The Indianist Missionary Council - Cimi, will be sponsoring the
Indigenous Peoples' Week until 19 April 1997. The topic that was chosen
for this year's celebration, "Indigenous peoples: Resistance under
Neoliberalism," is intended to spur discussions on new domination
mechanisms imposed by a system which paved the way for marginalization,
globalization, and for the exploitation of the culture, territories,
natural resources, and age-old wisdom of indigenous peoples. We notice,
however, that through their claims and resistance, the Indians in Brazil
have furthered their cause at the national and international levels. Under
this topic, which was published in the form of a resource text, Cimi also
exposes the shortcomings of the official indigenous policy and pinpoints
in what aspects the State is to be blamed for them.
In spite of all the difficulties they have been facing, indigenous
peoples and other groups which, like them, have been excluded from
society, are showing us that there is still hope for building of a new,
fair, and pluriethnical society. The 1997 Indigenous Peoples' Week intends
to expose, once again, the colonial, authoritarian, integration-oriented,
and ethnocidal posture of the Brazilian State and dominant classes in
relation to indigenous peoples.
As a result of the globalization process, indigenous peoples have
fallen prey to extreme poverty, inadequate living conditions, illiteracy,
malnutrition, alcoholism, and acts of violence which have given rise to a
wave of aggression against their traditional sociocultural and production
models and their physical and ethnic integrity.
However, despite all these factors, clear progress was made in the
organization of indigenous peoples through the multiplication of their
organizations. Although they are included among the most impoverished and
marginalized groups in the country, indigenous peoples have become the
main opposers of the globalization process in their fight for the right to
a specific and differentiated identity and to defend the material/spiritual
foundations of their race and culture: the land and the territory, among
other rights.
MARCH OF LANDLESS RURAL WORKERS SYMPATHIZES WITH
INDIGENOUS CAUSE
A list of concrete measures to ensure land to indigenous peoples in
Brazil is part of the "Manifesto for Land Reform and Justice in Rural
Areas," which was delivered to president Fernando Henrique Cardoso by the
Landless Movement on April 18. The audience, which was attended by Cimi,
was held one day after the arrival of the "March for Land Reform, Jobs and
Justice," sponsored by the Movement, to Brasilia. The march of the
landless, in which 3,000 rural workers took part, came from different
parts of Brazil and covered a distance of about 1,000 km with three human
columns which grew larger wherever it passed. In Brasilia, the march was
supported by unions and allied entities on a day of political and cultural
demonstrations. A huge crowd turned out to take part in them.
In the manifesto delivered to Fernando Henrique, the Landless Movement
proposed concrete measures for the Land Reform and the Agricultural
Policy. With regard to indigenous peoples, it requests the demarcation of
all indigenous areas, the approval of the Charter of Indigenous Peoples,
the ratification of ILO Convention n. 169, and Funai's restructuring with
the participation of indigenous communities, organizations, and leaders.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ARE HUMILIATED BY THE PRESIDENCY OF FUNAI
The president of Funai, Julio Gaiger, turned the indigenous issue in
Brazil into a police matter. On April 11, a week before the "Indian's
Day," the Federal Police, following orders from Gaiger and the acting
minister of Justice, Milton Seligman, arrested seven Xavante warriors of a
group of 55 which had peacefully occupied the building of the agency one
week before. The arrest took place at 4:00 a.m. The Indians said that the
police officers who arrested them were equipped with AR-15 rifles with
bayonets and that they were beaten during the operation. A group that
requested the release of the Indians the following day was expelled from
the building of the Federal Police at gunpoint. Chief Aniceto Xavante,
one of the most respected indigenous leaders in Brazil, felt so humiliated
that he cried. This negative fact had repercussions both in Brazil and
abroad.
In a note delivered to the public, Cimi described the action of the
police as careless and treacherous. According to the entity, the fact
reveals that in addition to the despotism and incompetence of Funai's
president, the indigenous policy adopted by the Fernando Henrique Cardoso
administration does not take into account the real needs of indigenous
peoples in Brazil. The Indians have become victims of a "large-scale lack
of assistance, their lands are not being demarcated and are being more and
more invaded, and violence against indigenous leaders has grown" at
alarming rates.
The restructuring of Funai and the decree 1,775/96 provide an
accurate picture of the neoliberal project applied to indigenous peoples
in Brazil, because "the decree favors the private ownership of the land to
the detriment of the constitutional rights of indigenous populations to
land areas traditionally occupied by them, and Funai's restructuring aims
to adapt its structure to the guidelines of a governmental philosophy
according to which the State should play a minor role in connection with
social issues." Cimi sympathizes with the cause of the Xavante people and
that of the remaining indigenous peoples, with their efforts and legitimate
claims.
Brasilia, 17 April 1996
Indianist Missionary Council