<
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/funai-is-ours-brazils-indigenous-affairs-agency-is-reclaimed-under-lula/>
"BRASÍLIA, Brazil — “We, civil servants, are reopening Funai to Indigenous
peoples,” anthropologist Janete Carvalho announced in a recent act at the
headquarters of Brazil’s federal agency for Indigenous affairs. Under former
president Jair Bolsonaro, she said, Funai officials were “really forced to not
fulfill our mission” over the past four years. “We, civil servants, are
reopening Funai to its institutional mission.”
The act reunited some 300 people in Brasília in the morning of Jan. 2, the very
first day after the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva. It also marked the start of a “new era” for the institution, whose
formal name was changed that day from the National Indian Foundation to the
National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples — a request from Native peoples
leaders accepted by Lula.
“We spent four years with a feeling of being suffocated, of [Funai] being
occupied by people with no legitimacy to work with Indigenous issues,” said
Fernando Fedola, the head of Indigenistas Associados (INA), an Indigenist
association of Funai officials. “They took over Funai to work from inside Funai
against Indigenous rights.”
Fedola called it “a very emotional moment, of really retaking [Funai],” as
attacks on Indigenous peoples and their rights under Bolsonaro also constituted
an attack on Funai’s employees.
“It is almost like a catharsis. Like in soccer, celebrating the goal,” he said.
“It’s an exorcism. We have rock salt here, to remove bad energies from the
environment.”
The crowd also cheered the new minister of Indigenous peoples, longtime
activist Sonia Guajajara, and Funai’s new president, Joenia Wapichana: “Funai
is ours!”
“Today, a new era begins,” announced Sonia Guajajara, who was sworn in as
minister the previous day during Lula’s inauguration. Her appointment was an
unprecedented act in the history of Brazil, which has never before had a
Ministry of Indigenous Peoples."
Via
Future Crunch
<
https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews-global-democracy-cancer-usa-rhinos-india/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
