includes the participation of other organizations in the socio-environmental field, such as ISA, Survival International and Operation Native Amazon (OPAN). Launched on August 20, 2021, the campaign is focused on pressuring Funai for the renewal of four ordinances: Piripkura Indigenous Lands (MT), Jacareúba/Katawixi (AM) and Piriti (RR) and Ituna-Itatá IT (PA).
ACCESS: https://www.isoladosoudizimados.org/
Since last year, several actions have been carried out in order to alert public opinion to the current condition of isolated indigenous Peoples who are at risk of losing their territories, without legal and effective protection.
At the end of November 2021, Coiab launched a manifesto in defense of the life of isolated indigenous peoples, where it highlighted that the growing attacks and pressures on the territories are linked to the gradual weakening of FUNAI’s indigenous policy and the strengthening of the government’s anti-indigenous agenda.
Faced with the setbacks of protection by State agencies, the indigenous movement, together with its allies, is strengthening strategies to contain the invasions in the Indigenous Lands, with monitoring and autonomous protection actions in the territory, in order to protect their “isolated relatives”. In addition, they have made numerous complaints and brought legal actions to guarantee the legal protection of their territories and ways of life.
04/Apr/2022
Considered the largest indigenous mobilization in Brazil, the ATL completes 18 years and will take place between 04 and 14 April
The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) will hold the 18th edition of the Free Land Encampment (Acampamento Terra Livre – ATL) between 4 and 14 April, in Brasília (Federal District). With the theme ‘Retaking Brazil: Demarcate the territories and Indigenize the politics, in 2022 the mobilization returns to Brasilia after two years of online activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Encampment will take place in the same period in which the National Congress and the Federal Government are voting on projects that violate the rights of indigenous peoples such as Bill 191/2020. The bill opens indigenous lands – most of them located in the Amazon – to large-scale exploitation, such as mining, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure projects.
On March 9, 2022, the plenary of the Brazilian Congress approved the request of the government leader for the urgent processing of PL 191/2020. It means the proposal will be analyzed by a working group and will be included for a vote in plenary between 12 and 13 April – during the ATL.
The Encampment also takes place in parallel with, climate litigation actions are also being judged by the Supreme Court that directly dialogue with indigenous claims. In addition to such climate litigation, APIB warns about the trial of the Milestone Thesis that will be resumed in the Supreme Court within this semester; and also for the Package of Destruction – a set of measures planned to be voted in Congress this year and and which has the power to accelerate deforestation and weaken environmental legislation.
ATL’s Program
The ATL will have ten days of programming and over 40 activities. In addition to confronting the anti-indigenous agenda, indigenous health and education and the role of youth are some of the topics that will be part of the debates.
Expecting to mobilize more than 100 indigenous ethnics groups from all regions of the country, and adding this cultural diversity to the political demands, the first week of the camp will be marked by the debate “Indigenize the Politics: We stand for those who came before us, we stand for us and we stand for those who are to come”, which aims to strengthen indigenous women for Elections 2022. Also part of the first week’s program are plenaries on the struggle for life, impacts on the judiciary, demarcation and public policies.
Closing the ATL, the second week’s programme will have a plenary on the LGBTQIA+ population, articulation with other social movements and a call for actions.
Sonia Guajajara, executive coordinator of Apib says:
“Since the first days of this government we have been shouting and denouncing the persecutions against the indigenous peoples. There are innumerable threats due to the failure to demarcate our lands, in addition to deforestation and invasion of our territories. They act on two fronts: the persecutions against our leaders who oppose this misgovernment of Jair Bolsonaro; and the Congress trying to use the ink of the pen to massacre us”.
Dinamam Tuxá, executive coordinator of Apib says:
“We are in an election year and to start our journey of struggles we declare that this is the last year of the genocidal government of Jair Bolsonaro. Our Indigenous April will be marked by symbolic actions that will show our capacity in fight for demarcation and villagisation in Brazilian politics”
17/Mar/2022
Support Free Land Camp 2022 here
Full schedule coming soon
We are at the 18th Edition of Free Land Camp (Acampamento Terra Livre ATL in Portuguese), after two years of virtual performance, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in which we lost many of our own. However, we continue with the forces of ancestry, getting back up to return to face-to-face actions with the theme: “Retaking Brazil: Demarcate the Territories and Indigenize the Politics”. This year, we will occupy the federal capital from April 4th to 14th.
We are in an election year in Brazil and to start our journey of struggles, we declare this to be the last year of the Genocidal government. Our “Indigenous April” will be marked by symbolic actions that will show our ability to fight for the demarcation and indigenization of Brazilian politics.
We start from the efforts in virtual and territories places of political and social action, based on our ancestral wisdom, in the care for the people and for the Brazilian territory to say: “yes, politics will be an indigenous territory!”. Our aim is to promote good living, reforest minds and indigenize politics. A joint and democratic way of deciding and leading futures.
We are facing urgent agendas that threaten our lives and traditions. The demarcation of our territories remains as our main flag, so the defense for life against the destruction agenda is our priority.
There is an incessant attempt to implement death projects against our territories and lives. One of the central proposals of the current federal government is the opening of Indigenous Lands for large-scale mining, hydroelectric and large infrastructure projects. Bill 191/2020 is one of the main instruments of this destruction policy, which has been presented as a legislative priority of the federal government since its inception. Although it is still in the legislative process for possible regulation, it is already possible to feel the harmful impacts of mining on indigenous territories. We have seen the contamination of our rivers and the devastation of our forests and entire communities that, when not destroyed or washed away by the toxic mud from leaking mineral waste dams, were left without access to water.
The government’s anti-indigenous agenda is constantly in action, such as the bill 490/2007, which insists on the end of demarcations, on the review of indigenous lands and, nevertheless, seeks to legalize crimes in our Territories. In addition to the projects on the National Congress’ priority agenda, such as: bill 6299/2002 – Pesticides, bill 2633/2020 and bill 510/2021 – Land grabbing and bill 3729/2004 – Environmental Licensing.
We also warn about the trial of the Milestone framework thesis (Marco Temporal) that will be resumed at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in the first half of 2022. It is one of the most important trials in history, which will define the course of the demarcation of Indigenous Lands.
Indigenous April is the month of the great popular mobilizations of the Brazilian indigenous movement! In this way, we will occupy the capital of Brazil to claim our rights guaranteed in the 1988 Constitution.
Our fight is for the land, for life, for our natural resources and for the sovereignty of the Brazilian people!
Brasília, April, 17th 2022
EXECUTIVE COORDINATION
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil
APOINME | ARPIN SUDESTE | ARPINSUL | COIAB | Comissão Guarani Yvyrupa | Conselho do Povo Terena | ATY GUASU
22/Feb/2022
Brasília, February 22, 2022 – Today the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), alongside environmental and human rights organization Amazon Watch, launched Complicity in Destruction IV: How mining companies and international investors drive Indigenous rights violations and threaten the future of the Amazon. This research is the first compilation of case studies exposing International actors’ risks of potentially financing illegal mining interests on Indigenous Lands – such as Xikrin do Cateté, Waimiri Atroari, and Sawré Muybu – in the Brazilian Amazon. U.S.-based corporations remain some of the main financiers complicit in this destruction. Together, Capital Group, BlackRock, and Vanguard invested US$ 14.8 billion dollars in the nine companies investigated due to their research applications overlapping Indigenous lands, and track record of rights violations.
“While we struggle to guarantee our right to life, both in our territories and around the world, the Brazilian government and mining companies are trying to advance a ‘project of death.’ We cannot go on living side by side with activities that force Indigenous peoples to mourn the daily murder of our relatives, or to witness the destruction of biomes which we guard, in order to give way to projects that generate no real development, but only destruction and profits for a handful of individuals,” says Sonia Guajajara, of APIB’s executive coordination.
Complicity in Destruction IV reveals that over the last five years, Vale, Anglo American, Belo Sun, Potássio do Brasil, Mineração Taboca and Mamoré Mineração e Metalurgia (both from Grupo Minsur), Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti and Rio Tinto received a total of US$ 54.1 billion in financing from U.S., Brazilian and international investors. The companies profiled share a history of human and environmental rights violations and a long-lasting interest in expanding their operations into Indigenous territories – where mining is currently illegal.
“There must be a general understanding that these areas are not available for mineral exploration, nor should they be, both because there must be respect for our constitutional right to self-determination as Indigenous peoples over our territories, and because of our lands’ importance in combating climate change and guaranteeing life on the planet. The same goes for traditional territories and other areas of preservation. This understanding must come from the Brazilian government, but also from the companies – which are fully capable of proactively knowing in which areas they are filing requests – and from the financial corporations that finance them,” adds Dinaman Tuxá, from APIB’s executive coordination.
Brazilian institutions also hold a substantial share in the financing of large mining: PREVI (Banco do Brasil’s Employee Pension Fund) holds the highest investments in these mining companies, with more than US$ 7.4 billion, followed by the private bank Bradesco, with almost 4.4 billion dollars, Caixa Econômica Federal, with US$ 786 million. International private banks also stand out for their investments in these companies, including Crédit Agricole (France), Bank of America and Citigroup (U.S.), Commerzbank (Germany), and SMBC Group (Japan). All of these financial actors are complicit in mining-driven destruction.
“The COVID-19 pandemic, instead of bringing extractive industries to a standstill, actually drove the mining sector to break profit records over the last two years. These banks and asset managers still believe that investing in mining is ‘good’ for business, ignoring the extensive history of violations and impacts caused by this industry. Although many financiers were featured in previous editions of the report, this new edition demonstrates the urgency with which they need to commit to actual change in order to stop mining’s destructive trail. Their risk and exposure are only growing,” says Rosana Miranda, Campaign Advisor of Amazon Watch.
The company that received the most investments and loans in this period was Vale, with US$ 35.8 billion, showing that not even the successive disasters in the towns of Mariana and Brumadinho reduced investors’ appetite for the mining company. The data, obtained with the support of the Dutch institution Profundo Research and Advice, also show Canada’s interest in financing mining in Brazil. The Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest private bank, poured US$ 512 million into mining companies, and is the main institutional investor of the Volta Grande gold mining project, by Belo Sun Mining Corp, which is considered both socially and ecologically unfeasible.
Mining companies hold active applications to explore Indigenous lands
Complicity in Destruction IV reveals that, despite recent statements by big mining companies claiming they would abandon their interests in Indigenous territories in Brazil, thousands of mining applications overlapping these areas are still active in the National Mining Agency’s (ANM) database. Opening up Indigenous lands to mining and prospecting remains at the center of Bolsonaro’s agenda. With the advancement of federal policies such as Bill 191/2020 and Bill 490/2007 in Congress, these applications serve to grant mining companies priority to explore these territories if the bills succeed.
“The environmental damages and threats against the lives of forest peoples by mining activities are brutal and have only worsened under Bolsonaro’s administration. Last year, mining-related deforestation in the Amazon increased by 62% compared to 2018 – the year he was elected. We are aware that the approval of Bill 191 could cause the loss of 16 million hectares of the Amazonian rainforest. With the rainforest at the tipping point of ecological collapse, we need to involve all the actors behind this industry. Governments, companies, and investors must all be held to account and stop this destruction. If companies fail to act, investors must divest,” says Ana Paula Vargas, Brazil Program Director of Amazon Watch.
Following the release of Complicity in Destruction III, APIB and Amazon Watch began mapping the interests of large mining companies overlapping Indigenous lands in 2020. Despite statements by giants such as Vale and Anglo American, claiming they would withdraw their applications for research and mineral exploration in these territories, our research shows that many applications remain active in ANM’s system—in some cases, there was even an increase in the number of requests. Additionally, some applications were resubmitted so that exploration areas remained directly adjacent to Indigenous lands, still causing enormous impact.
The report focuses on the mining interests in Indigenous lands from nine companies: Vale, Anglo American, Belo Sun, Potássio do Brasil, Mineração Taboca/Mamoré Mineração e Metalurgia (both from Grupo Minsur), Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti and Rio Tinto. Together, as of November 2021, they had a total of 225 active mining applications overlapping 34 Indigenous Lands — an area that corresponds to 5,700 square kilometers or more than three times the city of London.
The Indigenous lands that are most affected by these applications are Xikrin do Cateté (PA), Waimiri Atroari (AM), and Sawré Muybu (PA). The bulk of applications are concentrated in the Brazilian state of Pará, which increased twofold between July and November 2021. The data was obtained through a partnership with the Mined Amazon project, from the InfoAmazonia portal, which resulted in an interactive dashboard — launched in tandem with the report — allowing real-time searches into the ANM database.
Complicity in Destruction IV also details the impacts and rights violations carried out by the mining companies Vale, Anglo American, Belo Sun, Potássio do Brasil, and Mineração Taboca in five case studies. With the support of the Mining Observatory, the history of these conflicts and their current developments were outlined, ranging from the invasion of traditional territories, contamination by heavy metals, and disregard for the right to Free, Prior, Informed consultation and Consent. Through testimonies from the affected communities, which challenge the companies’ official statements about their initiatives, the report shows how the presence and activities of these corporations forever alter the lives of these peoples and communities. Mining in the Amazon, specifically within Indigenous communities, can also destroy ecosystems and contribute to climate change.
To access the full report, videos, and Mined Amazon’s dashboard, visit: https://complicityindestruction.org/
29/Oct/2021
Indigenous movement mobilized the largest delegation of Brazilian leaders in the history of the climate conference to put forward the demarcation of indigenous lands as a solution
The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), together with all its grassroots organizations, mobilized the largest delegation of Brazilian indigenous leaders in the history of the Climate Conference (COP26) to discuss solutions to the climate crisis. More than 40 representatives of the Indigenous Peoples will be in Glasgow, Scotland, between October 31st and November 12th with the proposal to occupy the Conference and alert the world about the need to demarcate the Indigenous Lands and protect the Indigenous Peoples for the future of the planet.
“We stand against false solutions based on technological innovations designed from the same developmental and productivist logic that causes climate change. We criticize solutions that do not recognize indigenous peoples and local communities as central to the defence of forests, the reduction of deforestation and fires, and as essential to ensure that we reach the stated goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.,” says an excerpt from Apib’s message to world leaders, businessmen and civil society organizations attending COP26.
The Brazilian indigenous delegation at the conference will denounce the ongoing indigenous genocide and ecocide that is underway in Brazil, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Federal Government’s death project. On the international day of indigenous peoples, August 9, Apib filed an Unprecedented denounce at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to denounce the Bolsonaro government for Genocide.
“We have shaped and protected our biomes at the price of millions of our relatives. The genocide of the original people, the persecution of the defenders of territories and the illegal capture of our lands, is the largest and most widespread crime that humanity has produced throughout its history. This is a continuous and present crime, which we denounce in all the instances that we occupy”, reinforces the delegation in its message.
According to the delegation’s organization, this is the largest delegation of Brazilian indigenous leaders in the history of the COP. Apib has participated in the conference since 2014, and had mobilized, in 2019, a group of 18 people for the last COP, which was until then the largest participation of leaders in the meeting. In this context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected billions of people, indigenous people reinforce the need to respect the biodiversity present in indigenous territories.
For the indigenous delegation, the current policy of the Federal Government is harmful to the environment, the climate and traditional communities. Apib and its indigenous organizations have constantly denounced the invasions of territories, the contamination of rivers and springs by pesticides and mercury, the rampant deforestation of the Amazon forest, the Cerrado, and the Pantanal wetlands. According to the organization, despite this scenario, economic funds continue to financially support the unbridled greed that destroys the planet.
Even though they are responsible for protecting the largest part of the global forest heritage and, consequently, the capacity to store more than 293 gigatonnes of carbon, a third of indigenous and community lands in 64 countries are under threat due to the lack of land tenure rights.
Brazil, which originally was all Indigenous Land, today reserves only 13.8% of the national territory for its original people. And this portion of the territory has been the most preserved during the past 35 years, representing less than 1% of deforestation in Brazil in the period, according to data from Mapbiomas. This percentage does not mean the full extent of forests protected by indigenous peoples and, according to Apib, in addition to the halt in the demarcation of Indigenous Lands, traditional territories already demarcated are under strong legislative threat, in an unconstitutional attempt to deny the traditional presence of indigenous peoples in the country, and the occupation of their lands long before the formation of the Brazilian state.
“We are going to Glasgow to once again alert the world, and on this occasion with even more gravity: humanity is leading the destiny of all of us to chaos and death! Our Mother Earth is exhausted. The future of the planet and the species that inhabit it depend on our global capacity for cooperation to defend and strengthen indigenous peoples and local communities, to guarantee the security of traditional territories in the face of predatory economic interests, and to create and promote effective climate solutions based on nature and the communities that protect it,” reinforces the delegation.
Messages
Read Apib’s message to world leaders,policy makers, business leaders and civil society organizations gathered at COP26 here.
Read the declaration of the Brazilian indigenous population against the climate crisis (specifically of the Amazon) prepared by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon here
Service
What: Indigenous people from all regions of Brazil mobilized the largest delegation in the history of the Climate Conference.
When: October 31st – November 12th
Where: Glasgow, Scotland
Press contact:
Caio Mota (Apib): +55 65 99686-6289
Hony Sobrinho (Apib): +55 61 8210-1165
Paulo Martins (Apib): +55 11 95658-0753
29/Oct/2021
We, Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, have long observed climate change and its effects due to our relationship with the Mother Earth. From her, we receive all our sustenance needs in addition to the explanations for the phenomena that affects the lives of all living and cosmological beings.
In Brazil, climate crisis is directly related to the greed over Indigenous lands and the natural resources therein, coupled with the ongoing regression and rollback of Indigenous and environmental safeguards and rights. It is essential to think seriously about the need to respect the socio-biodiversity present in our territories, especially at this time that we are living in, in which a virus stopped the world and affected the routines of billions of people from all social classes and different cultures. However, the current government in Brazil is acting in lethal ways with anti-environment, anti-climate, and anti-Indigenous policies. Our territories, which belong to us by our Constitutional right, are being invaded by illegal miners and loggers; villages are surrounded by large-scale cattle and soybean farms; rivers are being contaminated with pesticides and mercury; and the Amazon rainforest is burning to ashes. Yet, governments and funds that operate internationally continue to finance this unbridled greed, this economy of destruction that kills and destroys lives and the planet.
Now more than ever, everyone needs to hear our call, that we Indigenous Peoples have been warning for centuries based on our traditional knowledge that guides our way of seeing and understanding the world. It is in this context that we once again call attention to the need to construct a climate justice that is inclusive and participatory with respect to our cosmologies, our safeguards, and our territories. It is necessary to go beyond the targets established in international agreements and begin to consider the vital role that we play in this process. All this in consideration of social and environmental responsibility.
We have now reached the tipping point. The recent report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, titled “Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis,” clearly demonstrates that man-made changes to the climate are irrefutable, irreversible, and will worsen in the coming years and decades if we do not have practical actions to change the narrative of the climatic, environmental, and societal crisis. Likewise, even if we zeroed greenhouse gas emissions, we would already have had a significant increase in global temperatures with catastrophic effects.
There is no other way forward but to recognize, strengthen, and promote the very important role played by us, Indigenous Peoples, within our territories. For us, talking about climate justice is precisely thinking about the fate of the present and future generations, as well as those who have chosen different forms of social structures like the Indigenous Peoples in isolation or recent contact who live in the Amazon. This is related to the need of respecting diversity. Indigenous cosmology makes us understand the signs of Mother Earth, imposing the duty to recognize ecocide. The rivers, lakes, animals, forests, and all cosmological beings that live within are subjects of rights just like us human beings, and their rights must be respected. Therefore, when talking about climate crisis, it requires recognizing the important role of Indigenous lands, and our own, who give our lives to protect the forests and its biodiversity, in balancing the climate and benefiting all Humanity.
Yet, there exists a practical solution that we Indigenous Peoples have been pointing out. That is, demarcating our territories, shifting the production system, planting more trees, ending reliance on fossil fuels, and reducing the pressure on the Earth’s natural resources. This must be a commitment from everyone, including governments, the private sector, and individual people.
Protected territories and respected rights are the solution. We cannot let ourselves be seduced by the idea of carbon markets, false solutions based only on nature and financing mechanisms that is not consistent with our reality. Rather, we offer alternatives based on our traditional knowledge, which can be associated with technological innovations. For example, agricultural practices must be linked to food security. Therefore, we call attention to the joint responsibility of all stakeholders involved. Corporations and governments are responsible for the destruction in the Brazilian Amazon; however, criticism alone is not enough. Now more than ever, much more is needed to adopt measures to safeguard ecological interests.
It is urgent and essential to strengthen Indigenous funds and financing mechanisms that correspond to our reality,as the Brazilian Amazon Indigenous Fund – Podaali. Such resources should promote the implementation of Indigenous Peoples’ life plans in addition to socio-environmental policies. Nonetheless, none of these efforts will have an effect until all Indigenous lands are demarcated, 80% of the Amazon biome is protected, and all stakeholders have committed to ambitious and achievable goals. In this way, it becomes clear that it is necessary to change the entire current political and economic system.
The time has come for the Indigenous Peoples of the Brazilian Amazon, through the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) – which is the largest Indigenous organization in Brazil, representing approximately 480,000 Indigenous Peoples from 178 different groups and covering 23% of the Amazon region – to mobilize the world to ally with Indigenous Peoples in defense of life on Earth as we know it.
The struggle of Indigenous Peoples is a global one!
Brazilian Amazon, October 15, 2021
29/Oct/2021
We are a Brazilian Indigenous delegation heading to Glasgow, Scotland, as representatives of the yearnings and bearers of urgent messages from more than 305 Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.
We are men and women, descendants of millennial generations of guardians of the biomes of South America, and we are united with the original peoples from every corner of our Mother Earth.
On all continents, native peoples fight to protect their lands and guarantee the right to live to all species. Our struggle is for our lives and our territories, for the defence of the last ancestral lands and to confront the climate crisis on our planet. Our struggle is for the healing of the Earth. Therefore, we reiterate the urgency of the demarcation and land tenure rights of our territories.
Indigenous Land is a guarantee of the future for all humanity. Our relationship with territory is not one of ownership, exploitation, expropriation or appropriation, but one of respect and management of a common good, which serves all humanity as barricades to the extractive dynamics that cause the climate crisis. Until today – based on reports from the UN and several research institutes with the highest reputation that western science can demand – it is we, Indigenous Peoples, who are the most responsible for the preservation of the biomes of the planet.
As we leave our villages and cross the Atlantic Ocean to the most important climate convention that global governance has instituted, we carry in our bags our traditional knowledge and the authority to affirm that our territories are oases of biodiversity and models of climate solution. Our culture and our knowledge are originally environmentalist, even before the term was invented.
Many of those who listen to us today are unaware of all the effort we put into this mission. We have shaped and protected our biomes at the price of the blood of millions of our relatives. The genocide of the native peoples, the persecution of the defenders of our territories and the illegal capture of our lands, is the greatest and most widespread crime that humanity has produced throughout its history. This is a continuing and present crime, which we denounce in all the instances we occupy.
It is fundamental that the world understands that there is no solution for the healing of Mother Earth that does not have its feet on the ground. Connecting with the earth, feeling its needs, understanding its cycles and its imbalances is fundamental to reverse the damage caused in recent centuries by the thirst for an irresponsible, unequal and ecocidal accumulation and disposal behavior.
What we feel in our villages, territories protected at such cost, are the devastating symptoms of the climate apocalypse. The indigenous genocide and the continuous expropriation of our territories by legislative onslaughts and predatory interests is a clear sign that our lands are the last Reserves of the Future. The massacre of indigenous peoples is an omen of the irreversible devastation that is claiming victims in forests, fields, savannahs, and all biomes throughout the world. If left unchecked, it will bring all living beings to a tragic, painful and unjust end.
To the authorities and experts meeting now in Glasgow, we ask them to take real action for the protection of our territories and to work tirelessly for a fairer and less polluting production system for all societies.
We are going to Glasgow to warn the world once again, and on this occasion with even more gravity: humanity is leading the destiny of us all to chaos and death! Our Mother Earth is exhausted.
The future of the planet and the species that inhabit it depend on our global capacity to cooperate to defend and strengthen indigenous peoples and local communities, to ensure the security of traditional territories in the face of predatory economic interests, and to create and promote effective climate solutions based on nature and the communities that protect it.
Therefore, we stand against false solutions based on technological innovations designed from the same developmental and productivist logic that causes climate change. We criticize solutions that do not recognize indigenous peoples and local communities as central to the defence of forests, the reduction of deforestation and fires, and as essential to ensure that we reach the stated goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
We hope that this message will reach global leaders, businessmen and civil society organizations present at COP26, vibrate in their hearts, and reforest their minds!
LAND BACK!
08/Sep/2021
The session has just began and the expectation is that the Court will guarantee the original rights of peoples; in Brasilia and in the territories, the indigenous are following the judgment
By Anmiga’s press office
More than 4,000 ancestral women warriors, gathered in the II National March of Indigenous Women, are mobilized to follow the judgment in the Supreme Court (STF) that will define the future of the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil.
Scheduled to start at 2 pm on Wednesday (8), the session of the Supreme Court has been resumed with the reading of the votes of the Justices. The previous session, held last Thursday (2), ended with the manifestation of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on the case. The week before, Minister Edson Fachin read the initial report, the parties involved in the process made their oral arguments and the amici curiae – “friends of the court” made their contributions to the understanding of the case.
“Today is a decisive day for the future of the trial, because it enters the stage of the votes of the ministers, starting with the vote of the reporting minister, Edson Fachin, then opening for the other ministers”, explains Samara Pataxó, legal advisor of the Articulação dos Povos Indigenous peoples of Brazil (Apib).
The prime minister to present his vote is the rapporteur of the case. Only then will the other votes be presented, in ascending order of seniority – from the newest to the oldest -, that is, from Minister Nunes Marques to Minister Gilmar Mendes (dean), with the President of the Court, Minister Luiz, voting last Flow
There is no way to predict how the session will take place. There is the possibility of a request for views, which can be made by any of the ministers; if it occurs, the judgment will be suspended and must be re-arranged. “This would be a bad scenario for the indigenous peoples, but there is also the possibility of the ministers asking to anticipate their votes, which would be a good scenario for the judgment to be able to proceed, even if one of the ministers up front asks for a view”, explains Samara.
What is certain is that “indigenous women will be on the front line to bury once and for all the thesis of the milestone thesis, during the II National March of Indigenous Women”, reaffirms the coordination of the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestrality (Anmiga ).
In defense of their original rights, indigenous peoples mobilized to accompany the trial in Brasília and in the territories. In the capital, for reasons of care and to protect the lives of women, children and elderly women, the more than 4,000 women who build the II National March of Indigenous Women will follow the trial on a screen mounted in the main tent of the camp installed in the space. of Funarte. The expectation is that the Court will guarantee the original rights of peoples and refute the thesis of the temporal thesis.
Know the disputed theses
The Supreme Court is analyzing the repossession filed by the IMA – Environment Institute (IMA), of Santa Catarina, against the Xokleng people, referring to the Ibirama-Laklãnõ IT, where the Guarani and Kaingang peoples also live. In 2019, the Court recognized the “general repercussion” of the case, that is, the decision will serve as a guideline for the federal management and all instances of Justice with regard to demarcation procedures.
At the center of the dispute are two theses: on the one hand the thesis of the so-called milestone thesis, defended by ruralists and which restricts indigenous rights, and on the other the defense of the original right and traditionality of indigenous occupation as a criterion for the demarcation of indigenous lands .
According to the restrictive thesis of the milestone thesis, indigenous peoples would only have the right to demarcate the lands that were in their possession on October 5, 1988, the date of promulgation of the Constitution. In addition to bringing the burden of proof of the dispute for their territories to the communities, the thesis ignores and at the same time legitimizes the history of expulsions and violence suffered by indigenous peoples before the date. This thesis is defended by the most backward sectors of agribusiness, as well as other sectors interested in exploring resources in indigenous lands.
Opposed to the milestone thesis is the “theory of the indigenous”, enshrined in the Federal Constitution of 1988. According to it, the indigenous right to land is original, that is, it predates the formation of the Brazilian State itself, and the public power is only responsible for declaring your recognition. Without making no mention about any milestone thesis, the 1988 Constitution establishes the traditionality of indigenous occupation as the only criterion for demarcation. This thesis is defended by indigenous peoples and organizations, indigenists, environmentalists and human rights organizations.
Indigenous peoples claim “our history did not begin in 1988, and our struggles are centuries old.
Permanent mobilization
Between August 22nd and 28th, six thousand indigenous people, from 176 peoples from all regions of the country, were present in Brasília, gathered in the “Luta pela Vida” camp to follow the trial in the Supreme Court and fight in defense of their rights, protesting also against the anti-indigenous agenda of the Bolsonaro government and the National Congress.
In order to continue following the trial, the indigenous people decided to continue their mobilization in Brasília and in the territories. Thus, around 1,200 indigenous leaders, representing their peoples, remained in the capital permanently and now the group joins forces with the II National March of Indigenous Women.
In Brasília or in the territories, “we are seeking to guarantee our territories, those that preceded us, for present and future generations, defending the environment, this common good that guarantees our ways of life as humanity. In addition to being a mere physical resource, it is also home to the spirits of forests, animals and the waters of life as a whole, source of our ancestral knowledge”, reinforces the March coordination.
