Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
assassination! How can Funai say disappearance? Joaquim is a jaguar himself, how
could a jaguar have killed him? But Joaquim is not a white man, he does not stab
people in the back. That, to the Xavante is wrong. We attack looking in our enemies'
eyes, not from the back. So that is how they killed him, stabbing him in the back,
then shot him in the forehead to make a hole in the face. To humiliate the old man.
The waradzu's life is like this. That is why we took the cars, the trucks, the
tractors. We decided not to kill one of them. We've changed our price. We don't want
their blood on our land, fruits, flowers, food, medicine. Their blood is going to make
our land sick, like the pesticide and all the poison they use on plants and throw in the
water. We don't want their blood on our land, because we want to be healthy again.
We don't want to plant rice, beans and eat beef; that only makes us sick. This is why
we are working on this project, fruits and flowers, our struggle now.
EPILOGUE: THE RIGHT TO FREE, PRIOR, AND INFORMED CONSENT (FPIC) IN
THE UN DRIP
The Xavante ended up returning most of Ruaru's equipment, as Funai promised to
start revising the demarcation of the boundaries of Sangradouro in 2003. However,
the community had to take matters into their own hands. In 2004, Xavante youth
helped restore landmarks that had been illegally shifted by farmers to their original
1991 locations, when the Sangradouro Indigenous Land was officially demarcated
by the Brazilian Government. However, land invasions still continue, and there is
heavy racial discrimination against the Xavante in the area. After more than 50 years
of official contact with the broader Brazilian society, the Xavante are once again
taking action to let the world know that they will implement and enforce their most
basic human rights, in particular the rights asserted in the UN DRIP.
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In 2010, the Brazilian government celebrated 100 years of official Indigenous
policy implemented since 1910 - initially with the Indian Protective Service (SPI),
and in 1967 with the creation of the National Indian Foundation (Funai). What we
continue to see is the Xavante people once again taking into their own hands the
responsibility for the social and emotional well-being of their people. Several Xavante
associations now thrive in Mato Grosso state. In Sangradouro, as elsewhere in the
state and nationwide, Xavante youth are exercising their right to self-determination
by founding indigenous associations dedicated to projects that promote Indigenous
autonomy and self-sufficiency. Such is the case of the Associação Xavante Warã, and
the Associação A'uwe Uptabi, which have invested heavily in the conservation of the
cerrado and the Xavante knowledge of this unique ecosystem. Projects and programs
include support for agricultural biodiversity, agro-forestry management, food security,
and revitalization of knowledges and practices, including traditional medicine, and
the teaching of Xavante as a first language in all Xavante public schools.
The assassination of Joaquim Maradezuro is fundamentally a story about land,
about the seizing of Indigenous lands and resources by governments, corporations,
and individuals. A story that is retold over and over across the globe. One vitally
