The time set aside for the “Amazonian Knowledge Exchange” constituted a landmark in policy, given what we have seen over recent years and, most particularly, what we cannot lose sight of, as social movements formed of indigenous peoples, traditional communities and faith-based organizations. The exchange concluded the programme of the “‘The Amazon for All the Struggles” meeting, held on 10 November in Manaus.
There were three roundtables dedicated to discussions about the political scenario following the elections; religious and political fundamentalism and its impacts on the lives of original and traditional populations in the Brazilian Amazon; the importance of strengthening networking and grassroots work with communities; and agroecology.
After the last four years, the current situation is one in which the impacts of the dismantling of public policies can still be felt, but also one with a particular political atmosphere that has pervaded the country. The alignment between churches and ultra conservative figures – in particular of an evangelical nature – with the federal government, has allowed religious fundamentalism to gain a new, political face, which has been an striking feature of this period.
When talking about the impacts fundamentalism has on the communities, Bianca Daébs, Ecumenism and Inter-religious Dialogue Advisor, noted that there are usually two basic problems. “They legitimize violence and nullify our critical capacity. They prevent us from looking and questioning: ‘what God is this, who said that?’ ‘Whose name do you speak in?’ When it comes to the sacred, it touches on the most intimate part of ourselves,” she explained.
“When you say ‘God above all’, you’re not referring to any God, but to the one you’ve appropriated, the fundamentalist one. Not the one of resistance, who goes out daily to face down confrontation. But a colonizing God, a white, male violator. It’s not easy for normal people to make this distinction. Because we’re dealing with something sacred,” she added.
Iuri Lima, from the Amazonizar Network (Rede Amazonizar) talked about reports the network collected in an activity to combat religious fundamentalism run in the Amazon. “We heard from quilombolas who have suffered discrimination, even within catholic communities. Roraima has 95 recorded African-origin worship houses, and many of these have been attacked this year. One religious leader there was brutally murdered. How come the Amazon, which has the highest number of indigenous ethnicities, doesn’t have any school materials about combatting religious intolerance?”
Adriana Ramos, Political Advisor at the Socio-environmental Institute (Instituto Socioambiental), noted that, for the government that has been elected, coming in to office after so much has been broken will be a challenge. “First they need to rebuild the structures ,so they can fulfil their role again. Thousands of measures have become defunct – councils, policies, programmes. It was already difficult for policies from Brasilia to reach the territory, imagine now, when all the mechanisms have been dismantled.”
Challenges and prospects
In all, there were three roundtables at the “Amazonian Knowledge Exchange”. As well as discussing the current situation, debates also focused on networking, strengthening traditional peoples and communities, environmental management and the protection of socio-biodiversity.
Because of its geographic and environmental features – its size, proximity to the borders with Colombia and Peru, the presence of fish targeted by illegal fishing – the Vale do Javari has been increasing harassed by criminal groups. Manoel Chorimpa, President of the Community Development Association of the Marubo People of Alto do Rio Curuca (Associação de Desenvolvimento Comunitário do Povo Marubo do Alto do Rio Curuca: ASDEC), talked about the presence of factions within the Indigenous Land.
“At the border, we have what is perhaps the largest cocaine producer in the world, and the worst nightmare is that it is attracting our young people. When they encroach on the land, it’s not simply a fisherman who needs to survive. They take the tracajá river turtles, the pirarucu fish, the meat, and export them. This is all based on smuggling and encourages criminal trespass. I know it’s difficult, but we need many more allies to bring our people some prospects of a better life.”
Fábio Pacheco, from the ANA Amazonian project of the National Agroecology Coalition (Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia: ANA), talked about how the militarization of public bodies has had a specific impact on the Amazon. “It has taken the Amazon into a new cycle of violence. The increase in Collectors, Shooters and Hunters (Colecionadores, Atiradores e Caçadores: CACs, who have the right to possess arms and ammunition), of ammunition, legal and illegal shooting clubs: this is forming an army at the service of agribusiness, of mining, of capital that wants to take over the Amazon.”
“We have the challenge now of guiding the government – about hunger, about the reconstitution of bodies, legal frameworks. But there is also the construction of a new model of governance, so that we are no longer at the mercy of what is imposed upon us, as a means of managing the territories. We have to discuss how we want the territories to be managed, by their peoples,” he concluded.
Strengthening the communities that live in these territories will be essential for the country’s recovery, particularly in forming broad networks. Although she is a member of a region still being established by her organization, Dona Maria Helena dos Santos Castro from the National Coordination for the Coalition of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas: CONAQ) in the Amazon, noted that she is more ready to fight than ever before.
“To talk about networks, is to talk about union and communication. Those who are afraid to die, won’t fight for anything. And this woman here, she will not bend. If I’m here, it’s because others made me someone who represents their side. We have to live up to the trust people place in us,” she asserted.
The other roundtable participants were: Maria Helena Gavião, from the Union of Indigenous Women of the Brazilian Amazon (União das Mulheres Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira: UMIAB); Fabíola Pinheiro, from the Brazilian Network for Environmental Justice (Rede Brasileira de Justiça Ambiental: RBJA) and Dione Torquato from the National Council of Extractivist Populations (Conselho Nacional das Populações Extrativistas: CNS).
Management from the view of the peoples
At the end of the “Amazonian Knowledge Exchange”, groups were formed to discuss proposals for these areas. Some of the main alternatives raised by the group were the implementation of the Territorial and Environmental Management Plan in all the territories, alliances between community funds including exchanging experiences and valuing traditional knowledge.
Alcebias Constantino, Deputy Coordinator of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira: COIAB), talked about the importance of leaders participating in the event. “For 522 years, we have been the resistance. We are here today protecting our future. It is with this view of looking forward, of companionship and coordination, that we have come to make these reflections today,” he asserted.
Sônia Mota, CESE’s Executive Director pointed out that the meeting was extremely important for the organization. “CESE has always worked in the Amazon through support to small projects. These roundtables, with their view from the region, help us to approach it more closely. Dialogue, listening, so that we learn to work with, and according to, the Amazon, its peoples and its traditions. That is why we are here.”
Hosted between 8 and 10 November by CESE, COIAB and the Podáali Fund (Fundo Podáali), the meeting “The Amazon for All the Struggles: Rights and Spiritualties for Good Living” was supported by the Institute for Climate and Society (Instituto Clima e Sociedade: ICS) and the Ford Foundation.