National Congress Threatens Rights of Indians and Quilombolas
Fonte: Agencia Senando
They made us many
promises, more than I can
remember, but they
never kept but one: they
promised to take
our land, and they took it.
Anonymous Indian. (1)
The biggest event of the century in the fields of sustainability and law was recorded in Brazil this week, with the rejection of the so-called Marco Temporal coup, engineered by the National Congress, which threatens and rejects the rights of Indians and quilombolas, in favor of corporations and landowners.
Not only the
Indians, but the entire Brazilian society and the entire world must celebrate
such a victory for democracy, human rights, citizenship, and social justice.
Finally, the country's largest Court of Justice (STF) set an example to the
world that law and sustainability can eliminate barbarism and face the biggest crisis of this century - climate change.
What has
become very important for all Brazilians is that, in the judgment of the
Federal Supreme Court (STF), the legal, moral, and ethical right to the recognition
of the claims of Indians and quilombolas, undeniably exists.
How the
demands will be protected and satisfied must ultimately be determined by the
Government and the natives and quilombolas of Brazil. Unfortunately, we have
the most ultra-conservative Congress in the country's history which, in a
climate of threats, at the service of corporations and landowners, is not in
favor of the rights of the Indians.
Soon after
the judgment in favor of the Indians, some jurists pointed out some incidents
that could happen, provoked by the National Congress against the legal rights
of the Indians. This only increases legal uncertainty.
What caused
frustration in this trial was that some ministers talked about compensation for
those who occupied indigenous lands unduly, but there was no talk about
compensation for the Indians for the theft of their lands over hundreds of
years. Even though there was a record of a decimated population, no
compensation for them was considered.
It turns out
that Indians can make a substantive claim for compensation for having been
deprived of their rights unchallenged for centuries, but the legal impediments
to such claims appear to be formidable. However, for illegal occupants of their
land, there appears to be no impediment.
In countries
like Canada and the United States, the notion that natives do not have a legal
claim to their land, but only a moral and ethical claim, has already been
refuted. After two centuries of political and judicial decisions, their right
was conclusively demonstrated, in a substantive and exceptional way.
The maneuvers of the National Congress in not wanting to accept the STF's judgment, insinuating changes to laws or the Constitution itself, are unacceptable, disrespecting the STF itself, the UN, and other international institutions.
(1) This
quote comes from D. Brown's book – “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”. The place
called Wounded Knee, in South Dakota (USA), is where there was a great massacre
of around 200 Indians, including many children, carried out by American forces.
The American Indian warrior named Crazy Horse was buried there in September
1877.
Comentários