FROM THE EDITORS: The first vote of the Supreme Court in Brasilia by Minister Edson Fachin against the “marco temporal” this September 9th was celebrated with joyful shouting by indigenous groups and more than 5 thousand women mobilized in the capital. Fachin rejected the premise that the Constitution of 1988 could define territorial rights that precede its existence. “The minister was also emphatic in stating that the Federal Constitution recognizes the right of indigenous people to their traditionally occupied lands as an original right, prior to the formation of the State itself,” explained the communiqué of the Articulation of Indigenous Pueblos of Brazil (APIB). The final vote is expected to resume next week.
Today, the II National March of Indigenous Women continued its programming with great joy and a massive march through the streets of Brasilia. We share below a translation of extracts from press releases by the Articulação Nacional das Mulheres Guerreiras da Ancestralidade (ANMIGA) this week, to celebrate the voice and positioning of this movement that inspires so much strength and resistance worldwide.
SOURCE: https://anmiga.org
II National March of Indigenous Women: “To not fight with the same weapons as the enemy, does not mean we are unarmed”
This September 7, indigenous ancestral women warriors from all the biomes begin to arrive in Brasilia for the Second National March of Indigenous Women, organized by ANMIGA (National Articulation of Ancestral Warriors Women). With the theme “Native Women: Reforesting minds for the healing of the Earth,” the event runs until September 11, with intense programming .
With the strength of ancestral knowledges, traditions and struggles that have accumulated and converge bringing women together from all the Brazilian biomes, this first day of the March, September 7, has been dedicated to the welcoming of delegations with guidance and testing for Covid-19. So far, there are 4,000 women from 150 indigenous towns, gathered during three days of activities in the space of FUNARTE (National Foundation for the Arts) in Brasilia. The entire agenda of the conference can be accessed on the website: https://anmiga.org/marcha-das-mulheres/
Since the very beginning of the activities, the indigenous people who are in the federal capital defending their rights are suffering diverse racist attacks and attempts at intimidating people who oppose the movement’s agenda. All the attacks that are considered crimes of racism, injury, libel, slander, and defamation, as well as the behaviors of intimidation and offense, will be duly reported so that appropriate measures can be taken to safeguard the coordination of the Second National March of Indigenous Women.
The ancestral women warriors take the frontlines to bury once and for all the “Marco Temporal.” The thesis defended by “ruralistas” [agrarian capitalists] to restrict indigenous rights and that is being analyzed by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). After the presentation of all oral arguments that had the participation of indigenous voices held last week, and considered by us women as a milestone in the history of the movement, the session of the Court is expected to resume Wednesday 8 with the judgment that will define the future of all indigenous lands in Brazil.
“We are looking for a guarantee of our territories, for the ones who preceded us, for present and future generations, in defense of the environment, this common good that guarantees our ways of life as humanity. In addition to being a mere physical resource, it is also home to the spirits of forests, animals and the waters of life as a whole, sources of our ancestral knowledge,” said the coordinators of the II National March of Indigenous Women.
In the federal capital and in the territories, indigenous peoples have been mobilizing for three weeks in defense of their original rights and against the anti-indigenous agenda of the Bolsonaro government and National Congress.
Indigenous women say no to gender violence within the territories and to the “marco temporal”
The Second March of Indigenous Women continues its programming with the ancestral strength of native women, who brought for the second day of activities fundamental guidelines in defense of their territorial bodies; no to gender violence and no to the “marco temporal.”
The day began with a ritual in memory of indigenous girls Raissa Guarani Kaiowá and Daiane Kaingang, teenagers raped and killed in Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul a few days before the indigenous mobilizations began in Brasilia on August 2021. Indigenous women across the country held ceremonies and launched manifestos, denouncing the violent context of vulnerability to which they are subjected.
“Talking about violence and about gender-based violence in our communities and villages and among indigenous groups is a painful process, which can still be considered taboo within some communities. Even when people live this every day within their territories, whether it is because of imposed machismo, or because of the projects that insist on penetrating our territories with their developmentalism,” said Nyg Kaingang, indigenous leader of the National Articulation of Ancestral Warriors Women (ANMIGA).
The agenda items that guide not only the second day of the March’s programming, but also the entire struggle of indigenous women in the country, go hand in hand. That is why, fighting against gender violence, patriarchy, and against the unconstitutional thesis of the “marco temporal” directly implies the protection and autonomy of indigenous territories in Brazil.
“Today we brought this context of violence, starting the march with a posthumous tribute. There is no point in thinking about the demarcation of indigenous land if we do not first think about this respect for the territorial bodies of indigenous women. Because everything starts there. Genocide resumes with the “marco temporal,” this femicide that has been taking place in Brazil for five hundred and twenty years against indigenous and black women, and today also against non-indigenous women. Once Brazil naturalizes violence as culture. That is why that is still occurring, why we need to be marching here, that is why we need to engage in conversation,” stresses Nyg.
For the lives of women, WE FOR US, for the children and the elderly, we keep on marching!
SOURCE: https://anmiga.org/pela-vida-das-mulheres-nos-por-nos-pelas-criancas-e-ancias-seguimos-em-marcha/
The Second March of Indigenous Women will be held this Friday (10) and not this morning, September 9, as planned in the mobilization schedule, in Brasilia.
The decision aims to guarantee the lives of the women, elderly women, youth, and children present in the mobilization that has been taking place since September 7, in the federal capital, with the participation of more than 5,000 people from 172 peoples, from all regions of the country.
Extremist, fascist, armed groups, many identified with T-shirts written Agro continue, invading the Esplanade of Ministries, with conspiring looks from the GDF (Government of the Federal District) and in support of Jair Bolsonaro. As a result the Esplanade is blocked.
We are interested in knowing, who is the agro-financier of these criminals? Who are the coup plotters who want at all costs to prevent the Supreme Court from trying the case of the Ibirama-Laklãnõ Indigenous Land of the Xokleng people, which will definitively set the land demarcation policy in Brazil?
[…]
We will never accept having our women and peoples subjected to such violence again! These chapters are pages from the past, which we are being rewritten with our struggle, from the ground up of our territories.
