Brazil Campaign

Updates

Farmers murder Pataxó indigenous woman

On January 22, 2024 https://www.servindi.org/ published the article “Farmers murder Pataxó indigenous woman”. The article can be read on the servindi.org website.

The article discusses how, on Sunday January 21st, a woman from the Pataxó-hã-hã-hãe indigenous community died from gunshot wounds in an incident that left several injured in a territory disputed between the native peoples and settlers of the state of Bahia.

The article stresses that the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) believe the the only way to stop the increase in violence that effects the people of the southern region of Bahia is the demarcation of indigenous lands. The APIB reported that Chief Nailton was shot and his sister, Nega Pataxó, was murdered. Two other people were beaten and one woman had her arm broken.

Note that the article mentioned above originally appeared in Portuguese and can be translated into English using Google Translate.

 

Indigenous Peoples from across Brazil mobilized in Brasilia to protest a new bill that would strip many Indigenous Peoples of their land titles. Many Indigenous communities in Brazil are already fighting to stop the incursion of ranchers, loggers, miners and others on their traditional territories. Photo: PhotoLangelle.org (2023)

 

Note: In May 2023 international members of the Campaign to STOP Genetically Engineered Trees went to Brazil. Over our 3 week trip, we spoke to many traditional communities in Espirito Santo, Bahia and elsewhere that are being impacted by the ecological and social devastation caused by industrial-scale plantations of eucalyptus trees. One of the communities fighting back to stop the takeover of their lands for eucalyptus plantations is a Pataxo community in Bahia – the same one described in this tragic article below.

 

We had planned to visit this community and document them and their struggle, but some heavy rains made the road to their remote community impassable. We hope to get back to their community in 2024 so that we can help them tell their story.

Alert against Green Deserts Network / Alerta Contra Desertos Verdes

Open Letter (September 2023): The “Alert against Green Deserts”  network met in Brazil as part of the International Day of Struggle against Monoculture Tree Plantations. Members of different states and representatives of quilobola communities, fishermen and agrarian reform settlements participated. Following the meeting the network released an open letter denouncing the impacts of plantations and the crimes committed by the companies. They also demand reparation and reaffirm resistance against tree monocultures. The letter can be read in Portuguese on the Alert against Green Deserts’ website and in English here.

A recent effort by Brazilian lawmakers would be disastrous for Indigenous land claims

October 2023: A recent effort by Brazilian lawmakers would be a disaster for Indigenous land claims and efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest, as reported on the Grist website. Following Brazil’s Supreme Court September 2023 rule that marco temporal ( a legal theory supported by Brazil’s agribusiness sector that would have limited Indigenous claims to land and opened those territories to extractive industries like mining and agriculture) was unconstitutional, “Brazilian lawmakers approved legislation that would make marco temporal legal anyway, putting Indigenous lands and communities at risk again”.

The following are excerpts from the article:

• With passage, the law would mark a specific time for when Indigenous land claims could be accepted: If Indigenous communities weren’t on the land they claimed in 1988 — when the Brazilian constitution was passed — they would have no claims to those lands, opening them up for development.

• A coalition of seven Indigenous Brazilian organizations have sent an appeal to the United Nations denouncing violence against Indigenous peoples and warning that the approval of the marco temporal bill could lead to more. They have also urged President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to veto the bill.

• The bill now awaits Lula’s approval or veto, but even with a veto, lawmakers can override it with a majority vote in each chamber.

Click here to read the article on the Grist website.

Note: In May 2023 Kleber Karipuna, head of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, gave an interview to the Campaign to Stop GE Trees about this issue

Brazil groups say NO to GE trees: Sign on letter (Deadline – June 19, 2022)

Letter from the Alert Against the Green Deserts Movement in Brazil denouncing tree plantations and GE trees (2022). (Portuguese and English)

World Bank affiliate IFC approves loan for Suzano’s unsustainable project in Cerrado, ignoring warning from 40+ environmental groups. Environmental Paper Network (2022). (Available in Portuguese and English through Google Translate) 

Historic Victory for Brazil: In what can be seen as a historic victory for the South American country’s original inhabitants, Brazil’s supreme court has blocked an attempt to drastically strip back Indigenous land rights. As reported in The Guardian, “Nine of the court’s 11 members voted against what rights groups had dubbed the “time limit trick” – an agribusiness-backed attempt to prevent Indigenous communities claiming land they did not physically occupy in 1988… …Many Indigenous groups were driven from their ancestral lands during Brazil’s 21-year military dictatorship which ended in 1985.” (September 2023)

Congratulations to the Agroecology School Egidio Brunetto for its 10th anniversary and for advancing the agroecological transition in the Atlantic Forest Biome! NOTE: This is the MST school that the Campaign to STOP GE Trees visited in May-June 2023 (August 23, 2023)

Greenwashing: Is the Brazil paper company sustainable? (June 22, 2023, Deutsche Welle (DW))

Indigenous groups turn to Brazil’s highest court to stop police violence (June 9, 2023, Mongabay)

U.S. conservation investment routed to eucalyptus expansion in Brazil’s Cerrado (June 6, 2023, Mongabay)

The Role of Eucalyptus in Brazil comes under the Crosshairs of the International Anti-Transgenic Tree Network (June 2, 2023, FASE) *originally posted in Portuguese and available in English through Google Translate

Outrage as Brazil law threatening Indigenous lands advances in congress (May 31, 2023, The Guardian)

Brazilian Indigenous groups protest as lawmakers approve bill limiting recognition of ancestral lands (May 31, 2023, CNN)

Jerônimo Rodrigues, Governor of Bahia, denied the National Force’s help in protecting the Pataxó People  (February 16, 2023, Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil) *originally posted in Portuguese and available in English through Google Translate 

Against Eucalyptus Monoculture, MST occupies three areas of Suzano Papel e Celulose. (February 27, 2023, Brasil de Fato) *originally posted in Portuguese and available in English through Google Translate 

A Worrying Future for River Flows in the Brazilian Cerrado Provoked by Land Use and Climate Changes (27 February, 2023, MBPI)

Plan fails, Ribas repeats Três Lagoas and is on the verge of collapse with the creation of 10,000 jobs (February 12, 2023, O Jacare) *originally posted in Portuguese and available in English through Google Translate 

“We are on the verge of chaos”, complains mayor of Ribas (Februray 9, 2023, RCN 67) *originally posted in Portuguese and available in English through Google Translate 

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