Article originally published on the Mídia Ninja website, on 3/2/2023
President Lula’s third term begins with a great novelty: the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). Sonia Bone Guajajara was chosen to head the portfolio and Joenia Wapichana, the first indigenous woman elected federal deputy, to assume the presidency of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai), which will be linked to the MPI. Weibe Tapeba took over the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai) of the Ministry of Health. Other indigenous people will occupy more positions in the federal administration.
Lula will govern with 37 ministries, with space for 15 parties and various social movements. The contradictions between these various fields will be expressed within the government itself. With the presence of an indigenous minister, for the first time, conflicts between indigenous rights and opposing interests will be dealt with directly, without intermediaries, although with the eventual mediation of the President and the core of the government.
But there will also be strong clashes with the opposition, not only in Congress, but also with extremist ruralists and Bolsonarists, mining entrepreneurs, land grabbers and other anti-indigenous actors. Part of them got involved in the anti-democratic movement and in the depredation of the seats of power in Brasilia. The connections between those who financed the acts and those who participated in them leave no doubt. The same groups are in critical regions of the Amazon, where socio-environmental crimes are concentrated and shooting clubs proliferate, areas under the control of coup groups and organized crime.
It will take time to recover deteriorated public bodies, policies and budgets related to the socio-environmental agenda. Even with political will, other factors will be decisive for progress to occur in this area. For example, President Lula has already defined that the demarcation of Indigenous Lands will be resumed and there is a list of 14 areas whose formalization could be completed in the coming months by homologation decrees. Part of the pending demarcation, however, is sub judice and subject to the slow pace of Justice.
Threats in the Legislature
In the Legislative, projects are being processed that may bring back the rights already conquered, as in the case of the demarcation of Indigenous Lands and the possibility of opening these areas to large undertakings. Rural parliamentarians, representatives of “ogribusiness”, have invested heavily in attacking these rights, including relating to people involved in environmental crimes and invaders of indigenous lands. At the moment, they are the ones most responsible for radicalizations and attacks on legal security, as in the case of the Apyterewa Indigenous Land (PA), already approved, but constantly invaded.
Far from turning its gaze to the serious problems of the sector, such as the fight against deforestation, the production chains that still use slave labor, the incentive to new technologies to increase productivity, part of the ruralist caucus still invests its large resources in attacking indigenous peoples. and further burn the country’s film abroad.
Nobody wants to invest in an Amazon full of illegalities and crimes or see the Indigenous Lands, the most environmentally preserved areas in the country, devastated by prospecting, mining or converted into pasture. These territories cannot be converted into large construction sites, under penalty of ceasing to be what they are. It is still too early to know whether the Legislature has already understood the asset that the country has in its hands. But it seems not.
Humanitarian crisis among the Yanomami
In January, the press reported the deaths of 570 Yanomami children from malnutrition and preventable diseases, the result of a health crisis caused by the prospector invasion and the connivance of the former government. In response, Lula went to Roraima, along with several ministers, to assess the situation and announce emergency measures to assist the affected communities. The issue impacted public opinion, dominating the news and social networks.
In the Senate, an External Committee made up mostly of parliamentarians historically supporters of illegality was formed with the approval of the President of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG). It sends a bad signal to society, which is currently shocked by the barbarities committed against the Yanomami. He missed a good opportunity to show leadership in building an agenda that puts limits on the scorched earth and lawless policy that the last government tried to impose on the largest tropical forest on the planet.
The anti-indigenous discourse of the past government must have increased prejudice against indigenous peoples among the more radical right-wing segments, in addition to strengthening those interested in appropriating Indigenous Lands and their natural resources. On the other hand, the rejection of this process by the majority of society increased adherence to the defense of the rights of these populations. The loyalty of this engagement and the expansion of new support will depend on the performance of those in government and the social movements as a whole, and will be essential to guarantee the future sustainability of these policies.
One thing is certain: the defense of indigenous and forest rights is not only of interest to the indigenous people themselves and sectors involved in the defense of the environment. The expressive vote of federal deputy Célia Xakriabá (PSOL), in Minas Gerais, more votes than traditional politicians like Aécio Neves (PSDB), and Sônia Guajajara (PSOL), in São Paulo, shows that society is mobilized and will remain attentive.