Monday 4 July 2016

New data about Brazilian Indigenous Peoples

The Brazilian Digital Atlas 2016 has a thematic section ("Caderno Temático: Populações Indígenas) focused on Indigenous Peoples. The study is based on the 2010 Census and reveals Brazil as one of the countries with the highest socio-cultural diversity of the planet: 900,000 people, 305 ethnic groups and at least 274 languages. 57,7% of of them live in Indigenous Lands, the rest are in urban areas.
However, the study shows the strong trend of 'retomadas', when people return to their regions of origin and claim the demarcation of these territories - many come back to lands that are in the crux of conflicts or in the process of being regularized (such as in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul).
http://www.ibge.gov.br/apps/atlas_nacional/

Petition against the imminent appointment of general Roberto Peternelli to president of FUNAI

Do you work in the educational or cultural sector? Then please sign this petition against the imminent appointment of general Roberto Peternelli to president of FUNAI (National Foundation for the Brazilian Indian, a governmental institution that is supposed to protect the interests of Brazilian Indigenous peoples).
The general is affiliated to the Social Christian Party (PSC), part of the evangelical bench of the Brazilian Congress and explicit representative of anti-indigenous parliamentarians who praise the period of the civil- military dictatorship (1964 to 1985).
During this period, at least 8,350 Brazilian Indians were killed as a result of direct action or omission of government agents. However, the National Truth Commission Report (CNV) indicates that the death toll may have been much higher.
General Peternelli represents the interests of the evangelical and ruralist (read powerful landowners and agribusinesses) benches that work against the rights of indigenous peoples and are trying to change the Brazilian constitution so as to be able to have more control over Indigenous groups, their culture and their lands.

Click here to sign the petition or copy and paste the link below:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ihQKAKhP1MBT83LgN6b2Mgp16MvrXqrotlzr3FNSN4I/viewform?c=0&w=1

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