2024-04-26 21:30:00
ATL 2024: more than 9 thousand indigenous people from different parts of the country demonstrated to defend their rights in Brasília | Lucas Landau/ISA
In the heart of Brasília, between April 22nd and 26th, a call echoed across the four corners of the country: “Our landmark is ancestral. We’ve always been here!” Thus, Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL), which this year celebrated two decades of existence, amplified the voices, stories and resistance of indigenous peoples in Brazil.
See what ISA coverage was like in ATL
“ATL 2024 went down in history, mainly because of the message we sent and was heard”, celebrated Dinamam Tuxá, executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), at the closing plenary.
“We achieved our objective, we reaffirm our commitment to the constitutional text and democracy. We need Congress to stop creating an anti-indigenous agenda. We need the lands to be demarcated, and for the Executive to fulfill its institutional functions. But, for this to happen, we need to stay mobilized”, he reinforced.
Organized by Apib, the historic mobilization brought together more than 9 thousand people, representing more than 200 peoples in defense of indigenous rights. Among a broad agenda of meetings in the Three Powers, the movement organized a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who received a delegation of 40 indigenous leaders and committed to moving forward on the issue of demarcations.
From left to right, Mauricio Terena, legal coordinator at Apib, Dinamam Tuxá and Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinators|Lucas Landau/ISA
Lula ordered the creation, within two weeks, of a government task force to resolve “legal and political” problems related to the demarcation of Indigenous Lands. Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinator of Apib, expressed concern about the Executive’s decision to dialogue with governors before ratifying lands occupied by non-indigenous people.
“We will only move forward on this agenda by guaranteeing constitutional rights and complying with decree 1775/96. The only federal entity responsible for demarcating Indigenous Lands is the federal government, and it is in this sense that we are proposing to form this task force, without committing to talking to anyone outside of the provisions of decree 1775. The decree is clear: There is a rite and this rite has to be followed.”
final letter
This Friday (04/26), the organization released the carta final do ATLan urgent statement from the Brazilian indigenous movement on threats against the lives of indigenous peoples, especially related to politics.
“We warn that this intentional rupture will result in an increase in violence and genocide policies and practices historically promoted by both society and the State itself against indigenous peoples. From the most remote periods of history to the present day, including the dark legacy of the dictatorship military, whose consequences still echo in our lives.”
United and united in the defense of life and the planet! Indigenous people marched in Brasília demanding the guarantee of rights and the preservation of territories | Lucas Landau/ISA
The reference is to the decision of Minister Gilmar Mendes, who on Monday determined the installation of a “conciliation and mediation process” on the Temporal Framework Law. “We warn that this intentional rupture will result in an increase in violence and genocidal policies and practices historically promoted by both society and the State itself against indigenous peoples”, says the document.
In addition to the land demarcation agenda, indigenous people are also against the opening of their territories to projects that worsen the climate crisis. “Such developments represent a direct threat to mother nature, forests, our rivers, biodiversity, fauna and flora, as well as all the riches and forms of life that we have preserved over millennia.”
In the letter, President Lula is called upon to fulfill his commitment to install the task force to dialogue with the Three Powers and definitively demarcate all Indigenous Lands in the country, and to guarantee the effective participation of indigenous peoples and organizations in the task force.
“We don’t want to live on farms”
The document also spoke out against the purchase of land for use by indigenous peoples, as stated by President Lula regarding the purchase of areas to repair the Guarani-Kaiowá indigenous people in Mato Grosso do Sul.
“If there is a need to buy land, it should be to resettle the invaders, and not to displace our people from their original lands. PRESIDENT LULA, WE DON’T WANT TO LIVE ON FARMS! It is necessary to prevent Rui Costa, Chief Minister of the Civil House, from continuing to “order” the approvals of Indigenous Lands”, he emphasizes.
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