Taking Back Their Land - Brazil’s Indigenous Movement Wins Key Electoral Victorie

Taking Back Their Land
- Brazil’s Indigenous Movement Wins Key Electoral Victories

By John Reardon

Brazil's municipal elections on October 3 have brought an unprecedented electoral feat for the nation's indigenous communities. The first ever indigenous mayor was elected in the state of Amazonas, where inhabitants are primarily native peoples; the primarily Xakraibá community of the state of Minas Gerais elected its first indigenous mayor to the town of São João das Missões, and other mayoral and local posts were secured by indigenous leaders in the states of Paraiba and Roraima.

The victory of José Nunes de Oliveira as Mayor of São João das Missões is part of a history of struggle of the Xakriabá people. His father, Rosalino Gomes de Oliveira, was killed during the struggle for land in 1987. It was only after Rosalino's murder that Xakriabá land was recognized and ratified as indigenous land by the State. "Sadly, my father had to die for our rights to be recognized," stated the newly elected mayor. The tension, threats, political persecution, physical assault, and media smear campaigns against Oliveira's candidacy made the victory a challenging one.

In addition, a lack of resources made the campaign more difficult. "We fought for the mayoral seat with no resources," noted Oliveira, who considers his victory a fruit of the struggle of his people. "It is vital that our administration be exemplary so that the victory of our peoples can repeat itself in other mayorships and gain representation in the legislature and executive branches," he added.

The colonization of indigenous lands in the Americas and its consequences has been violent, genocidal, and unjust, to say the least. The enormous land seizure by European colonizers and their leaders resulted in the extinction of entire indigenous peoples, demographic decimation, and the destruction of their traditional means of physical and cultural survival (for a detailed historical account, visit www.socioambiental.org).

In what is today Brazil, the Portuguese crown designated huge tracts of land to court new Portuguese immigrants hoping they could acquire as much land and resources as possible before other colonial powers established their own claims in the region. Portuguese landowners were expected to protect "their" land from foreign competitors, produce wealth for the crown, and to put down any forms of resistance from local populations. If disease and/or cultural assimilation did not do away with indigenous groups in these areas, guns were the preferred choice for conflict resolution. However, this practice did not disappear with Brazil's independence in 1822. Violence, wealth accumulation and social exclusion continue to define Brazilian society and continue to be complex and controversial aspects of the ongoing land conflict.

It is estimated that before the arrival of the Portuguese, there were roughly 5.6 million indigenous people in the Amazon basin alone. Today, the entire country includes 345,000 indigenous people living in villages registered by the federal government, anywhere from 100-190,000 who live outside of these communities, and an estimated 53 groups that have yet to be contacted by non-indigenous agencies. According to the Brazilian government (funai.gov.br), of the 1,300 languages previously spoken by these people before colonization, 180 are currently spoken.

The environmental impact of logging and gold mining gravely threatens the region's indigenous communities. Large-scale agricultural and soy export production destroys huge areas of natural reserves, forcing the native people out of their traditional lands, further into the Amazon and other forests.

The indigenous rights movement, through mobilization and political pressure, has forced progressive changes from the State. The Indian Statute of 1973, following the logic of the 1916 Civil Code, deemed the indigenous as “relatively capable” and therefore deserving of government attention until they were integrated into Brazilian society. The constitution of 1988, thanks to an active indigenous movement, better respects the basic rights of indigenous people. Indigenous languages, social organizations, traditions and their original rights to the land they've occupied for centuries are all considered permanent rights under the newly formed Brazilian law. The precedents set by over 500 years of colonization manifested itself again during the 1964-84 military dictatorship. Again, indigenous people saw their survival threatened by expansion projects in the name of “development” and “national security.”

Today, landless and indigenous workers in search of economic relief from capitalism's inadequacies become miners and loggers. Overcrowded cities with few low-paying jobs and the highly mechanized agricultural production in the countryside are just two factors contributing to economic injustice in Brazil. The wealthiest 20 percent of the population makes 34 times the income of the poorest 20 percent; some 55 million Brazilians live on $2.00 per day; less than 3 percent of Brazil's population own two-thirds of its land and an estimated 60 percent of this land is unproductive.

The need for agrarian reform to democratize Brazil, and the fact that the country's 1988 constitution deems unproductive land appropriable, influenced the formation of Latin America's strongest and most organized social movement, the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST). By organizing landless workers, occupying unproductive farmland and gaining support from civil society, the MST has forced the government to redistribute 20 million acres of land to 350,000 families. In many cases the government claimed they could not redistribute land, and that these workers should head to the “frontier” areas of Brazil, where they might find land and employment. These frontier areas were not only unsuitable for small-scale agricultural production, but the forested areas with natural resources are already inhabited by other indigenous groups and the areas cleared of these forests and peoples are occupied by the rural elite.

The indigenous people, natural resources, and violent land conflicts in the northern state of Pará gives insight into the MST struggle. During the 1970s, the military government implemented “development projects” that provided incentives for mining efforts and rural industries. Thousands of workers from all regions of the country headed to the region hoping to make a living wage. Some projects employed people for a period of time, but little by little the industries slowed and required less labor. Newer technologies in conventional agriculture decreased the number of workers necessary on any given farm. Today, thousands of landless workers live in extreme poverty on the outskirts of Pará's large cities. The MST has organized roughly 8,000 families and more than 40,000 people currently occupying unproductive farms in the region. But the region is home to some of the most violent rural elites. In 2003, of the 71 assassinations related to land conflicts in Brazil, 35 occurred in Pará. The MST maintains that landless workers should be settled in their home states, but with millions of people in the region searching for means of survival, the struggle for agrarian reform has great importance. If agrarian reform fails to take place in Pará and other states, desperate workers will turn to forest reserves like logging or mining, vital areas for the survival of indigenous communities, and the genocidal result of colonization will only become worse.

The recent electoral victories for the indigenous communities of Brazil translate into greater political participation and demand for public policies that work to alleviate the historical injustices these communities have faced. It is evident, however, that without an adequate and just distribution of income and land wealth throughout Brazilian society, indigenous people will continue to face societal and economic oppression.

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Centro de Mídia Independente Brasil—IMC Brazil
http://www.midiaindependente.org/
The Brazilian Landless Workers Movement is the largest social movement in Latin America
http://www.mstbrazil.org/
http://www.mst.org.br/
Indigenous Peoples in Brazil resource site from the Instituto Socioambiental
http://www.socioambiental.org/pib/indexenglish.htm