Indigenous organizations from Amazonas unite in Collective Recovery and launch letter with demands
Aimed at strengthening the indigenous movement, the mobilization brought together more than 500 indigenous people from 22 peoples and 80 indigenous organizations from 26 municipalities in Amazonas to face anti-indigenous policies.
Publicado em CIMI | por Lígia Kloster Apel, da assessoria de comunicação do CIMI Norte I
“Our recovery takes place in the face of a critical and worrying scenario, where the rights conquered are being disregarded and destroyed. In this sense, we seek to present our demands and proposals for the implementation of public policies that respect our ethnic diversity, our bodies and our ancestry”.
Thus begins the final document of the two-day meeting that brought together the Apinagé, Arapaço, Apurinã, Baré, Baniwa, Dessana, Kambeba, Kanamari, Kaxinawam, Kokama, Matsés, Munduruku, Mura, Miranha, Sateré-Mawé, Tariano, Tikuna, Tukano, Tupinambá, Yanomami, Waimiri-Atroari, Warao, represented by their leaders and tuxauas (caciques) and 80 indigenous organizations from 26 municipalities in the state of Amazonas, which took place on March 30 and 31, at Chácara Abraço Verde, in Manaus .
Named Collective Recovery of the Indigenous Movement in Amazonas, the meeting is one of the steps being taken to mobilize and strengthen indigenous organizations, leaders and communities in the state. The movement's theme is “protagonism and autonomy for the good living of indigenous peoples” and its objective is to “unify and strengthen the indigenous movement of Amazonas in defense of collective rights”.
Faced with the attack against indigenous rights set up by the Brazilian State, in which the President of the Republic openly opposes the existence of indigenous peoples, the organizers understood that only united will they be able to face and defeat those who want to defeat them. “We are at war, and we will fight until we win”, was the unison of the meeting.
Analyzing the history of attacks against indigenous peoples, the participants contextualized the strategies used to destroy indigenous life and show, in the document, the cruelty with which anti-indigenous policies advance. “Historically, governments have promoted genocidal policies in a cowardly way. Now, no longer with weapons, but with ethnocidal projects that promote the devaluation of our cultures, implant conflicts and bring discord and destruction to our territories”.
“This reality has become even more cruel in the context of the current federal government, where the laws and policies of territorial protection, health and education are not respected”, emphasizes the document. “We are dying at the hands of invaders, with our rivers polluted and lands devastated. Indigenous leaders from different locations are being criminalized and persecuted by the Brazilian State for fighting and denouncing the disrespect for indigenous rights”.
Marcivana Sateré Mawé, a member of the Coordination of Organizations of Indigenous Peoples of Manaus and Surroundings (Copime) and one of the organizers of the event, says that although Amazonas is a state whose population is significantly indigenous, there is no specific policy aimed at these peoples, because there is no recognition of the ethnic plurality of its population. The consequence of that denial, she reckons, is merciless.
“There are few public policies aimed at indigenous populations, strengthening our territories, sustainability, access to health, education. These are the factors that force indigenous people to leave their territories and go to the city, in pursuit of these policies. But if we, who are already here in the city of Manaus, feel that being in the city does not guarantee access to these services, imagine for those who come from the villages, do not speak Portuguese properly, do not know how or where to look for these services. ”, says Marcivana.
The leadership considers that resuming the walk and reorganizing the indigenous movement, at this moment, is a matter of survival. “It is necessary to create a strengthening strategy because the greatest impact is on those who are at the front, for whom recognition policies do not reach. So, the movement has this objective of unifying, of creating strategies for the good living of indigenous peoples, but a good living that is comprehensive that reaches the village”, he says.
For Chief João Ferreira de Souza Sateré Mawé, from the municipality of Barreirinha, the main demands involve improvements in education, health and agriculture. “These three things”, says Seu João, “are fundamental for the indigenous people”.
He explains that education is a central theme, because it is through schooling that it is possible to face the system and affirm the indigenous identity. “The system is very strong, it destroys. The system has several ways to co-opt parents, offering them a job, a better life. But then, the parents leave the children alone, defenseless, and without the possibility of growing in their identity. That is why every day, every hour, every minute has to be strengthened by itself, identifying itself with its rights, improving itself so that children can really grow up in the real thing, saying that we are native people and we have full rights in everything. The Constitution guarantees us. But you need to be educated in the Western system because that's the only way we'll know laws, know numbers, be a geologist, lawyer, anthropologist. In any area, knowledge must be on an equal basis, so that the Indians can defend themselves, while maintaining their origin, and identifying themselves in their language”, he concludes.
Professor Alva Rosa, from the Amazonas School Education and Indigenous Health Forum (Foreeia) and also one of the organizers of the Collective Retake, comments that each organization is doing its part in their localities in the fight against the atrocities unleashed against indigenous peoples. “The uprising was necessary to expand the movement across the state. Faced with so many setbacks in public policies at the municipal, state and federal levels, we thought of resuming articulations at the state level and calling the different regions to this great struggle”, she explains.
Reinforcing that this must be a collective struggle, of “doing it together”, the teacher emphasizes that the need is to “play a leading role for indigenous well-being in the sense that it is done from within ourselves, having as a principle our action, our uprising”, he says. “We know how to do it and we are going to show how it is done, we are going to debate which policies we really want for indigenous peoples, and with the necessary autonomy”.
In this perspective, Alva Rosa believes that the event exceeded expectations. “From this objective, we can say that our meeting had a positive evaluation and that it went beyond our expectations. Many people heard the call and came, so much so that our mobilization was not funded by the federal, municipal and state governments. It was self-funded by the organizations that came and participated, and we had the support of the indigenist partners who helped us. We achieved our objective, which was to unify and strengthen the indigenous movement”, she concludes.
Partnerships are needed
Nara Baré, general coordinator of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab), reported the historical process of articulation of the indigenous movement of the Amazon and said that the name of this movement could not be another: “Retomada. It is always necessary to have a new beginning, a new beginning and the name could not be better than the resumption of the indigenous movement in the state of Amazonas. It was the cradle of an entire articulation for the creation of Coiab and of several organizations in defense of the rights of indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Amazon”, she explains.
Baré highlights the participation of women in the event and comments that the essential characteristic of an articulation must be inclusion. “It was important to see the participation of women and it is important to emphasize that it was a resumption led, led by women, together with the young and bringing in the men, the older ones, that is, it did not exclude anyone, but it was inclusive. A resumption must be like this, including everyone, making everyone feel a part. Because if it's just one group, we won't be able to move forward and face what's on the agenda in terms of policies for indigenous people”, she highlights. “It is in the collective that the movement has life and, therefore, Coiab could not fail to be present and say that it is a partner and is supporting this process of collective construction”.
Francisco Guenter, representing the North I Region of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), participated in the event. “CIMI supported the mobilization because of its relevance in the current political context, of systematic violation of indigenous rights, and because of its importance for the advancement of the indigenous movement in the Amazon, in the construction of its own tools to facilitate articulation around common struggles”, points him.
Guenter shares with Nara the perception that the collectivity is the essence of mobilization and that its strength drives the struggle and confrontation of the situation.
“The event showed the ability of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon to mobilize to confront Bolsonaro's anti-indigenous policy, rejecting the so-called time frame, which aims to definitively encroach on undemarcated indigenous lands and the [Bill] PL 191/2020, on mining, which poses a serious threat to the lives of indigenous communities in their territories. An important step was also taken to advance the organizational process of indigenous peoples in the state for the conquest and consolidation of their rights”, he concludes.
Walking is necessary
The Collective Resumption of the Indigenous Movement in the state of Amazonas began on March 8, with the March of Indigenous Women of the State of Amazonas. More than 300 indigenous women gathered, debated, talked, exchanged, marched through the city, released their voices denouncing rights violations and demanding respect for their lives.
The meeting on the 31st also culminated with the March of participants through the streets of Manaus to show society that there is indigenous resistance and that they will not surrender or integrate into a society that disrespects their ways of life.
With their voices echoing, the shouts of order commanded the march with strong expressions in defense of indigenous life: “Indigenous lives matter”, “Nothing for us, without us” and “We will move forward!”.
