Acampamento Terra Livre Preview with Dinamam Tuxá

Convidamos você a curtir esse episódio em português aqui!

“Indigenous Peoples, who want their territory demarcated for the protection of their own lives, automatically protect the life of humanity.” – Dinamam Tuxá (Tuxá People, Brazil) 

Brazil is home to an outsized portion of the world’s biodiversity. It is also one of the most dangerous places in the world for environmental defenders – but also a place guarded by hundreds of powerful Indigenous tribes.   

This week, thousands of Indigenous Peoples from across Brazil are gathered in the country's capital, Brasília, with bold hope for the future, and to share culture, celebrate, and demand their rights to their lands and to their cultural ways of being. This gathering is called Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL), or in English, Free Land Camp – and it's been happening for 20 years.   

To celebrate its twentieth anniversary, we're sending our Seedcast producers to Brasília, and today on Seedcast, we’re getting a preview of Acampamento Terra Livre with Dinamam Tuxá, of the Tuxá People. A lawyer and Indigenous social activist, Dinamam is a legal advisor to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo (APOINME), and the coordinator of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB). APIB strengthens, unifies, and mobilizes Indigenous Peoples to promote and defend their rights. APIB also organizes Acampamento Terra Livre.   

Dinamam joins us in conversation with Ha’aheo Auwae-Dekker (Kanaka Maoli).  

Special thanks to Nia Tero colleagues Maria Fernanda Ribeiro, Nara Baré and Leslie Benzakein.   

Host: Ha’aheo Auwae-Dekker. Producer, Translation and Audio Mix: Marianna Romano. Additional Production: Jenny Asarnow, Idjahure Kadiwel

Learn more about APIB: 

• APIB Website: https://apiboficial.org/?lang=en# 
• Follow APIB on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apiboficial/ 

Seedcast is a production of Nia Tero, a global nonprofit which supports Indigenous land guardianship around the world through policy, partnership, and storytelling initiatives.

Enjoy the Seedcast podcast on the Nia Tero website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast platforms.

Keep up with Seedcast on Instagram and use the hashtag #Seedcast.

Transcript

Acampamento Terra Livre Preview with Dinamam Tuxá
Seedcast Season 4 Episode 4
April 24, 2024  

[00:00] Ha’aheo Auwae-Dekker [host]: Hey everyone, this is Seedcast. I'm Ha’aheo Auwae-Dekker.  

Ha’aheo: Defending the rainforest is such a big part of two issues we follow closely here on Seedcast: the climate conversation and Indigenous Peoples’ rights to their territories. So much of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil. And so here on Seedcast, we've spent a lot of time in Brazil.  

It's one of the most dangerous places in the world for environmental defenders, but also a place guarded by hundreds of powerful Indigenous tribes. And where the country recently created a Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. Thousands of Indigenous Peoples from across Brazil gather in the country's capital, Brasilia, with bold hope for the future, to share culture, celebrate, and demand their rights to their lands and to their cultural ways. This gathering is called Acampamento Terra Livre, ATL for short, or in English, Free Land Camp. And it's been happening for 20 years. Wow. That's almost as old as me.   

To celebrate, we're sending our producers to Brasília. And today, we're getting a preview of Free Land Camp with Dinamam Tuxá. Dinamam is a lawyer and Indigenous social activist. He is the coordinator of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, otherwise known as APIB.   

APIB strengthens, unifies, and mobilizes Indigenous Peoples from across Brazil to promote and defend their rights. And APIB also organizes Free Land Camp. Dinamam is also a legal advisor to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, otherwise known as APOINME.  

He does so much important work for Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. Welcome Dinamam.   

[02:36] Dinamam Tuxá: [Speaks in Portuguese]   

[02:40] Marianna Romano, translating for Dinamam: Hello everybody, Dinamam Tuxá here. First, I’d like to thank the opportunity of talking on this podcast, and most of all the possibility of talking about the Indigenous fight here in Brazil.   

Well, and I think first of all, I'd like to say that in Brazil, we are about 1 million Indigenous People speaking 284 languages within 305 Peoples. We've had great advancements over the years, of course, but the challenges are still enormous in the way of our well living, like we say here in the communities.   

[Music starts playing underneath speaking]  

Mostly, we'd like our territories demarcated and free from any threats. Among these threats we've been suffering are the institutions of the Brazilian state that endanger us, especially the legislative Congress that proposed law bills that attack Indigenous rights.  

Consequently, this tendency increases the violence within territories.   

We're facing this scenario of vulnerability over the years. A lot of it violence promoted by public agents. The Indigenous Peoples felt provoked then to make an act in the capital, Brasília. We started a process of camping in the federal capital precisely in the month of April, which is the month of Indigenous Peoples. 

There we get to give visibility to those issues and hardships that Indigenous peoples have been suffering within the territory. But not only that.   

[music swells]  

[04:23] Ha’aheo: I will say I have never been exposed to something like Free Land Camp, like ATL, but the closest thing that comes to mind for me as a Hawaiian, as a Kanaka Maoli, um, I'm reminded of, in 2019, all of my People and Indigenous People from around the world came to support us after it was proposed that the world's largest telescope would be built on our sacred mountain.   

And so I, I think about the solidarity of global Indigenous Peoples. I think it's so mind blowing for myself to hear the amount of diversity that's in just Brazil alone. Um, and so for you, what is that feeling, uh, that comes to mind when you're at ATL?  

[05:19] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[05:26] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: Look, over the 20 years that the camp exists, I have been helping coordinate it over the last 15, and I cannot even measure my feeling, and the level of joy, excitement, that I feel doing something for the Indigenous peoples of Brazil, and also humanity.   

[music swells]  

[05:57] Ha’aheo: Can you explain to me what, what does it mean to demarcate land? And why does that matter?   

[06:05] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[06:08] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: There's a saying here in Brazil that we Indigenous peoples have as our motto, which is: The Indigenous is land. You cannot separate it. And in order for us to have our socio-cultural, social, environmental, social, economical reproduction, we need to have our territory demarcated.   

Demarcation represents our life. Demarcation contributes to contain the effects of climate change and global warming.   

So Indigenous peoples who want their territory demarcated for the protection of their own lives automatically protect the life of humanity.  

[07:07] Ha’aheo: Hmm. Thank you for that. This might seem like a silly way to introduce this question, but where I'm from in Hawaii, this belief that the people are of the land, it really resonates for myself. As someone who is an Indigenous Islander, I think of this story that I come from. Where back home in Hawaii, our oldest brother in our stories is the kalo, um, which is a type of taro root plant. And he was born as a deformed stillborn and the gods planted him in the ground and he became the root that we eat. And so it's known that he's our family, and so by extension the Earth is our family. And in Hawaii, the original word for land, ʻāina, it also means family. And so my question for you is, what land do you call your family? What land are you from and who are your people?   

[08:21] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[08:22] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: Well, I'm from the Tuxá people. I come from a region in the far north of Bahia.  

My Indigenous land is called D'zorobabé, a traditional territory of the Tuxá people that was impacted by a large enterprise in the 80s, which was to build a hydroelectric plant there.   

We still fight today for this territory. In the late eighties, the island of D'zorobabé faced a great danger after being inhabited for over 200 years by the Tuxá People. The waters of the Lake Itaparica began to overflow. This happened because the lake served to supply the Luiz Gonzaga hydroelectric plant. This flooding led several families to have to leave the territory.   

Some 20 years later, in 2010, the Tuxá people retook a small piece of their land, about 7 acres. But in the end of 2018, a legal decision to repossess the Tuxá de D'zorobabé land was made. And this meant a legal decision that transferred the ownership to allegedly the original rightful owners. But weren't they the Tuxá people?  

Apparently to the justice, no. And so, almost 500 families were without a home.  

So when we talk about territory, when we talk about land, that's very strong for me because I was born in the transition phase.   

My People were the People who had territory, and because of the man's action, the government action, we lost our traditional territory.   

And so this was something that motivated me to be in the militancy. I am today occupying the position of executive coordinator within APOINME and precisely to ensure that other Indigenous communities do not have to suffer what my People have been suffering for over the last 35 years.   

[10:41] Ha’aheo: What brought you to the journey that you're in now?   

[10:43] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[10:51] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: Well, my People was my own inspiration to start my advocacy work, but many people inspire me throughout my journey. And one of these people is Maninha Xukuru, the first woman to coordinate APOINME, the place where I work now, who is a warrior who fought against the violations of Indigenous rights. I have another reference of a leadership who was murdered, Xicão Xukuru, also in the struggle for territory, among other names. The various Sonia Guajajara. I had the pleasure of being a coordinator when she was also at APIB, so we worked for more than nine years together.   

So I have great references and evidently I grew up with the Indigenous movement. We aim at the defense of Indigenous Peoples, not only of my People.  

So I was trained, I was conceived for the fight, and today I'm here at 36 years old, and over the last 17, I have been confronting and acting in the Indigenous movement.   

[12:17] Ha’aheo: This is just a fun question, what’s one of your favorite memories from Free Land Camp?   

[12:23] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[12:26] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: So I started laughing when you asked the question because I just remembered that it was in 2013 when we occupied the plenary at Congress. We invaded that plenary and when we got there, all the Congress people were like fearing us.   

They were frightful because they thought we were savages who were going to destroy their place of work. But no, we got there in a specific and orderly way. We didn't break anything. We didn't make a mess or anything like that. We just wanted to be heard because politicians were not listening to us. The government was not listening to us, and all we wanted was to be heard.  

And at that moment, Congress understood that this is what we needed, and it was the minimum we could ask for, was to be heard.   

[13:25] Ha’aheo: That's amazing. I'd love to know, like, what is pieces of wisdom that you have learned from others who have gone to ATL?   

[13:35] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[13:40] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: The camp and the space, today I think is the most diverse in terms of mobilization at a national and even international level.  

But in terms of learning, I think the camp brings unity. I think we demonstrate our unity there in the name of a common good, which is the right to territory, which is the right to have constitutional rights assured and implemented. But also, culturally speaking, it is also a time of exchange, exchange of traditional knowledge as herbs or chants, as prayers in the language of the Indigenous.   

It is a time we also exchange the knowledge of Creole seeds. traditional corn, cassava, and potato seeds. Therefore, it's time to trade. And this is what Indigenous People have always done, exchange knowledge to improve production, as well as to improve spiritual issues.  

[14:48] Ha’aheo: Mmm, wow. There's so many different types of organizations and movements that must be coming. I can't even imagine that. I think that my mother has been the person that has taught me all of the things that I know about traditional medicine and traditional ways for my People. And so to learn that from 8,000 people sounds amazing to me.   

What are some popular movements, political circumstances, any challenges, um, that are relevant to the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil right now?  

[15:33] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[15:37] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: Like I said earlier, we've had numerous challenges. Among them, we have overthrown the thesis of the time frame that wants to limit the rights of Indigenous Peoples to the territories that were occupied in 1988.   

We have the challenge that although we have conquered space in the Executive with the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, we need to strengthen the Indigenous Foundation, FUNAI, but we need a budget. We need the government, in fact, to signal the demarcation of Indigenous lands.   

The promise that was made was that as many lands as possible would be demarcated by the end of this government in Brazil. But unfortunately, so far, only eight lands have been demarcated. So we hope this will come to fruition. Facing the scenario of violence that we are experiencing, we have the death of a shaman who fights for her territory, [says name of shaman]. And we've had other deaths from lack of oversight, lack of public policy.  

Unfortunately, if we do not demarcate with all the social environmental conflicts, the trend is to increase deforestation. The tendency is to have more leaders being murdered by large corporations, agribusiness, logging, and especially illegal mining.   

[17:08] Ha’aheo: So what I'm hearing is that Marco Temporal is a law that would only let Indigenous Peoples claim land that they were in, in the late 1980s, after centuries of colonialism and suffering that was put onto the Indigenous peoples of these lands?   

[17:29] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[17:33] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: The “temporal mark”, Marco Temporal,, it only wants to recognize the Indigenous lands that were demarcated or claimed until 1988. If an Indigenous population were not there in the territory until 1988, they will no longer have the right to their traditional territory. That is, forgetting all the historical erasure and all the violence that Indigenous peoples have suffered over the years, the forced removals – they want to erase it.  

We in Brazil say the Marco Temporal Thesis is a machine that grinds our history.   

[18:18] Ha’aheo: I guess my question is like, what do those conversations look like at ATL, when we're having these really hard conversations about how to approach colonial governments that have inflicted suffering on these people, what does that look like?   

[18:39] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[18:44] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: So ATL is divided by topics that are like pillars. The themes of health, education, women, youth, LGBT and land.  

And there are different days when these topics are discussed, but we also have demonstrations, marches. We march through the capital to convey important messages, and this year it is going to be the March for the Land. So we want to send a message in our marches.   

Last year, we decided the theme was climate emergency. Since the government does nothing, Indigenous peoples are doing and want to do more. So we then declared the climate emergency,  

And this year we are marching for the land. We hope that we can give visibility to the importance of demarcating Indigenous lands. So, our camp, we also want to make political messages to the world. We, in the course of these 20 years, have already made several acts. Unfortunately, in one of our acts, there was a confrontation with the military police.  

And in these clashes, usually Indigenous peoples are the most affected.   

So the camp is a moment of articulation and mobilization indeed, but it's also a moment that we pass our direct message to the three powers: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary.   

[20:19] Ha’aheo: Wow! Okay, so that's - now I know.   

[20:22] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[20:25] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: The ATL camp is also a moment of assessment. We want to assess the work that the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples have done so far, and also the government, how the Ministry is being successful or not in implementing the public policies for Indigenous Peoples.  

We also want to strengthen the Secretariat of Indigenous Health Care, and also FUNAI, which is the government's organization for Indigenous Peoples. And we want to find ways to strengthen our advocacy work and to demand that public policies are implemented. But we also want to celebrate the 20 years of ATL.   

Because these 20 years have been with a lot of fights for sure, but also a lot of achievements. We have achieved a better healthcare system, and from within the camp, Indigenous lands were demarcated. So it's 20 years of many achievements and needs to be remembered by all. It is the camp of diversity of the Peoples, and a place of fight.   

[21:40] Ha’aheo: I'm just indulging myself with this question. What is your favorite way to celebrate at ATL? Do you have any fun things that you do? Any traditions? Moments of joy?   

[21:55] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese] 

[22:04] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: I have, yes, the camp is spaced by songs and dances with the various peoples who are in the camp. Our moment of celebration is also the moment of externalizing our culture, of being able to share these forms of dances, chants and handicrafts also, which are presented there. The very essence is the living culture.   

So the camp is the visibility of a diverse culture. It's our joy to be able to share also a little bit of our culture, our daily life within the Indigenous lands, which is not only struggle, which is not only suffering, it is also festivity.   

Dinamam [continues speaking in Portuguese]  

[22:50] Ha’aheo: If you're comfortable, um, is there a song or a chant from Acampamento Terra Livre that you would like to share with us and our listeners today?   

[23:04] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese, chants, and laughs]  

[23:34] Ha’aheo: Who does that chant belong to? What people and what land?   

[23:38] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[23:41] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: This is a very common chant in the language of the Dzubucuá. It's common of the peoples that inhabit the San Francisco Basin in the San Francisco River. So it's a chant, very common between several peoples, not specific to one, but several peoples in the specific Northeast region.  

[24:03] Ha’aheo: What does that chant mean? What's the story of that song? 

[24:07] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[24:20] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: A chant like this is usually to promote a festivity in the moment of fight and festivity, because when we talk about cosmovision – world and culture – we end up not even being able to explain. But when we sing, there are different situations.   

We have death chants, we have celebratory chants, the fighting chants. But what's most strong beneath any chant is the spiritual strengthening, be it for celebration or fight.  

[24:57] Dinamam: [Continues speaking in Portuguese]  

[25:07] Ha’aheo: I wonder what can, what can me as a young Indigenous person, but what can everyone learn from your movements, from the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil?  

[25:20] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese]  

[25:21] Marianna, translating for Dinamam: Look, I think the Indigenous movement has a lot to teach and also a lot to learn yet. But like I said earlier, the Indigenous movement is great in our union. 

It is this union that allows us to advance more and more in the defense of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. So I think we have a relationship between people who are different, but that relationship is very respectful and above all a relationship almost of like a blood relationship.   

We call all Indigenous Peoples [non-English word], that means relatives. So it is this union that is given by this degree of kinship, by a common goal. Because for example, there are Indigenous Peoples with demarcated lands, that are summing to fight to demarcate the lands of others, of the brother of the other. So, if they wanted, they could do nothing because their land is already demarcated. 

But it's not like that. This highlights that our well being will only be complete when all Indigenous People of Brazil have their territory demarcated and free from any threat. Something that needs to be learned by all this union is that the Indigenous movement is Indigenous protection for the Indigenous People.   

[26:55] Ha’aheo: For all of our listeners around the world who listen to Seedcast who are both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, um, what are ways that our listeners can support the Indigenous movements and Peoples in Brazil?   

[27:11] Dinamam: [Speaks in Portuguese] 

[27:19] Marianna, translating for Dinamam:  Well, I think this is the question I hear most often from Indigenous people who live outside Brazilian territory and also supporters. How can we help the Indigenous in Brazil? And there are several ways, among them sharing and seeing social networks from APIB, sharing the information that APIB shares and promotes, and spreading this information throughout the world.  

Also making pressure to fight the Temporal Mark. If the rich countries begin Brazil for demarcation, maybe something happens. There needs to be pressure for there to be no economic agreements unless they demarcate the Indigenous lands and demand further investigations of the murders that happened. The facts need to be elucidated when the murder of an Indigenous person occurs.   

And mainly I think that this network that we create today, the network among Indigenous Peoples, this alliance between the whole world, is to collaborate and help Indigenous Peoples in territorial protection. And this has made a difference.  

And then many people say, what do I have to do with demarcation of Indigenous lands in Brazil? What do you have to do with 83 percent of the world's biodiversity being within Indigenous lands? So demonstrably, we do this protection benefiting everyone. We join and make this great front against these big corporations, because this economic power and capitol wants to destroy Indigenous lands. Charge companies, charge the governments, and especially the Brazilian government to demarcate the lands.  

I just wanted to finish by saying that Indigenous peoples have made a struggle in Brazil and also outside Brazil of giving their own life for the territory and biodiversity for those who cannot say – which are the animals, the rivers, the trees – that people want to knock down at every cost. And for those who want to kill us, that try to erase our history, have not been able to. 

Because it is our union and our strength, and it is our essence. It is what we have different from the rest of humanity. We have done and contributed for the world to see that we are part of the solution of the climate crisis. And so, armed with that, the importance of these spaces of discussion, like the one we're having here now, for those to take knowledge of our fight and to collaborate, for people to help and share.  

Sometimes, online sharing helps a lot. And the accusations that are made by the Articulation, the work that we have been doing within the territories, the moment is ours now to also thank the space, the space of the camp and say that we are going to move forward, fighting to provide the rights of our Peoples, guarantee their well-living through territorial protection in the name of Indigenous Peoples.  

Not only for us, but to save the whole humanity. Thank you.   

[31:06] Dinamam: [Continues speaking in Portuguese]  

[31:11] Ha’aheo: Mahalo nui loa. Thank you so much for this wonderful conversation, Dinamam. And thank you for all the work that you do. Um, and I'm just so grateful that you are coming here onto Seedcast today. Yeah, I'm so happy that we got to have this conversation.   

[31:31] Dinamam: Ciao!   

[Seedcast theme music begins]  

[31:37] Marianna Romano: Thank you for listening. And thank you to Dinamam Tuxá for sharing your knowledge and stories. You can find APIB on Instagram and other social media - search for APIB “oficial.  

This episode was produced and mixed by me - Marianna Romano - and Jenny Asarnow. Ha’aheo Auwae Dekker hosted the interview with Dinamam Tuxá and you heard my translation. Additional translation by Leslie Benzakein.    

Thanks to Maria Fernanda Ribeiro and Nara Baré for their support on this episode. And thank you to everyone at APIB for your work in the service of Indigenous rights!   

Nia Tero is a Seattle-based foundation. We’re both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples with a mission to secure Indigenous guardianship for all vital ecosystems. That means we provide support to Indigenous Peoples globally who are protecting their homelands from colonization and destruction. Their practices are one of our best guides for making Earth livable for generations to come.   

Here at Seedcast, our guests represent themselves. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Nia Tero. We honor their honest perspectives and lived experiences.