About 600 indigenous people will follow in Brasilia (DF) the trial of the time frame at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) this Wednesday (30). The caravans began to arrive in the federal capital since Sunday (27) to participate in a collective mobilization for the rejection of the thesis, which began to be analyzed by the court in 2017, but has already had the judgment postponed several times since then.
A delegation from the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib) opened negotiations with the STF police so that around 50 leaders of the group monitor the votes of the plenary judges. They are also negotiating with the Federal District security forces for the rest of the indigenous people to monitor the session outside, in a kind of vigil, as was done on other dates for which the return of the case assessment was scheduled.
Dinamam Tuxá, one of the leaders of Apib’s executive coordination, says that for them, observing the trial in person and monitoring it outside the building has not only a political meaning, but also a mystical one for traditional peoples.
“Our presence in the vicinity and even in the plenary of the Supreme Court is also a way for us to emanate our strength as an indigenous people, not least because, when we are close, we perform our rituals, call the other forces that we believe in. that are part of our culture, of our daily life within the community, we bring our protectors, our elders to pray, perform rituals. We believe that this force can collaborate with the judgment in favor of the indigenous peoples”, says the leader.
According to Apib, the delegations include buses that departed from São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rondônia, Pará, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso, Acre, Minas Gerais and Bahia. A group of 80 members of the Xokleng people, from Santa Catarina, arrived in Brasília on Monday night (28). The case of the community is the focus of the judgment, as the action under analysis by the ministers deals with the Indigenous Land Ibirama La-Klãnõ, inhabited by the Xokleng and also by the Kaingang and Guarani peoples. The ministers will decide whether the area can cover stretches disputed by the state government of Santa Catarina and local farmers.
University student Isabel Tukano came from Paraná along with three other colleagues to join the delegations. The group traveled about 12 hours to reach the federal capital, hoping to contribute to the collective pressure to reject the time frame thesis. “I really wanted them to understand that voting in favor of the indigenous people is voting in favor of all humanity”, says the student, mentioning the culture of conservation of environmental resources, historically maintained by traditional peoples.
The temporal framework thesis is based on the idea that traditional communities only have the right to lands that were already occupied or under dispute since before the enactment of the 1988 Federal Constitution. Isabel Tukano recalls the importance of the judgment, highlighting that the case has general repercussion, that is, the decision taken by the ministers will serve as a reference understanding for the legal situation of all other peoples, including those who already have their territories formally demarcated.
“Since it is an issue that affects all peoples, especially those in areas of recovery, territories that have not yet been ratified or demarcated, our coming to Brasília is very important because we need to show at the national and international level that the peoples indigenous people existed even before Cabral arrived in Brazil. We exist, we are thousands, with different territories and languages. So, I came to Brasilia to defend the territory, life, education, health, because an indigenous person without territory is nothing.”
Expectation
This Tuesday (29) on the eve of the resumption of the trial, it is common among indigenous peoples to report anxiety in the face of the score that will be signed by the Court regarding the case. The wait becomes even more tense when the subject is the vote of Minister Cristiano Zanin, who was nominated by President Lula (PT) and took office recently. In a few weeks of acting in the Court, the magistrate rejected the decriminalization of marijuana, the equation of transphobia and homophobia with racism, as well as voted against the action that dealt with police violence suffered by indigenous people.
This last position, for example, made Lula’s former lawyer align with Kassio Nunes and André Mendonça, appointed by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and considered the most conservative members of the current composition of the Court. These first demonstrations by Zanin in the STF left indigenous leaders on alert, who fear a possible vote in favor of the time frame.
“We are quite afraid of what could come because we don’t know how he will react. But, given his latest movements, this leaves people with a certain fear, fear and anxiety”, says Dinamam Tuxá. In the same line, Isabel Tukano says that there is great expectation around the minister’s vote.
“We hope he becomes aware of it because we are also conservative in our issue of indigenous knowledge. That he understands that being indigenous is a way of conserving, and conserving for everyone and for his own family, breathable air, clean water.”
So far, the score at the Court is in a vote in favor of the time frame by Kassio Nunes and two votes against the thesis, the latter coming from ministers Alexandre de Moraes and Edson Fachin, the rapporteur of the case. The trial should resume on Wednesday afternoon (30), with the reading of André Mendonça’s vote.
Editing: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
