More than two thousand indigenous people from 100 different groups across all regions of Brazil gathered for the first Indigenous Women's March, from the 10th to the 14th of this month, in Brasília. With songs, dances, maracas, genipap fruit, debates, banners, and chants of "words of struggle," they delivered their message to the entire country in defense of "the territory, the body, and the spirit." As a result of this large mobilization, a political letter was published and widely disseminated to society.
“As women, leaders, warriors, givers and protectors of life, we will take a stand and fight against the issues and violations that affront our bodies, our spirits, our territories. By spreading our seeds, our rituals, our language, we will guarantee our existence,” the letter emphasizes.
The document also calls on society to respect the ways of life of indigenous peoples. “Fighting for the rights to our territories is fighting for our right to life. Life and territory are the same thing, because the land gives us our food, our traditional medicine, our health, and our dignity. To lose territory is to lose our mother. Whoever has territory, has a mother, has comfort. And whoever has comfort, has healing,” it emphasizes.
Finally, the letter outlines several demands formulated by the women during the March. Among these demands are: “guaranteeing the demarcation of indigenous lands, because violating our mother earth is violating our own bodies and our lives; ensuring our right to full possession of our territories; and promoting increased representation of indigenous women in political spaces, both inside and outside the villages.” Read the full document. here
Maranhão present! The march included the participation of approximately 400 indigenous people in eight delegations from northern and southern Maranhão, representing the Guajajara, Gavião, Krikati, Kanela, Krahô, Krenye, Krepum, Gamela, Tremembé, Ka'àpor, and Awá Guajá peoples from various indigenous territories. ISPN was one of the organizations that supported the transportation and logistics of the Maranhão caravans to Brasília.