Indigenous blood for dinner? Buycott

Poverty, 1 out of 5 at risk in Europe, 1 out of 4 in Italy. The Eurostat report

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Published by Dario Dongo and Giulia Torre on 24 October 2019

'Indigenous blood, not an extra drop'. Mission to Europe

We participated on the second mission day of the indigenous representation in Europe. In Rome, at the Esc Atelier, thanks to DinamoPress, Survival International, Greenpeace and the Network 'In defense of…'. Célia Xakriabá, Alberto Terena, Kretã Kaingang and Elizeu Guarani Kaywoá from APIB offered testimony of the violence and abuse suffered by indigenous communities in Brazil.

L'initiative arose in January 2019, 'after the massacre of 19 indigenous leaders'. This is what he explains Celia Xakriabá, which comes from the Cerrado. The great highland savannah, Brazil's second most important biome, is now being burned to make way for industrial GM soy farming. In the indifference, a euphemism, of the Bolsonaro presidency. Elizeu Guarani Kaiowà, on the other hand, comes from one of the most persecuted indigenous peoples in Southern Mato Grosso (Amazonia).

The aggressions indigenous communities are being built militarily, but also through chemical weapons. By poisoning the waters with pesticides, to force indigenous peoples to move away from their lands.

Indigenous initiative, the objectives

The natives they claim possession of at least a share of the territories that represent their ancestral domains. But their spokespersons are systematically killed, from the time of the martyr Chico Mendez to today. And their murders are followed by the expulsion of indigenous communities from their lands. Ecosystems are being devastated, families forced to live on the street, drink contaminated water, migrate to the favelas on the edge of cities.

The goal of the campaign is to call the attention of governments and civil society in Europe to become aware of the genocide and ecocide taking place, and to react to it:

- to the political authorities it is asked to put pressure on the Brazilian government and on the LOBBY of the ruralists. The power group that controls the agro-industrial and livestock supply chain at the base of deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado. It is essential to promote UN and European Parliament missions to mitigate attacks by military and private militias on indigenous people. And obtain the commitment of local administrations to recognize indigenous rights on areas owned for generations,

- to civil society it is asked to become aware of the disasters in progress, and to adopt responsible consumer choices.

'To make European consumers aware of ways of conscious consumption ' it is therefore a priority objective of the international campaign 'Indigenous blood, nehuma gota mais'.

'The campaign and campaigns you are carrying out here in Europe are very important indeed. But even more important is to understand that we have to change the way we think about products exported from indigenous lands, from loggers, from farmers. By eating these products, you are only funding Bolsonaro's work. The economic agreement with Europe is gaining ground more and more. Today indigenous peoples in Brazil represent 0,5% of the Brazilian population, but we have 85% of the biodiversity of the land. By demarcation I mean that when you buy these products you are preventing our land demarcation or the re-marking of already demarcated lands, you are supporting the logging. You should change your European laws so that we can all work together against the devastating capitalist economy. ' (Kretã Kaingang)

Testimonials

Albert Terena explains APIB's commitment (Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), to sensitize the citizens of the world so that the indigenous people can continue to live. The Amazon has never suffered such severe attacks. Jair Bolsonaro, 'the Black', is opening the doors to agribusiness to destroy it. Indigenous people witness the extermination and forced deportation of their populations. They were 5 million, they are now 400 thousand. Therefore, Europe is asked to push Brazil to abide by the international agreements in force, such as the Paris Agreement.

Kreta Kaingang, from the south of Brazil, explains that to save the Amazon and the planet, the original ecosystems must be defended. In the south of Brazil there were no GMO soybeans or grazing cattle, there was the forest that protected the people and provided food and sustenance. With the arrival of Italians and Germans, the territory was occupied. 'Our land occupies 4 states, has a great biodiversity, and for this reason it is a sacred place. The Europeans have cleared the forest and have caused the loss of our territorial identity'.

A voice from Ecuador

The Kichwa people of Sarayaku, from the Amazon in Ecuador, is represented by the spokesperson Patricia Gualinga, who is in Rome to participate in the Synod Amazonian organized by Pope Francis. The indigenous resistance in Amazonian Ecuador has managed to stop the advance of oil drilling in our territory, thanks also to a victory in court. And it has continued to fight, for decades, to oppose the construction of dams and mines.

'Destroy the Amazon is to destroy the life of the planet. Fighting to protect it means fighting for the survival of the planet itself. Sometimes it seems that in Europe you are hearing about such distant problems, but the problems of the indigenous people have a direct impact on all the peoples of the world. This is why it is necessary to value the resistance of indigenous peoples. ' (Patricia Gualinga)

On the robbery of the lands see also https://www.egalite.org/land-grabbing-e-cambiamento-climatico-il-rapporto-ipcc/

Dario Dongo and Giulia Torre

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