Indigenous people criticize political use and structure of encampment in Brasilia

Approximately six thousand indigenous people have been camped out since last Monday (24) in Praça da Cidadania, located in the central area of ​​Brasília, close to the Esplanada dos Ministérios. They are part of the 19th Terra Livre Camp (ATL 2023), which will end this Friday (28). This Thursday afternoon (27), the indigenous Adriana Tremembé, representative of the Federation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Ceará (Fepoince), criticized the lack of space for the voice of part of the indigenous people at the event and the use of it as a “stage for politicians”.

The statement was made during the 1st Seminar on Indigenous Peoples at the National Congress, which is not part of the official program of this year’s ATL. “I am feeling really bad. In our ATL, we, leaders, are not having the opportunity to express ourselves. Today ATL is being a group of authorities and we are just there to shake the cocar, just to shake the maraca and applaud. But the voice of our state of Ceará is not coming out in that plenary, in that ATL”, he criticized. The indigenous woman stated that a delegation of nearly 300 indigenous people from Ceará is in Brasília to monitor the program.

“Our voice needs to echo within these spaces and there in our ATL I’m not hearing that”, said Adriana Tremembé following her speech. The statement is opposed to one of the phrases highlighted on the official website of the ATL that says: “Between the 24th and 28th of April we will echo our voices through the concrete, populating the emptiness of the central plateau…”.

Organized by the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib), the camp is considered the largest indigenous mobilization in Brazil. Annually, indigenous people from all over Brazil go to Brasília to participate in a week of programs that include daily rituals and marches towards the National Congress. This year, indigenous peoples demand from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), in particular, the demarcation of indigenous lands.

Lack of structure and support

The indigenous leadership of Ceará also criticized the event’s lack of structure. “If it’s like that, in a few days, we’re not going to leave our state just to wave a headdress at the authorities who go up there. We came to face a sleep [sic] on the floor, and facing some filthy bathrooms and nobody wants to hear our voice”, added Adriana, in the Nereu Ramos auditorium of the Chamber of Deputies, while being acclaimed with screams and sounds of maracas coming from other indigenous people who accompanied her speech.

She was succeeded by other indigenous people who reinforced their position on the ATL. The singer and composer cultural articulator Gean Ramos Pankararu said that he felt contemplated by the speech of the indigenous “relative” of Ceará and added: “I want to leave here my protest against the lack of space for the expression of the arts and manifestations of indigenous peoples on stage main of the ATL”.

Darci Marulo, from the Indigenous Land of Vale do Javari, located in the municipalities of Atalaia do Norte and Guajará, in the west of the state of Amazonas, said that the indigenous peoples “need concrete support, so that they don’t remain only in the fallacies of this Parliament, need a punctual support”.

The indigenous man from Amazonas also highlighted that “politicians have to put their foot in the villages” and that the indigenous people “did not come to Brasília to listen to politicians, but to be heard”.

The report questioned Apib about the claims regarding the lack of structure at the camp. If the placement is submitted, the story will be updated.