Between 21 and 23 April, the 1st Inter-regional Meeting of the PATAK MAYMU project: Autonomy and participation for indigenous women of the Amazon and the Cerrado in defence of their rights, coordinated by CESE with support and funding from the European Union, took place in Brasilia. The meeting’s aim was to strengthen the guarantee of rights for indigenous women and their peoples, and to encourage their protagonism and that of their organizations. Thirty-five women from the Cerrado and Amazon biomes participated, in a diverse group from 21 ethnic peoples.
Over the three days, an inspiring ancestral force drove the construction, reflection and sharing of experiences, with dialogue to strengthen the participant movement and organizations.
The first day began with a moment of welcome and a song from Shaman Analice Tuxá, from the Tuxá Setsor Bragagá Community in Buritizeiro (Minas Gerais) calling for protection from the enchanted so that positive energy could flow through the meeting. There was also a song from Anna Terra, from the Xingu Indigenous Land Association (Associação Terra Indígena Xingu: ATIX), calling on the strength of the Xingu women. Each participant brought a feature from their territory to represent their people or organization, expressing the meaning of this symbol and citing an ancestor in order to recall a milestone related to it.
The symbol of Anna Terra’s people was a ceramic pot: “A ceramic pot is like us, women. It carries everything.” Diolina Krikati, representative of the Association of Indigenous Women of Maranhão (Associação das Mulheres Indígenas do Maranhão: AMIMA), presented an artefact (a headdress) handed to her by her chief, something which for her people is only given as an honour to those who are considered leaders or are on the frontline of the struggles. “A headdress is not simply a headdress, it becomes your child, it has spiritual value, you have to take pride and care.”
The programme touched on relevant and important themes for discussion, such as violence against indigenous women; power, public participation and the difficulties encountered in these arenas; resistance and the role of communications in facilitating and enabling the struggles of original peoples. Elisângela Baré, from the Association of Indigenous Women from Rio Negro (Associação das Mulheres Indígenas do Rio Negro: AMIARN) confirmed that the themes were extremely important for female empowerment and action within and outside the communities. For her, coalition and resistance create the power for warrior women to continue in the fight: “We are women, earth, root and seed, if we are here it is for our autonomy. The place of a woman is wherever she wants to be. It’s important for women to be in positions that give voice to other women,” Elisângela asserted.
In one of her speeches, Braulina Baniwa, representing the National Coalition of Ancestral Indigenous Warrior Women (Articulação Nacional das Mulheres Indígenas Guerreiras da Ancestralidade: ANMIGA), reinforced the importance of indigenous women’s autonomy and protagonism in communities around the country, as well as in different arenas and sectors of society. For her, indigenous women need to be united and coordinated: “As a coalition, it’s important to be in this listening arena for dialogue and to strengthen women’s participation in these collective constructions.”
Three days were filled with exchanges, and powerful and emotional speeches. Women have always been present in arenas for the struggle of the indigenous movement and organizations, however, in recent years, their actions have undergone a transformation and women from a wide range of peoples have begun to take on prominent roles and leadership positions. Regarding this, Valdenira Krakiti, from the Indigenous Women’s Organization of Acre, Rondônia and the south of the Amazon (Organização das Mulheres Indígenas do Acre, Rondônia e sul do Amazonas) declared: “Before, we didn’t have a voice or the right to make decisions alongside our leaders. Today we participate in assemblies, in forums and other meetings.”
The project works with the following partner organizations: Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia: COIAB), Union of Indigenous Women of the Brazilian Amazon (União das Mulheres Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira: UMIAB), Takiná – Organization for Indigenous Women of Mato Grosso (Takiná – Organização de Mulheres Indígenas de Mato Grosso), Xakriabá Organizations, Guarani and Kaiowá Organizations and Podáali the Indigenous Fund of the Brazilian Amazon (Fundo Indígena da Amazônia Brasileira – Podáali).
Presentation of the Patak Maymu project
The meeting provided an opportunity to present the PATAK MAYMU project: Autonomy and participation for indigenous women of the Amazon and the Cerrado in defence of their rights, which will take place over 36 months. During this period, training, communications and project support activities will take place, seeking to reflect the diversity of indigenous women and mixed organizations, including young people and indigenous women in the urban context.
The launch of the Patak Maymu project took place between 11 am and 12 pm on 27 April in the COIAB tentduring the 19th edition of theFree Land Camp (Acampamento Terra Livre: ATL), whose theme is “The indigenous future is today. Without demarcation there is no democracy!” This large assembly of Brazilian indigenous people took place between 24 and 28 April in Brasilia, in the Federal District.
A presentation was also made of the public call for applications for small projects, which was launched on the same day and is focused on grants for indigenous women from the Amazon and the Cerrado to participate in the 3rd Indigenous Women’s March, to be held in Brasilia in September.
This initiative reinforces the organizations’ capacity to coordinate between each other and with other sectors, through training and coordination activities, which will take place in inter-regional and micro-regional meetings.
