2023-09-21 14:23:00
Dadá Baniwa (center), former coordinator of DMIRN and current coordinator of Funai Regional Rio Negro|Suellen Samtanta/Rede Wayuri
Ohpenkõ di´a kahnã numia is how indigenous women from the Rio Negro or rionegrinas are written, in Tukano, one of the languages spoken in this region of the Amazon. The phrase is in the song prepared by Odimara Ferraz Matos, Tukano people, sung during the III March of Indigenous Women, which took place in Brasília, from September 11th to 13th, organized by the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestrality (Anmiga).
Wearing traditional clothing, annatto and genipapo, they publicized their struggle during the march on the Esplanada dos Ministérios, along with approximately 8,000 other women from across the country. To the sound of maracas, they made noise and sought space in official offices, articulating for public policies that benefit women in their territories.
Find out more: Indigenous women march in Brasília for more political representation and the end of gender-based violence
“This song shows that women have always been in the indigenous movement, but their history has not always appeared”, says Odimara.
Alongside her were leaders such as Elizângela Baré, Dadá Baniwa, Cleocimara Reis (Piratapuya people), Larissa Duarte (Tukano people), Almerinda Ramos (Tariano people) and Janete Alves (Desana people). The president of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI), Joênia Wapichana, was also alongside the women of Rio Negro during the march.
Daiara Tukano, indigenous artist, Joênia Wapichana, president of Funai, and Madalena Olímpio, from the Baniwa people|Suellen Samanta/Rede Wayuri
For Rionegrinas, it is a special moment to talk about this history: the meeting celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Department of Indigenous Women of the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro (DMIRN-FOIRN).
The documentary “Rionegrinas” and the book “As Mães do DMIRN – Achievements and Challenges” were released, which bring narratives from the department’s leaders and rescue memories to inspire the future. The department’s website was also launched, a communication and strengthening tool. Find out at https://dmirn.foirn.org.br.
DMIRN coordinator, Cleocimara Reis talks about the appreciation of this history. “This story is inspiring not only for the Rio Negro. Indigenous women from other regions are offering us exchanges to learn about DMIRN and to structure their own departments,” she said in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, upon returning from Brasília.
The delegation that went to Brasília was made up of around 40 women from peoples such as Baré, Tukano, Baniwa, Yanomami, Piratapuia, Wanano, Desana, Tuyuka, among others. People considered to have been in recent contact, the Hudp´däh and Nadeb also had representatives at the march.
Among the members were three communicators from the Wayuri Network: Cláudia Ferraz, Wanano people, Suellen Samanta, Baré people, and Deise Alencar, Tukano people. “It was very special to participate in this moment and show the history of DMIRN, the journey and progress to date. This journey is inspiring and it is necessary to have a different look at the history of these women, knowing, recognizing and giving visibility”, says Suellen Samanta.
See coverage on Wayuri Network’s Instagram:
Listen to the special program about the III Marcha das Mulheres on the Wayuri podcast, produced by Cláudia Wanano:
“Rionegrinas” Multiethnic celebration at the film’s launch |Mariana Soares/ISA
Produced by ISA in partnership with DMIRN and FOIRN, the documentary “Rionegrinas” was released on the 12th, at the Centro de Convivência dos Povos Indígenas da UnB (Maloca), in Brasília. In the audience, indigenous women from the Negro River, but also from other regions, such as Kayapó and Waiãpi, and also indigenous students from UnB. The artist and activist Daiara Tukano, born in the upper Rio Negro region, participated in the session and brought indigenous tradition to talk about women in the narrative of the emergence of the world.
The direction and script are by documentary filmmaker Fernanda Ligabue and ISA’s socio-environmental policy coordinator, Juliana Radler, with collaboration from Dadá Baniwa, Carla Dias, Dulce Morais and Ana Amélia Hamdan. The film tells, through testimonies of indigenous women, the struggle for space, territory, income and sustainability. From the farms to the universities, from the home-territory to public positions.
DMIRN has a coordinator and five regional coordinators who enable dialogue with the indigenous territory of the Rio Negro.
In the region, people of 23 ethnicities live in around 750 sites and communities in the municipalities of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro and Barcelos (AM).
Coordination is the responsibility of Cleocimara Reis and the coordinators are: Belmira Melgueiro, Baré; Madalena Fontes Olímpio, Baniwa; Odimara Ferraz Matos, Tukano; Maria das Dores Azevedo Barbosa, Tariano; and Victoria Campos, Tariano.
Among DMIRN’s priority agendas are gender equity, support for indigenous women’s associations, income generation and sustainability, strengthening knowledge and health, indigenous medicine and the traditional agricultural system, tackling the impacts of the climate emergency and women’s rights.
Before being structured as a department, many trails were followed, as Rosi Waikhon reports. She recalls that the president of FOIRN at the time, Braz França, from the Baré people, indicated that they needed to organize themselves on paper. And so they worked until they created DMIRN, then the Wariró store, today the home of the artisan and indigenous artisan of the Rio Negro, who not only sells products, but also strengthens culture.
In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the Rio Negro region hard. The DMIRN coordinators at the time, Elizângela da Silva, from the Baré people, and Janete Alves, from the Desana people, articulated support and partnerships for protection and health actions. The ‘Rio Negro, We Care!’ Campaign was created, which brought humanitarian aid into indigenous territory.
Among other women, the documentary features the coordinator of the Wayuri Network, Cláudia Wanano, highlighting the importance of communication for and by indigenous people. The former coordinator of DMIRN, Dadá Baniwa, who is now in charge of the Rio Negro Regional Coordination of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai – CR Rio Negro) talks in the film about strengthening the presence of indigenous women in the political space, citing the minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, the president of FUNAI, Joênia Wapichana, and federal deputy Célia Xacriabá. They were all present at the March.
Anthropologist Francy Baniwa reflects on the conquest of spaces in universities and the challenges that remain. The leader Edneia Teles, Arapaso people, points to the future and talks about the importance of recording the memory of DMIRN for the next generations.
The film will also be released in Manaus and São Gabriel da Cachoeira, but the dates are not yet confirmed. Check out the trailer:
“DMIRN Mothers”
The book “As Mães do DMIRN – Achievements and Challenges” also contains testimonies from indigenous women. The writing was conducted by Elizângela da Silva, Baré people, former coordinator of DMIRN, communicator and leader, in a joint construction.
“When I started writing it was as if I were a woman giving birth, a pregnant woman. The women said: back then we were treated like that and our strategies were like that. We were looking for more dialogue and partnerships to show our importance. Our tradition is very strong, it is patriarchal and, at the time, men were sexist and said that our participation was out of context or status. But we created other strategies and that’s how they were built”, reports Elizângela Baré.
She reveals that one of the women’s strategies was to strengthen income generation through crafts, conquering other areas of struggle for health, education and training. The publication has the support of the Observatory of Gender Violence in Amazonas, the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam), with professor Flávia Melo da Cunha, and the Faculty of Public Health of the University of São Paulo (USP), with professor José Miguel Nieto Olivar.
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