A group of 35 organizations, including ISPN, signed a Public Statement repudiating the militarization and weakening of Funai, as well as the ongoing attacks on the rights of indigenous and quilombola communities in the current context.
See below for the full text of the Public Statement:
Public Statement: Back to Integrationism?
In recent years, society has witnessed an accelerated escalation of violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil, directly related to a series of initiatives within the legislative, executive, and judicial branches aimed at dismantling the rights guaranteed in the 1988 Federal Constitution. This is undoubtedly the most adverse context faced by these peoples since the country's redemocratization process and the recognition of the original rights of indigenous peoples to their territories, as well as to their social organization, customs, languages, and traditions – all of which are gravely threatened today.
If the incompatibility between the 1988 Federal Constitution and measures such as PEC 215 and Ordinance 303 of the Attorney General's Office (to cite two among the dozens of anti-indigenous initiatives that have proliferated in recent years) was already blatant, two acts of the Executive Branch related to indigenous and quilombola peoples in recent days seem to have been extracted directly from the Official Gazette of the Union from decades ago, typical of the exceptional regime of the military dictatorship in Brazil.
The creation, on July 6th, of a Working Group "with the purpose of formulating proposals, measures and strategies aimed at the social integration of indigenous and quilombola communities" bears a striking resemblance to the integrationist ideals of the national security doctrine. The mere creation of the Working Group in these terms would already be alarming, as it evokes a dangerous association with acculturative paradigms, long abandoned by anthropology and official indigenism, and in total disagreement with the principles established by the 1988 Constitution. Due to strong criticism from indigenous and indigenist movements and an immediate response from the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, the aforementioned decree was reissued on July 13th, 2017, simply replacing the term "social integration" with "social organizationIn other words, the amendment made things even worse than the original problem, because formulating proposals for the social organization of indigenous and quilombola peoples continues to maintain a clear interventionist and ethnocentric perspective of the State on these populations, which fails to hide the real intentions and objectives of the Working Group. And all the objections raised by the MPF document remain unanswered in the "new" ordinance.
This completely inappropriate and reckless initiative is further reinforced by the fact that the Working Group is composed almost exclusively of members of security agencies and lacks the presence of any institution that works with quilombola communities, even though these are also the subject of the Working Group. The short deadline for the preparation and presentation of the work plan (15 days) and the Working Group report (30 days after approval of the work plan) also clearly demonstrates that no consultation is foreseen with the peoples and communities affected by the "proposals, measures and strategies" arising from the Working Group, in blatant disregard of ILO Convention 169.
The second act, published six days after the creation of this working group, was the appointment of General Franklinberg Ribeiro de Freitas as president of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), a position he had been holding on an interim basis since May 9, 2017, despite numerous protests from indigenous peoples and organizations. Any resemblance is not mere coincidence. In a press conference on the occasion of his dismissal, the general's predecessor, Antônio Fernandes Toninho Costa, stated that the agency is experiencing "a dictatorship that does not allow the president of FUNAI to implement constitutional policies." Paradoxically, the evangelical pastor Toninho Costa had been nominated by the same Social Christian Party (PSC) as General Franklinberg. The serious accusations he made exposed the use of FUNAI as a bargaining chip by the Temer government and the subordination of indigenous policy to the interests of the rural caucus in the National Congress. The National Council for Indigenous Policy (CNPI), created in 2015 and established in April 2016, has held only two meetings, and there has been no further initiative from the Ministry of Justice to convene new meetings of the Council, in blatant disregard for indigenous organizations. It is also noteworthy that the federal government has not yet made any move to implement the resolutions approved during the National Conference on Indigenous Policy, which it itself convened in 2015.
The discourse of integration and assimilation of the military dictatorship served to legitimize, in legal and theoretical fields, the usurpation of indigenous lands under the pretext of the loss of identity of these peoples. It is also worth remembering that it was precisely this integrationist discourse that justified the idea of "emancipation," defended by the military in the late 1970s, which motivated strong resistance from indigenous peoples and civil society. Concerned about the process of militarization and weakening of FUNAI (National Indian Foundation), and with the continuous attacks on indigenous rights, the undersigned organizations publicly repudiate the creation of the aforementioned Working Group and demand its immediate revocation.
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – APIB
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of the Southeast (ARPINSUDESTE)
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of the South (ARPINSUL)
Brazilian Anthropology Association – ABA
Association of the Movement of Indigenous Agroforestry Agents of Acre (AMAAIC)
National Association for Indigenous Action – ANAÍ
Xingu Indigenous Land Association (ATIX)
Wyty-Catë Association of the Timbira Peoples of Maranhão and Tocantins (Wyty-Catë)
Indigenous Work Center – CTI
Collective of Anthropology Professionals - aPROA
Guarani Yvyrupá Commission
Pro-Indian Commission of São Paulo – CPI-SP
Pro-Indigenous Commission of Acre – CPI/AC
Council of Wajãpi Villages (Apina)
Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR)
Indigenous Missionary Council – CIMI
Terena Council
Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB)
National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Black Communities – CONAQ
Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the Rio Negro (Foirn)
Great Assembly of the Guarani People (ATY GUASSU)
Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY)
Catitu Institute
Institute for Indigenous Research and Training – IEPÉ
International Institute of Education of Brazil – IEB
Institute for Society, Population and Nature – ISPN
Socio-environmental Institute – ISA
OPAN – Operation Native Amazon
Organization of Indigenous Teachers of Acre (Opiac)
General Mayuruna Organization (OGM)
RCA – Amazon Cooperation Network
Report from the DHESCA Platform
Saint (APOINME)
Union of Indigenous Women of the Brazilian Amazon (UMIAB)