Protests hit first World Indigenous Games - News from Survival
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- Published on Saturday, 31 October 2015 05:15
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Protests hit first World Indigenous Games
Brazilian Indians are protesting against controversial plans to weaken their land rights© Fabio Nascimento / Mobilização Nacional Indígena
Hundreds of Brazilian Indians staged a protest this week at the first World Indigenous Games, hosted in the Brazilian Amazon.
The protestors called for a halt to plans to weaken indigenous land rights, which they warned would spell disaster for tribes nationwide.
Brazil’s powerful agri-business lobby is pushing forward a series of proposals which could open up indigenous lands to industrial projects, and prevent the recognition of new territories. Indigenous people depend on their land for their survival.
One of the proposals, known as PEC 215, was given the green light by a parliamentary commission this week and is now one step closer to being approved.
Survival supporters worldwide are lobbying for an end to these controversial plans.
For the Guarani tribe, they are particularly dangerous as almost all the tribe’s land has been stolen to make way for ranches and plantations, leaving the Guarani in overcrowded reserves and roadside camps with one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
During the protest, Narube Werreria, a Karaja Indian woman, said, “While we are here at the games, they are there in Congress plotting to steal our lands. Soon, there will be no more indigenous peoples, no more forest, no more animals.”
President Dilma Rousseff was booed when she attended the opening ceremony last week. Brazil’s controversial Agriculture Minister Katia Abreu, dubbed the “chainsaw queen”, was also booed for her opposition to indigenous land rights.
About 2,000 indigenous people from over 20 continents are participating in the Games. Competitors include a Sakha woman from Siberia, Maori from New Zealand, Kembata from Ethiopia and several tribes from North and South America.
Enawene Nawe man playing head-football.© Survival
Carlos Terena of the Inter-Tribal Committee, one of the organizers of the Games, said they aim to strengthen the culture of indigenous peoples around the world.
For many participants the Games are an opportunity to showcase their prowess in archery, tug of war, spear throwing, canoeing, indigenous football, wrestling and the “corrida de tora” where athletes run with 120-kilo logs on their backs.
But the Kraho and Apinaje tribes in Brazil boycotted the Games, saying “We cannot accept and participate in a sensationalised media event which aims to use the image of indigenous peoples to distort the facts and lie abroad; hiding the true reality and suffering of the indigenous peoples of Brazil.”
Others objected to the huge sum of money – almost US $41 million – being spent. Antonio Apinaje said this money “could have been invested in health, the demarcation of indigenous lands and the protection of territories, many of which are invaded.”
Read this online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10975
Fire in Brazil threatens to wipe out uncontacted tribespeople
The fire has consumed nearly half of the Arariboia forest© Toby Nicholas/Survival
A huge forest fire in the Brazilian Amazon is threatening to consume one of the most vulnerable peoples on the planet.
The fire has destroyed over 730 square miles of rainforest, more than 42% of the Arariboia Indigenous Territory. This designated territory is home to Awá people who have no contact with the outside world. Like all uncontacted peoples, they are extremely vulnerable to exposure to violence or disease inflicted by outsiders.
Other local tribes have been acting to protect the Awá people by extinguishing the fire. Without support from the Brazilian authorities, a group of Guajajara men has been working to contain it. The tribe have attracted attention in the past for resisting illegal logging activities, which if allowed to continue unchecked could also be catastrophic for their Awá neighbors.
One man from a group called the “Guajajara Guardians” said:
“We are defending our territory, so that the uncontacted Awá can survive. We have managed to reduce the number of loggers on our land and we hope to force all of them out. Otherwise, the Awá could be wiped out. We just want them to be able to live in peace.”
The Guajajra Guardians are opposed to illegal logging and forced contact with their neighbors© Survival International 2015
The fire continues to rage despite efforts to extinguish it. Brazilian government fire-fighting teams have only recently arrived on the scene. Previously all fire-fighting efforts had been carried out by Guajajara volunteers. Evidence, including footprints and shelters, indicates that the Awá are on the run from the fire and struggling to stay out of the blaze.
There are also reports of government firefighting teams being shot at by loggers. It is possible that they are using the fire as cover for illegal logging elsewhere in the territory.
Survival International, the global movement for tribal people’s rights, is calling on the Brazilian government to do more to put out the fire, protect the Awa’s land and save them from extinction.
Last year, Survival’s global campaign helped to pressurize the Minister of Justice to send hundreds of agents to the Awá’s central territory to evict illegal loggers.
Survival International’s director Stephen Corry issued the following statement on learning of the fire in Arariboia: “As if the Awá’s territory being ravaged by loggers wasn’t bad enough, now it’s being utterly devastated by fire. Yet government efforts to put out the fire have been shamefully half-hearted. Given how disastrous it is for the Awá, the authorities need to get the fire under control as a matter of urgency.”
Read this online: http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10969
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