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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/08/28/brazil-amazon-indigenous-protest/">theintercept.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Brazil’s Indigenous Groups Mount Unprecedented Protest Against Destruction of the Amazon</h1>
<div class="gmail-PostByline-names"><a class="gmail-PostByline-link" rel="author" href="https://theintercept.com/staff/andrew-fishman/"><span>Andrew Fishman</span></a><span> - August 28, 2021</span><br></div><span class="gmail-PostByline-date"><span></span></span>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><div><p><u>Indigenous communities in</u>
Brazil organized the largest-ever native protests to block what they
described as “a declaration of extermination” from lawmakers
representing agribusiness, mining, and logging interests aligned with
far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.</p>
<p>The umbrella group <a href="https://apiboficial.org/?lang=en">Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil</a>,
or APIB, put together the protests as part of the weeklong “Struggle
for Life” protest in the capital, Brasília, in anticipation of a
decision from the Supreme Court that could invalidate Indigenous land
claims.</p>
<p>“Our struggle takes as its target all governments that are complicit
in Bolsonaro’s campaign of genocide, all corporations that seek to
profit from it,” APIB said in a joint statement with <a href="https://progressive.international/">Progressive International</a>,
a left-wing coalition that sent a delegation to survey the situation.
“The fight against Bolsonaro extends far beyond the borders of Brazil.”</p></div><blockquote><span></span><p>“We are the ones suffering. The government doesn’t suffer. So that’s why we’re here to fight.”</p></blockquote><div><p>APIB
expected the Supreme Court would strike down a challenge to Indigenous
land claims during its protest, but the court postponed the judgment to
next week after one vote was cast in favor of Indigenous rights. One
right-wing lawmaker, whose fortune comes from agriculture, <a href="https://deolhonosruralistas.com.br/2021/08/27/ruralistas-trabalharam-para-adiar-julgamento-do-marco-temporal-revela-neri-geller/">said</a>
he and his colleagues lobbied the justices to further delay the ruling
so that Congress has time to pass measures that would strip Indigenous
land rights through legislation instead of the courts.</p>
<p>Since 2019, Bolsonaro has used his executive authority to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/27/brazil-bolsonaro-environment-amazon/">aggressively attack</a> Indigenous rights, slash environmental protections, and cripple relevant law enforcement efforts — moves that have drawn <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/prompted-by-amazon-fires-230-investors-warn-firms-linked-to-deforestation/">international</a> <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210408-brazil-s-bolsonaro-under-pressure-ahead-of-climate-summit">condemnation</a>.
Closely aligned with the powerful agribusiness lobby, the government
has also pushed forward a slew of consequential bills in Congress that,
if passed, would be a death sentence for many of Brazil’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/07/06/brazil-amazon-rainforest-indigenous-conservation-agribusiness-ranching/">Indigenous communities</a> and, critics warn, the entire Amazon rainforest.</p>
<p>“We are the ones suffering. The government doesn’t suffer,” said
Pasyma Panará, president of the Iakiô Association in the Xingu region of
the Amazon. “So that’s why we’re here to fight.”</p></div><div><p>The
delegation from Progressive International included a member of the
Spanish parliament, Indigenous leaders, labor activists, and two U.S.
congressional staffers who were participating in a personal capacity.
The group traveled to Brasília and the Amazonian cities of Belém and
Santarém for a week of meetings with Brazilian politicians and
environmentalists and groups representing Indigenous communities, labor,
and landless peasants.</p>
<p>“This delegation aims to bring the eyes of the world to Brazil,”
David Adler, general coordinator of Progressive International, told The
Intercept. “We are here to develop a common strategy to confront the
crises that are facing Brazil.”</p></div><div><p><img src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2021/08/IMG_4697.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90" alt="IMG_4697" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="439" height="329"></p><p class="gmail-caption">Indigenous
Brazilians protest against President Jair Bolsonaro, holding a sign
which reads, “Bolsonaro, get out,” at the Struggle For Life encampment
in Brasília, Brazil, on Aug. 26, 2021. Protestors hold a banner that
reads “Our history doesn’t begin in 1988”, the year the Constitution was
signed into law, “we have resisted for more than 12,000 years.”</p>
<p class="gmail-caption">
Photo: Andrew Fishman</p></div><div><h3>Struggle for Life</h3>
<p>More than 6,000 representatives of 176 Indigenous groups pitched
tents and lashed together bamboo shelters for seven days of protest and
cultural exchange. The encampment sat on a dusty patch of land in the
capital, less than a mile up the main promenade from Congress, the
Supreme Court, and the presidential palace.</p>
<p>To participate, delegates from the most far-flung corners of Brazil’s
massive expanses spent as many as three days on packed buses that
navigated washed-out dirt roads, traveling under the threat of ambushes
from paramilitary gangs.</p>
<p>Before rousing speeches by movement leaders and allies could begin on
the main stage, groups of Xikrin, Munduruku, Xukuru, and others dressed
in full ceremonial regalia and performed traditional dances and songs
for the crowd. Tech-savvy Indigenous influencers and journalists
livestreamed the proceedings on social media, engulfed in plumes of red
dust.</p></div><blockquote><span></span><p>“We know what evil is. Evil is the agribusiness invading our territories.”</p></blockquote><div><p>“We know what evil is,” said one speaker to applause. “Evil is the agribusiness invading our territories.”</p>
<p>Brazil’s Indigenous people have no shortage of reasons to protest.
Their ancestral lands are increasingly threatened by major agricultural
infrastructure projects and violent land thieves aided by government
agencies. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/02/16/brazil-bolsonaro-indigenous-land/">Violent attacks</a> are on the rise and environmental degradation is making traditional ways of life less tenable.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Congress has been voting on one bill after another that
would undo the hard-fought protections written into the 1988
constitution. Under Bolsonaro, everything has gone from bad to worse.</p>
<p>For weeks, organizers have been primarily focused on the Supreme
Court decision that could substantially reduce constitutionally
protected Indigenous territories. “It is one of the most important
judgments in history,” said APIB leader Sônia Guajajara, in a
livestreamed event last Thursday. “The struggle of Indigenous peoples is
a struggle for the future of humanity.”</p></div><div><p>The
measure, known as the “Milestone Thesis,” or “Marco Temporal” in
Portuguese, would invalidate the land claims of Indigenous groups that
did not physically occupy the territory on the day the new constitution
was signed in 1988, ignoring centuries of genocidal oppression that
forced many tribes to flee their ancestral homes.</p>
<p>Indigenous land rights are enshrined in Brazil’s Constitution, but
the government has moved at a snail’s pace over the last three decades
to process claims. Meanwhile, Brazil’s agribusiness, mining, and lumber <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/12/07/amazon-latin-america-extractivism/">industries</a>, with their <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/">international</a> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/23/gop-lobbyists-help-brazil-recruit-u-s-companies-to-exploit-the-amazon/">backers</a>,
have their eyes on many of the vast tracts of land, mostly located in
the Amazon, that are claimed by natives. The business interests have
been chipping away at the protections by any means necessary in the
courts, in Congress, and on the ground.</p>
<p>Illegal invasions into Indigenous lands by violent, heavily armed groups have <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/27/brazil-bolsonaro-environment-amazon/">been on the rise</a> in recent years. Criminal groups have been emboldened by Bolsonaro, who <a href="http://www.ihu.unisinos.br/186-noticias/noticias-2017/566529-bolsonaro-nem-um-centimetro-para-quilombola-ou-reserva-indigena">campaigned</a> on the promise that, if elected president, “there won’t be a centimeter demarcated for Indigenous reserves” and has made <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/10/28/jair-bolsonaro-elected-president-brazil/">racist, genocidal comments</a> about Indigenous peoples <a href="https://politica.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,cada-vez-mais-humano-fedorentos-e-massa-de-manobra-as-declaracoes-de-bolsonaro-sobre-indios,70003171335">throughout</a> his career.</p>
<p>“The Marco Temporal represents for us, Indigenous peoples, a declaration of extermination,” said <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/interview-eloy-terena-indigenous-land-rights-activist-brazil">Eloy Terena</a>, a lawyer and Indigenous rights activist, during an event last Thursday. Terena pointed out that many of Brazil’s <a href="http://www.funai.gov.br/index.php/nossas-acoes/povos-indigenas-isolados-e-de-recente-contato">114</a>
uncontacted tribes, which rely on government protection, live in
territories that could be threatened if the Marco Temporal legal thesis
is upheld.</p>
<h3>Fight for Representation</h3>
<p>The only way to put the brakes on the tractors that are plowing
through the Amazon, Rep. Joênia Wapichana told The Intercept, is a
“political renewal.” Indigenous people and their allies must “attain the
majority within Congress,” she said, something that has never happened.
“Maybe that way they might think twice before putting forward a
proposal to reduce Indigenous rights.”</p>
<p>Wapichana, 47, is Brazil’s first female Indigenous lawyer and member
of Congress. She is currently the country’s sole Indigenous
representative. At the “Struggle for Life” protest, she got the rockstar
treatment: Wherever she went, adoring fans lined up to snag selfies.</p>
<p>In a meeting with a dozen leaders from some of Brazil’s hardest-hit
Indigenous communities, a Progressive International delegate asked which
politicians they considered solid allies. The group hesitated to
respond, whispering among themselves until one of them spoke up: “Rep.
Joênia has fought alongside us a lot,” one Indigenous leader said, going
on to name a handful of nongovernmental organizations. None of them
were from Wapichana’s state of Roraima. Any other names? This time the
answer was quick: “No, not that I remember.”</p></div><blockquote><span></span><p>“Agribusiness not only buys advertising, it also buys the editorial line and influences news coverage.”</p></blockquote><div><p>The <a href="http://frenteparlamentarindigena.com.br/">Mixed Parliamentary Front </a>in
Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, launched in 2019 by
Wapichana, is comprised of 237 of Brazil’s 594 members of Congress. But
during the first four days of the protest, only two federal elected
representatives stepped foot on the protest’s main stage and only a
handful visited the encampment. No major presidential hopefuls or
prominent government officials attended.</p>
<p>In a change from recent Indigenous protests — which ended in violent
repression — police kept their distance. Coverage from major national
news outlets has also been hard to come by. On Wednesday, APIB’s
executive coordinator Dinamam Tuxá lamented to The Intercept that none
of the three main newspapers in Brazil — which rely on <a href="https://outraspalavras.net/crise-brasileira/o-que-a-midia-esconde-quando-fala-o-agro-e-pop/">agribusiness advertising</a>
— had yet run a cover story on the historic protest. “Agribusiness not
only buys advertising,” he said, “it also buys the editorial line and
influences news coverage.”</p></div><div><p><img src="https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2021/08/IMG_4948.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90" alt="IMG_4948" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="439" height="247"></p><p class="gmail-caption">Indigenous
Brazilians sing while protesting outside of the Supreme Court in
Brasília, Brazil, on Aug. 26, 2021, as they await an important ruling
from the court. They are among 6,000 people who came to the capital in
opposition to measures that would dramatically roll back Indigenous
territorial rights.</p>
<p class="gmail-caption">
Photo: Andrew Fishman</p></div><div><h3>International Solidarity</h3>
<p>Even if the Marco Temporal is defeated in the Supreme Court, dozens
of other proposals and government actions threaten Indigenous lands and
serve to push the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/07/06/brazil-amazon-rainforest-indigenous-conservation-agribusiness-ranching/">Amazon rainforest</a> closer to a <a href="https://www3.socioambiental.org/geo/RAISGMapaOnline/">deforestation</a> “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00508-4">tipping point</a>.” The result would be an irrevocable collapse of the ecosystem.</p>
<p>Leading scientists <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/03/amazon-forest-to-savannah-tipping-point-could-be-far-closer-than-thought-commentary/">believe</a>
that the tipping point will come at 20 to 25 percent deforestation,
causing the lush Amazon to dry up and turn into a savanna, provoking
catastrophic carbon emissions and severe droughts throughout the
continent. <a href="https://www.regnskog.no/en/what-we-do/the-amazon">Eighteen percent</a> of the Amazon has already been cut down and the rate of destruction has <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-55130304">only increased</a> under Bolsonaro.</p></div><div><p>“Our
lives are at risk and we are asking for help,” Auricélia Arapium, a
native leader from the Tapajós region, told the Progressive
International delegation during a meeting at the encampment on Monday.
“We no longer have anyone to turn to in Brazil. That’s why we have
approached international organizations, so that our rights, which are
being threatened, are preserved.”</p>
<p>In a press conference later that day, Progressive International
announced that it plans to work with partners around the globe to launch
a boycott of foreign companies responsible for the destruction of the
Amazon and the trampling of Indigenous rights. The investment giant <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/27/amazon-rainforest-fire-blackstone/">Blackstone</a> and the private agricultural conglomerate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/19/food-giants-accused-of-links-to-amazon-deforestation">Cargill</a> are at the top of their list.</p>
<p>“We need to look at the corporations that are fueling this and the
U.S. and international foreign policy that’s enabling these
corporations,” said <a href="https://theintercept.com/staff/nick-estes/">Nick Estes</a>,
a professor at the University of New Mexico, a Progressive
International delegate, and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.</p>
<p>“The practices of these corporations like Cargill are fundamentally racist,” said Estes, who has <a href="https://theintercept.com/staff/nick-estes/">contributed</a>
to The Intercept. “If more people understood how much Indigenous blood,
how much Black blood, how much blood from Brazilians living on the land
is spilt just for them to have a cheeseburger, I think there would be
much more outrage.”</p></div></div></div></div>
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