“When an indigenous body fights, it fights for a collectivity, it fights for a better country”, says leader Vanda Witoto in an exclusive interview for the book Indigenous Peoples in Brazil 2017-2022.
His speech is reflected in reality: indigenous peoples are the ones most responsible for keeping the forest standing, for the good of the entire planet. An indigenous body in the forest-land contributes to keeping society alive. However, in the last six years, a strategy for the extermination of indigenous peoples has been in progress that has put not only these peoples, but the country at risk.
The 13th edition of the book Povos Indígenas no Brasil, published by Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and launched this Tuesday (21/3) in São Paulo, records the cruelest post-redemocratization period for Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. The document is an instrument to keep alive the collective memory of this history of attacks, which can no longer be repeated.
Download the book Indigenous Peoples in Brazil 2017-2022
The articles that make up the book address topics such as indigenous associations and policies, legislation, demarcation of Indigenous Lands, management, management and territorial and environmental protection, pressures and threats imposed by the advancement of large infrastructure projects, economic and political development, education, health public, culture and heritage.
The book shows that it is increasingly necessary to get to know indigenous Brazil in order to understand that “living with the forest is an art and requires a wisdom that cannot be manufactured in a laboratory”, as stated by the Yanomami leader, Davi Kopenawa.
The ways of life of indigenous peoples contrast with the logic of destruction, as they play a crucial role in imagining possible futures in which the relationship with territories is not one of mere exploration, but of conviviality. “Our way of life is an ancestral language that makes us resist”, recalled Witoto during the launch at Sesc 24 de Maio.
In addition to her, the leaders Watatakalu Yawalapiti, Txai Suruí and Sandra Benites, as well as ISA anthropologist Tiago Moreira, took part in a debate table.
Pressures, threats and infrastructure
Among the more than 100 articles in the book, “Magnitude of pressures and threats related to deforestation and infrastructure works in indigenous lands in Brazil”, by ISA researcher Antonio Oviedo, shows the importance of Indigenous Lands as “islands of conservation and diversity cultural”, which are being surrounded by pastures, agriculture, urban areas and areas degraded by industrial use.
Despite the great potential of Indigenous Lands and the importance of the more than 200 indigenous peoples in Brazil, there has been a significant increase in invasions and deforestation within their lands, in addition to generalized violence, especially during the pandemic.
In the last five years, more than 113 million mature trees were felled within Indigenous Lands. In addition, about 6% of deforestation between 2017 and 2021 was caused by mining, an illegal activity with a high socio-environmental impact. Degradation due to mining or prospecting in the ILs increased by 183% in the same period.
“Nature has been speaking for a long time. And we indigenous peoples have also been talking for a long time that destroying the forest would lead to the consequences we are seeing today. The Amazon is like the garden of indigenous peoples. It only has the size it has because we have always been planting seeds for the next generations”, said Txai Suruí at the launch of the book.
isolated in sight
The preservation of protected areas, such as Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units, is a crucial issue for maintaining socio-biodiversity and ensuring the well-being of the communities that live there. However, the book reveals that 133 planned infrastructure works are putting at risk 52 territories that are home to isolated indigenous peoples.
Alarmingly, 70% of the protected areas with the presence of isolated indigenous peoples are threatened by these works, totaling 22 protected areas at imminent risk. The theme is also highlighted in the book, mainly because these peoples were violently threatened, along with their defenders.
Bruno Pereira, an indigenist murdered for defending the territory of isolated indigenous people in the Javari Valley (AM), in June 2021, received a tribute for all the work done in protecting these peoples, the legacy he left for the next generations of indigenists.
Indigenous Policy
Eloy Terena, former legal coordinator of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib) and current Executive Secretary of the new Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, points out in his article “The ADPF 709 in the STF and the fight against the pandemic” that the resistance of indigenous peoples were guided by the understanding of “fighting with the pen, no longer just with the bow and arrow”.
Eloy highlights the Argument of Non-compliance with a Fundamental Precept (ADPF nº 709) as the central point of this curve of indigenous protagonism in institutional policy. For the first time, an indigenous organization – Apib – called the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to ensure the protection of indigenous peoples in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, which placed them in a situation of extreme vulnerability.
The measure, among other things, requested the adoption of several actions by the Brazilian government, including the creation of sanitary barriers to prevent the entry of third parties in Indigenous Lands with the presence of isolated peoples and of recent contact.
Due to the action, the Union was also obliged to prepare and monitor a Plan to Combat Covid-19 for the Brazilian indigenous peoples and in this component the STF determined the extension of the services of the Indigenous Health Subsystem to indigenous peoples living in non-approved lands and non-village dwellers (in case of impossibility of access to the general SUS).
The final decision of the STF was favorable to the indigenous peoples, marking the transition from an indigenist policy to an indigenous policy.
Indigenous political leadership has gained increasing prominence in the Brazilian political scene since the end of the military dictatorship. However, it was during the Bolsonaro government, which brought setbacks in relation to indigenous rights, that this role was strengthened in an unprecedented way.
One of the main manifestations of this movement was the Free Land Camp (ATL), an annual event that brings together indigenous representatives from all over the country in Brasilia and which, in its last edition, had the participation of more than six thousand people.
At the event, the “cocar bench” was born, which supported indigenous candidacies in the electoral dispute for the first time. This movement reverberated in the new policy underway.
Sonia Guajajara, who previously chaired Apib, took office as Minister of Indigenous Peoples. Funai is now part of the new ministry and is headed by an indigenous woman, former federal deputy Joenia Wapichana. The Ministry of Health also gains indigenous representation for the first time. The Indigenous Health Secretariat (Sesai) is now headed by lawyer Weibe Tapeba.
Indigenous women for another policy
The increasingly significant participation of indigenous women in the fight for their rights and in the construction of a more inclusive Brazil is the highlight of this edition.
A survey by biologist Beatriz Moraes Murer and ecologist Silvia Futada shows that there are currently 92 indigenous women’s organizations across the country. This number represents about 10% of the total of more than a thousand indigenous organizations registered in Brazil.
The pioneering spirit of indigenous women’s organizations took place in the 1980s, with the creation of the Associations of Indigenous Women of the Upper Rio Negro (Amarn) and of the District of Taracuá, Rio Uaupés and Tiquié (Amitrut) in the Amazon region. From the 1990s onwards, there was an increase in the number of women’s organizations or departments within established indigenous organizations.
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Do you know who are the indigenous peoples in Brazil?
In Brazil, there are 732 Indigenous Lands in different stages of recognition, of which only 490 have completed their demarcation. In addition to the 242 areas whose demarcation is in process, there are demands that have not even been processed by the indigenist agency – a gap that the Brazilian State needs to fill.
These lands are inhabited by 266 different indigenous peoples, who speak more than 160 recognized languages. In Indigenous Lands, according to preliminary data from the 2022 IBGE census, more than 1.5 million people live.
The demarcation of Indigenous Lands is a right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and is fundamental for the protection and preservation of the cultures and ways of life of these peoples. However, the demarcation process has been the subject of disputes and setbacks by the government and sectors of society that seek to economically exploit these areas.
It is necessary that the Brazilian State respects the rights of indigenous peoples and guarantees the demarcation of their lands, in addition to promoting public policies aimed at strengthening and respecting the cultural diversity of these peoples. Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee a fairer and more equal future for all Brazilians.
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To learn more about indigenous peoples in Brazil, visit:
pib.socioambiental.org