Indigenous Tribe in Brazil pushing back against encroachments on their land

[Stevicus]

As Brazil’s Far Right Leader Threatens the Amazon, One Tribe Pushes Back

The Times traveled hundreds of miles into the Brazilian Amazon, staying with a tribe in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory as it struggled with the shrinking rain forest.

The miners had to go.

Their bulldozers, dredges and high-pressure hoses tore into miles of land along the river, polluting the water, poisoning the fish and threatening the way life had been lived in this stretch of the Amazon for thousands of years.

So one morning in March, leaders of the Munduruku tribe readied their bows and arrows, stashed a bit of food into plastic bags and crammed inside four boats to drive the miners away.

“It has been decided,” said Maria Leusa Kabá, one of the women in the tribe who helped lead the revolt.

In recent years, the Brazilian government has sharply cut spending on indigenous communities, while lawmakers have pushed for regulatory changes championed by industries seeking unfettered access to parts of the Amazon that have been protected under the nation’s constitution.

Now, Brazil has elected a new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who favors abolishing protected indigenous lands. He has promised to scale back enforcement of environmental laws, calling them an impediment to economic growth, and has made his intentions for the Amazon clear.

“Where there is indigenous land,” he said last year, “there is wealth underneath it.”

The land had apparently been protected under the Brazilian constitution, but the article described the Amazon region as lawless and a "war zone" as miners and others see it as a source of profit. With their new president and other lawmakers pushing for unfettered access to the entire region, this could also have global environmental consequences.

Thousands of square miles of forest have already been razed in indigenous territories, where large-scale industrial activity is prohibited. With Mr. Bolsonaro’s victory, indigenous leaders are sounding more drastic warnings.

“He represents an institutionalization of genocide in Brazil,” said Dinamã Tuxá, the coordinator of Brazil’s Association of Indigenous Peoples. A spokesman for Mr. Bolsonaro’s transition team said no one would comment on indigenous concerns, or respond to criticism of his views, because officials were focused on “far more important issues.”

Experts say the rate of deforestation in the Amazon, which soaks up enormous amounts of the world’s carbon dioxide, makes it nearly certain that Brazil will miss some of the climate change mitigation goals it set in 2009, when it presented itself as an exemplar of sustainable development at a United Nations summit.

The trendline has led federal prosecutors and environmentalists to say that the Amazon is on the brink of irreversible damage, potentially leading to the extinction of indigenous communities that have weathered centuries of calamities.

This is tantamount to genocide.

 

[Twilight Hue]

As Brazil’s Far Right Leader Threatens the Amazon, One Tribe Pushes Back





The land had apparently been protected under the Brazilian constitution, but the article described the Amazon region as lawless and a "war zone" as miners and others see it as a source of profit. With their new president and other lawmakers pushing for unfettered access to the entire region, this could also have global environmental consequences.



This is tantamount to genocide.

So what do you expect people to do?

 

[Stevicus]

So what do you expect people to do?

Which people?

 

[Twilight Hue]

Which people?

Anyone.

 

[Stevicus]

Anyone.

Well, I suppose there might be options. We could impose economic sanctions on Brazil until this is stopped. What do you think about this situation?

 

[Cacotopia]

Remember whale wars? they didn't do jack either. Bloody conflict to preserve the future of our biosphere seems to be the only real option here.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Bolsonaro is another one on my "please someone assassinate the evil psychopath despot" wishlist that I pray will be offed or die somehow, along with Duterte. A few others should go, too. Sadly, it seems like only decent people end up assassinated which shows how far this world has plunged into evil. Sometimes I can't wait to die.

 

[Cacotopia]

Bolsonaro is another one on my "please someone assassinate the evil psychopath despot" wishlist that I pray will be offed or die somehow, along with Duterte. A few others should go, too. Sadly, it seems like only decent people end up assassinated which shows how far this world has plunged into evil. Sometimes I can't wait to die.

I wouldn't even call it evil, just greed and self serving decisions. Evil is a pale concept compared to the greed of humanity.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I wouldn't evil call it evil, just greed and self serving decisions. Evil is a pale concept compared to the greed of humanity.

Well, I called it evil so you don't have to.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Well, I suppose there might be options. We could impose economic sanctions on Brazil until this is stopped. What do you think about this situation?

It kind of reminds me of encroachment of colonialism and the acquisition of resources in the early days of the US coupled with the expansion to the West.

Well I certainly hope it doesn't turn into bloodshed. I would side with those indigenous living there that they ought to be left alone along with their territory.

Unfortunately governments don't seem to view it that way given lines drawn for their jurisdiction with the mentality that they own everything within the designated borders. Given this has come to light in the public eye, hopefully it'll be halted by offering protections.

 

[Stevicus]

I wouldn't even call it evil, just greed and self serving decisions. Evil is a pale concept compared to the greed of humanity.

There is no greater evil than greed.

 

[JesusMyFriend]

As Brazil’s Far Right Leader Threatens the Amazon, One Tribe Pushes Back





The land had apparently been protected under the Brazilian constitution, but the article described the Amazon region as lawless and a "war zone" as miners and others see it as a source of profit. With their new president and other lawmakers pushing for unfettered access to the entire region, this could also have global environmental consequences.



This is tantamount to genocide.

One of the things that made me cry of anger and despair when Bolsonero won the election in Brazil was the fact that the Amazon and the lives of indigenous people in the Amazon are at the mercy of the god of capitalism: money. Now that Bolsonero is in power he won't mind destroying the Amazon, and that totally breaks my heart.

 

[JesusMyFriend]

Bolsonaro is another one on my "please someone assassinate the evil psychopath despot" wishlist that I pray will be offed or die somehow, along with Duterte. A few others should go, too. Sadly, it seems like only decent people end up assassinated which shows how far this world has plunged into evil. Sometimes I can't wait to die.

I fully agree with you.... the world is so unfair at times. Life is so unfair at times.