Tag Archive for 'Brazil'Page 3 of 8

13
May

Indigenous People set to begin “The Xingu Encounter”

Indigenous Peoples in Brazil will hold a mass 5-day rally next week, dubbed “the Xingu Encounter,” to protest against a series of hydro dams planned for the Xingu river and its tributaries.

The sacred lands website explains, there are a total of 70 large dams and dozens of smaller ones planned throughout the central and northern parts of the country. “One of these is the proposed Paranatinga II dam. Located on the Culuene River, a tributary of the Xingu, Paranatinga II would destroy an area sacred to 14 tribal groups. The same tribes also oppose the much larger proposed dam downstream, Belo Monte, which would displace indigenous communities.” If completed, Belo Monte would be the world’s third largest hydro dam.

The encounter, which will take place from May 19 to 23 in the town of Altamira, Pará, is expected to gather over a …

Published on
May 13, 2008
  0 Comments 798 views

07
May

Brazil: Gunmen Shoot at Indigenous Macuxi, injuring 10

So-called armed guards working for one of the rice farmer’s currently (illegally) occupying Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous territory opened fire on a group of Macuxi indigenous People yesterday, injuring At least 10. One of them remains hospitalized in serious condition.

The owner of the farm, Paulo Cesar Quartiero, claims his men were firing in self-defense after the group refused to leave ‘his’ property. The Earth Times quote him as saying, “They invaded the estate. My men went there to ask them to leave, but they were met with arrows. There was a clash, and some people were injured,” Quartiero said.

The Macuxi say otherwise. Representative Joao Ribeiro for one, says the men didn’t speak to anyone. They just started shooting as they arrived.

Dionito de Souza, a Macuxi Chief and coordinator of the Roraima Indigenous Council, reaffirmed this in a phone interview, adding that the …

Published on
May 7, 2008
  3 Comments 1,422 views

03
May

Nobodies from the Rainforest

Nobodies from the Rainforest (Anonimato) is a short documentary about the Hupda indigenous People from Alto Rio Negro, northwest Amazon (Brazil).

Produced last year by Orlando Lemos, the film reveals a precarious health situation among the Hupda — one that’s been caused by outsider contact and a lack of access to clean water — as they struggle day to day with little resources, assistance, or even hope.

As for the health problem, the film primarily looks at Trachoma, which is a leading cause of infectious blindness in the world (8 million people, mostly in so-called developing countries, are visually impaired every year by Trachoma). There are however, numerous other health problems facing the Hupda.

Underlying this “modern life” is a story of one Hupda Woman, Lucia, who, mistakenly stepped on a poisonous snake after going almost blind from Trachoma.

After being bitten, Lucia wasn’t sure what to do, so …

Published on
May 3, 2008
  1 Comment 766 views

18
Apr

Removal of illegal invaders suspended

The Brazilian Supreme Court has suspended the police operation that sought to evict a group of rice farmers illegally occupying Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous territory in the Brazilian state of Roraima.

The decision came last Wednesday (April 9), after the farmers began threatening and attacking the regions indigenous people, destroying bridges, and setting up roadblocks to resist their eviction.

According to the Associated Press,

The court blocked the eviction of farmers from the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation late Wednesday, saying protests by the settlers… could erupt into “a veritable civil war.”

Roraima state Gov. Jose de Anchieta Filho, who backs the farmers, hailed the Supreme Court decision as ‘a victory for Roraima’s people.’

But Dionito Jose de Sousa, a Macuxi Indian chief and coordinator of the Roraima Indigenous Council, said the ruling rewarded violence and disrespect for the law.

“This is very bad …

Published on
April 18, 2008
  0 Comments 622 views

08
Apr

Illegal Invaders Turn Violent to Resist Eviction

A small group of rice farmers illegally occupying indigenous lands in the Brazilian state of Roraima have recently turned violent in an effort to resist their eviction.

Survival International explains in a recent release that at least one person has been injured, a local Indigenous Leader in the community of Barro, after the farmers threw a home-made bomb into his home. The farmers have also set up roadblocks and burned at least three bridges leading into Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous territory.

Home to the the Makuxi, Wapixana, Ingarikó and Taurepang, the People have been struggling for the last 30 years to reclaim their land from the farmers, an effort that’s repeatedly turned violent. But in April 2005, as noted here last January, Brazil’s President signed a law ordering the removal of all non-indigenous people from Raposa Serra do …

Published on
April 8, 2008
  0 Comments 802 views

02
Apr

Enawene Nawe Indians win right to fish

Survival International reports a Brazilian judge has affirmed the rights of the Enawene Nawe in the Rio Preto, an area of huge economic and spiritual importance to the People.

Each year the Enawene Nawe spend several months there, trapping and smoking fish for the community, while performing an elaborate ritual “called ‘yankwa’ where foods are exchanged to placate the ‘yakairiti’ spirits. Enawene Nawe elder Kawari explains, ‘All this land [the Rio Preto area] belongs to the yakairiti - our ancestral spirits. They own the rivers, the fish and the trees. If you finish these off, the yakairiti will take vengeance and will kill all the Enawene Nawe.’”

Over the last ten years, cattle ranchers have been progressively invading and deforesting the region, even using violent and intimidating tactics to try and force the Enawene Nawe out of the area. In fact, …

Published on
April 2, 2008
  0 Comments 844 views

01
Apr

Underreported Struggles for March

In February we saw ‘civil society’ start to demand corporations abandon oppressive and destructive practices. Well, that trend continued through March; unfortunately, it seems to have been more chest pounding than anything… It was as if everyone sat around a campfire, talking about far off things while a fire raged a foot to their backside. Integrity what? Responsibility who? “No, no no. We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re not the problem. We’re not the enemy.”

And so, desperately clinging to myth and hypocrisy, the so-called business community pushed on, doing everything to ensure you can keep getting toilet paper, cheese puffs, and semi-automatic machine guns.

As for the enemy? Those said to be unworthy and in the way? From Tasmania to Alaska and Peru to China, we continued to call the lie for what it is, and doing our best to live our …

Published on
April 1, 2008
  0 Comments 856 views

Video activism and the Chiapas Media Project

In the following presentation, Claudia Magallanes-Blanco from the University of Western Sydney talks about the role of video activism as a world-wide tool for empowerment and the Chiapas Media Project, a collaborative effort based in Mexico that provides indigenous Zapatistas in Chiapas and peasants in Guerrero with training and equipment to produce their own videos.

Since forming in 1998, CMP has distributed over 6000 videos, including: Zapata’s Garden, a film that looks at the society the Zapatista’s are building; …


I Am A Defender of the Rainforest

Known as ‘Soy defensor de la selva’ in Spanish, I am a Defender of the Rainforest is an award-winning documentary that was filmed, edited, and directed by members of the Sarayaku community in southern Ecuador.

The film shows how the …


Underreported Struggles #19, October 2008

In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories …


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