From April 24th to April 28th, the 19th edition of the Free Land Camp (ATL in its portuguese acronym), the largest indigenous mobilization in Brazil, takes place in Brasília. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) and the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara (Socialism and Liberty Party), participated this Friday (28) in the event and announced new federal government measures for indigenous populations.
Lula signed decrees establishing the Management Committee of the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management in Indigenous Lands (PNGATI), the recreation of the National Council for Indigenous Policies and the homologation of six Indigenous Lands (TIs) - a process in which the president recognizes the demarcation of land, which will be registered at the notary.
They are the first Indigenous Lands approved in Brazil since 2018, two of them in the north region, two in the northeast region, one in the midwest region and one in the south region of the country.
Demands
Organized by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), with the support of grassroots regional organizations, this year's mobilization has as its theme "The indigenous future is today. With no demarcation there is no democracy!".
The event also calls for an end to violence, with emphasis on environmental racism and violations of rights caused by climate change.
"We want not only to talk about the past, but also to propose the future, and the future lies precisely in the demarcations of indigenous lands. We will fulfill our role of social control, claiming when necessary, in a responsible and fair way. We are not asking for anything extra or out of the law. We want the government to comply with what is within the law, and we are going to maintain this partnership and dialogue", said the executive coordinator of Apib, Dinamam Tuxá, to Brasil de Fato.
Indigenous peoples marching from the Free Land Camp to the Brazilian National Congress last Monday (24) in Brasília / Luz Dornelles
"The Free Land Camp is the largest mobilization in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. We are going to bring together between 160 and 180 different peoples, six thousand people, 274 languages. This year's ATL will not only debate the reconstruction of Brazil, but will also bring to light that the indigenous peoples agenda must be present in all instances of the government", added Dinamam Tuxá.
Another topic that is relevant to the daily lives of indigenous peoples, the Temporal Framework will also be up for debate. One of ATL's activities in 2023 was a vigil at the headquarters of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) to claim the unconstitutionality of the Temporal Framework. The topic is scheduled to return to the STF agenda on June 7th.
However, the president of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (Progressive Party), signaled to the ruralist bench that he intends to anticipate the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and speed up the voting of Bill (PL) 490, which establishes the Temporal Framework for the demarcation of indigenous lands.
In a meeting this week with the Agricultural Parliamentary Front — the official name of the ruralist bench — Lira promised that PL 490 will be discussed in the next few weeks in the plenary of the Chamber. On Monday (24), more than five thousand indigenous people marched from the Free Land Camp, in the central region of Brasília, to the Brazilian National Congress to ask for the rejection of bills that attack the rights of the segment.
Edited by: Flávia Chacon
