Photos: Felipe Beltrame
Last week, thousands of Indigenous leaders and representatives converged in Brasília alongside their allies for the 20th Free Land Camp (Acampamento Terra Livre – ATL), a major annual mobilization that strives to amplify the voices and resistance of Indigenous peoples while advancing the struggle for Indigenous rights to land demarcation and sovereignty.
Organized by the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB), this year’s gathering was entitled “Our Existence Is Ancestral: We Have Always Been Here!” – a message explicitly countering the virulent anti-Indigenous narratives that underpin attacks by agribusiness and mining interests in Brazil’s Congress.
In his comments at ATL’s closing plenary, APIB’s Executive Secretary Dinamam Tuxá said:
“The ATL 2024 has made history, mainly because of the message we sent and that it was heard. We have achieved our goal and reaffirmed our commitment to the constitution and to democracy. We need Congress to stop creating an anti-Indigenous agenda. We need our lands to be demarcated, for the executive branch to fulfill its institutional role. And for this to happen, we must stay mobilized.”
The need for constant vigilance is paramount. This year’s ATL mobilization occurred against a backdrop of the most severe political rollbacks on Indigenous rights since the ratification of Brazil’s constitution in 1988. The passage of Federal Law 14,701 which enshrined the “Marco Temporal” (time limit thesis) into law after overriding President Lula’s partial vetoes to the legislation, effectively froze Indigenous land demarcations while opening federally-titled territories to industrial activity, which could potentially include mining and agribusiness projects.
Amazon Watch’s Brazil team was present at ATL and in the streets of Brasilia throughout the week working closely with our partners at APIB, the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), and others, including the Munduruku, Kayapó, and Mura peoples. From channeling resources from our Amazon Defenders Fund and other donors to Indigenous delegations to Brasilia, to helping to organize high-level meetings with members of the federal government, ATL gave us an opportunity to show up in solidarity with Brazil’s Indigenous movement.
To symbolize the multifaceted threats facing the Amazon and its peoples, Amazon Watch helped to organize an action during the ATL’s closing march. Entitled “Tracks of Destruction,” the action featured a “Train of Death” representing key drivers of human rights violations and environmental devastation, from agribusiness efforts to cut the Ferrogrão mega-railway through the heart of the Amazon to the relentless push to open Indigenous lands to industrial mining. The action also denounced the scourge of illegal mining on Indigenous lands, which continues to flourish despite federal efforts to crack down on the activity.
Despite an increasingly challenging scenario from the territories to the capital, ATL’s weeklong mobilization achieved significant results, including President Lula’s reception of a group of 40 leaders, resulting in the creation of a “task force” within two weeks to address “legal and political” issues related to Indigenous land demarcations. The gesture was an encouraging sign from an administration that has yet to meet its promises to the Indigenous movement to speed land demarcations and defend constitutional rights.
This year’s Free Land Camp was also successful in reaffirming the strength of the Indigenous movement, which continues to be one of the most powerful and influential social movements in the Americas. Within a perilous political landscape, the movement’s resistance offers hope and solutions. We were again honored to stand alongside our partners at ATL, whose tireless work to defend their lands inspires us to imagine a better future for us all.
