Cases such as the murder of indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips are stimulated by the rigging of the organ. Brazil is the 4th country that most threatens and kills environmentalists in the world
Fortnight Bomb
June was marked by the cruel murder of indigenist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, in Vale do Javari, west of the Amazon. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, as Brazil is the 4th country that most threatens and kills environmentalists, according to the Global Witness.
Eliana Brum wrote in a column in the nexus that the murder of environmentalists is part of a method of war used by the current Federal Government to massacre traditional and environmentalist peoples in the Amazon. Like Bruno and Dom, several other environmentalists have already been murdered this year alone. Who remembers José Gomes and his family, murdered in São Félix do Xingu? The case still remains unpunished!
Chico Mendes, Dilma Ferreira Silva, Paulo Paulino Guajajara were activists and defenders of Human and Environmental Rights and victims of a violent structure. From 2009 to 2019, in absolute numbers, there were 2.074 homicides of indigenous people, according to the Atlas of Violence.
With the Bolsonaro government, these attacks are increasingly evident. One dossier produced by the association that brings together employees of the National Indian Foundation (Funai), Indigenistas Associados (INA), and the Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc), shows how Bolsonaro transformed Funai into an anti-indigenous body. The study reveals that only two of Funai's 39 decentralized units, called Regional Coordinations (CRs), are headed by public servants. Another 19 are coordinated by members of the Armed Forces; three by military police and two by federal police.
Funai employees went on strike last June 23 because of this systematic neglect. In poster, indigenists ask for Marcelo Xavier to be removed from the presidency of the agency and demonstrate the dismantling of indigenous policy in Brazil.
That's worth a map
A Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, a region that gained global attention with the murder of Bruno and Dom, has been threatened by drug trafficking, wood theft, illegal fishing and the advance of mining.
Demarcated in 2001, the region has a population of around 6,5 indigenous people and 26 peoples that coexist in the territory. In addition, the indigenous land has the highest concentration of uncontacted peoples in the world, with restricted access by waterways and air.
The Javari Valley is on the border with Peru and Colombia and is located in the Amazon. There are 8,5 million hectares, being the second largest indigenous land in the country - the first is the Yanomami, with 9,4 million hectares.
Socio-environmental Chest
Contrary to what Bolsonaro claims, Bruno and Dom were not "adventurers", but experienced specialists and defenders of socio-environmental guidelines.
the indigenist he occupied one of the most technical areas of Funai due to his deep knowledge of isolated peoples. In 2019, he helped in the biggest expedition of the last 20 years for contact with the isolated indigenous people of Vale do Javari. In the same year, after an expedition to combat mining in Vale do Javari, he was removed from the position he had held since 2010. There was enormous pressure from ruralists. Bruno was exonerated and suffered political persecution within Funai precisely for inspecting, detecting the invasion of loggers and prospectors.
Dom was a veteran of international coverage on environmental justice and socio-environmental protection issues, and had been in Brazil for approximately 15 years. According to the newspaper he collaborated with, The Guardian, he was known for his love for the Amazon region and traveled extensively in the region to report on the Brazilian environmental crisis and the problems of its indigenous communities.
Socioenvironmental is written together
The environment was an agenda present throughout the month of June. In addition to environment, celebrated on June 5, appeared in the speeches of President Jair Bolsonaro in the Summit of the Americas. . It also appeared in the publicity of some more alarming data on deforestation in the Amazon and visibility of the struggle of indigenous peoples to Murder of Dom and Bruno.
There is so much information, coming from so many places... but one thing is important to take into account: socio-environmental is written together, since environmentalists, scientists, journalists, traditional populations, politicians, you, I, are together, writing a new socio-environmental tomorrow. fair and fraternal.
All fronts of action are important to defeat all types of violence, extermination, hatred and keep our forests standing.
Extras
June is LGBTQIAP+* Pride month and this milestone is worth mentioning to remember that there are indigenous peoples, quilombolas, members of traditional peoples and communities who are also members of the LGBTQIAP+* community. These people exist and they resist!
In addition to Brazil being the fourth country that kills the most environmental activists in the world, the country is the leader of another violent record: being the country that kills the most trans people and transvestites. Although transphobia has been a crime in Brazil since 2019, the country leads this ranking for the 13th consecutive year. This scenario occurs without considering the unreported cases, which implies that the scenario is even more alarming.
To learn more about it, see dtwo books that rescue sexual diversity among indigenous people of the doctor in anthropology Barbara Arisi, who works with the Matis na IT Vale do Javari, since 2006. The works are in English and one¹ brings the untold story of the colonization of indigenous sexualities before the arrival of the Portuguese and Spanish and the other² begins with a scan of the little bibliography on the subject and ends with stories of contemporary indigenous personalities that do not fit into the two-sex or two-gender dichotomy.