{"id":22953,"date":"2015-07-07T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=22953"},"modified":"2015-08-15T14:30:31","modified_gmt":"2015-08-15T17:30:31","slug":"first-conference-on-indigenous-policies-discusses-indigenous-peoples-in-the-urban-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=22953","title":{"rendered":"First Conference on Indigenous Policies Discusses Indigenous Peoples in the Urban Context"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"PT\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Indigenous peoples from the cities of Rio de Janeiro and S\u00e3o Paulo gathered on the weekend of June 26 for the first national conference on indigenous policies in S\u00e3o Paulo. The national conference<\/a> aimed to evaluate the state\u2019s indigenous policies, reaffirm indigenous rights and propose guidelines and frameworks for state actions.\u00a0It emerged out of a demand by indigenous peoples, and its seats were occupied by indigenous representatives. Out of the 131 local stages happening in Brazil between April and July 2015, S\u00e3o Paulo was the only locality that held a meeting to exclusively discuss public policies for indigenous peoples in the city. The meeting was a step towards the recognition of indigenous peoples in the city and to\u00a0guarantee their rights.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian Institute of Statistics (IBGE) has been collecting data on Brazil\u2019s indigenous population since the 1990s. Findings indicate that the number of self-identifying indigenous people has been growing over the years. In 1991, there were 294,000 indigenous persons in Brazil, but by 2000 that number had risen to 734,000. Today, the number stands at 896,000, with 36.2% living in urban areas. There are two reasons for this: the presence of indigenous peoples in the city is the result of, firstly, the expansion of cities that eventually reach indigenous territories\u2013such as in the case of the Guarani community of Jaragu\u00e1 in S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a>\u2013and, secondly, the migration of indigenous persons to urban centers. In the state of S\u00e3o Paulo, there are almost 40,000 indigenous persons living outside indigenous communities, and in Rio around 15,000.\u00a0Most migrate looking for a better life, to study or work in the city. Many end up living in the cities\u2019 peripheries and favelas<\/em>. Nevertheless, indigenous peoples who live in cities are made invisible, silenced and discriminated against in several ways. Most Brazilians don\u2019t know they exist.<\/p>\n

At the S\u00e3o Paulo gathering, there were 24 different ethnicities present, including four representatives from the state of Rio, two of whom are part of the Aldeia Maracan\u00e3<\/a> Indigenous Association. The participants elected 17 representatives who will go on to defend the proposed policies in the regional meeting, held between July and September 2015. The national conference will take place in Bras\u00edlia on November 17-20, 2015<\/a>, with the theme \u201cThe Brazilian State\u2019s relationship with the indigenous peoples of Brazil under the paradigm of the 1988 Constitution.\u201d The conference takes place during a period of widespread and persistent indigenous mobilization against law proposals such as PEC 215<\/a>,\u00a0which would transfer the power to demarcate indigenous territories from the executive to the legislative branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Gathering<\/a><\/p>\n

Event participants–all residents of urban areas–spoke about how\u00a0their indigenous identities are repeatedly denied and silenced. They expressed their indignation at the idea that once they move to the city, their indigenous rights no longer apply. According to them, they are denied these rights because urban indigenous peoples often do not fit into the stereotypical image of the Indian. In S\u00e3o Paulo, for example, many indigenous people come from communities in the northeast of Brazil, such as the Pankararu, Pankarar\u00e9 and Kariri-Xoc\u00f3<\/a>.\u00a0Historically, these communities deeply mixed with African slaves and European settlers, and don’t\u00a0speak their ancestral languages or \u201clook indigenous.\u201d Certain strands of academia and the state tell them they are no longer indigenous because they speak Portuguese, live outside their communities, do not wear their traditional dress, are employed in regular jobs and study in regular schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many criticisms that [people]\u00a0make, telling us that we are no longer indigenous for living in the city, because there are Indians who work, who have cars, who use mobile phones, who dress well. Meaning \u2018oh no, indigenous people belong in\u00a0the jungle, walking around in feathers, walking around naked,’\u201d explained Carlos Kajer dos Santos, a Kaingang from Curitiba in a recent project by the Pro-Indian Commission<\/a>\u00a0on indigenous peoples in the city.<\/p>\n

Indigenous peoples who live in urban centers are told they have become \u2018acculturated\u2019 and \u2018assimilated,\u2019 and therefore do not have the right to be treated differently from other Brazilian citizens. This discourse is both a remnant and a renewal of Brazil\u2019s long-term policy of integration and assimilation of the indigenous population into the \u2018wider (white and mixed) nation\u2019. This policy dates back to the colonial period but became federalized and found its modern expression in the Servi\u00e7o de Prote\u00e7\u00e3o ao \u00cdndio<\/em> (Protection to Indigenous Peoples Service, or SPI), which provides\u00a0tutelage over indigenous peoples. Created in 1910 under the First Republic (1889-1930), the SPI was tasked with disciplining the indigenous population into peasants and national workers through its power over it. It was transformed into the\u00a0National Indigenous Foundation (FUNAI)<\/a> in 1967, but tutelage lasted until the 1988 Constitution\u2019s recognition of indigenous autonomy. Until then, indigenous persons were legally subdivided into stages of integration as defined in the 1973 Estatuto do \u00cdndio<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Statute for the Native Indian).\u00a0<\/em>Within an evolutionist view of culture, those considered isolated or in the process of integration were \u2018protected\u2019 by the state and treated as minors. The more integrated the indigenous person, the less they would have access to their indigenous rights.<\/p>\n

As a consequence of this discourse, today there are no federal policies aimed at urban indigenous populations. FUNAI<\/a>\u00a0has so far refused to attend to their demands, describing them as \u201cdesaldeados\u201d\u2013without a village\u2013as if their rights and indigenous identity were somehow limited to the geographic space of the indigenous community, rather than attached to the indigenous person. The logic of tutelage, which enabled the state to define who counts as indigenous and therefore who can access indigenous rights, is herewith renewed, implying a serious limitation to the autonomy, dignity and empowerment of indigenous peoples in Brazil\u2019s cities. Benedito Prezia, long-term activist and member of the Pastoral Indigenista, said: \u201cPublic policies are important, regardless\u00a0of whether one is within or outside of indigenous communities. The indigenous person is indigenous even overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Indigenous<\/a><\/p>\n

The attendants developed numerous policy proposals, sensitive to the cultural specificities of the indigenous population. A number of the problems they face are also shared by the urban poor, but their cultural difference calls for specific policy solutions. Among the proposals were demands for social housing policies<\/a>, which should include collective spaces for rituals and cultural events that are crucial to their indigenous ways of life. Other demands spoke to the challenges posed to indigenous peoples throughout Brazil, such as the right to consultation as prescribed in the ILO Convention 169<\/a>. This right is not respected, for example, in the construction of infrastructure projects such as the Belo Monte dam<\/a>,\u00a0which seriously threatens<\/a> the lives of the nearby indigenous population. It is also not respected, the participants noted, when indigenous peoples are evicted from their homes in urban areas and relocated to distant suburbs without prior consultation. In addition, delegates put forth demands in matters such as health, education, self-determination, social participation and the right to memory and truth.<\/p>\n

The local stage was a first step towards a dialogue with the federal and state, which have so far been deaf to the needs of the urban indigenous population. If the challenges are already major for Brazil\u2019s indigenous communities, for those who live in the city the struggle is even greater, as it is still in its initial stages. Before they can defend their rights, their very existence requires recognition. For the participants of this local stage, there are many\u00a0more than 896,000 indigenous persons in Brazil. They argue many indigenous persons, especially in the city, continue to not identify as such due to the already mentioned assimilationist discourse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot more indigenous people\u00a0living in the favelas and peripheries of cities than the IBGE presents,\u201d said Sass\u00e1, a Potiguara representative. \u201cThe black movement has been saying that every pardo<\/em> is negro<\/em>. But not every pardo<\/em> is negro.<\/em>\u00a0Among the pardos<\/em> there are many indigenous persons. My whole family is parda.<\/em>\u201d The participants called for a census that would count the number of indigenous persons properly, a first and indispensable step in the development of public policies that will successfully attend to the truly existing indigenous population. \u201cThe indigenous persons outside of communities are not an island, they are a great ocean,\u201d affirmed Zanilda, from the Mura ethnicity, \u201cand together we will achieve victory.”<\/p>\n

D\u00e9sir\u00e9e Poets<\/a> was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro and has been undertaking her Ph.D. at the University of Aberystywh, Wales, where she also completed her Masters in Postcolonial Politics. Her interests lie in urban political mobilizations, currently with a focus on race and ethnicity in urban spaces.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Indigenous peoples from the cities of Rio de Janeiro and S\u00e3o Paulo gathered on the weekend of June 26 for the first national conference on indigenous policies in S\u00e3o Paulo. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":22954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1290,1333,335,329,452,1329],"tags":[646,1693,26,25,715,744,725,301,1008,196,995],"writer":[1317],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-civilsociety","8":"category-event-reports","9":"category-policies","10":"category-solutions","11":"category-rio20","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-aldeia-maracana","14":"tag-conference","15":"tag-housing-rights","16":"tag-human-rights","17":"tag-indigenous","18":"tag-policy-critique","19":"tag-policy-recommendation","20":"tag-public-policy","21":"tag-right-to-the-city","22":"tag-planning","23":"tag-urban-well-being","24":"writer-desiree-poets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22953"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=22953"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=22953"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=22953"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=22953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}