The Supreme Court of Brazil, the highest judicial body in the country, has just given joy to the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, where good news is so needed. An important ruling has been a severe setback for agribusiness pressure groups and for congressmen who represent the rural interests of their families or their sponsors in agriculture, livestock and mining.
On the 21st, justice declared the inalienable right of indigenous peoples to the lands they have historically occupied, against the claims of large landowners and rural businessmen who, allied with far-right political groups, alleged called a temporary framework to appropriate vast areas of the Amazon. According to them, these were empty areas that “had no owner.”
“The time frame was promoted by the powerful Brazilian agribusiness lobby to legalize the theft of large areas of territory,” denounces Survival International, the largest organization defending indigenous peoples. What was the thesis of the time frame? In short, he intended that only the lands of communities that could prove that they were there before October 5, 1988 be respected.
It is not a coincidental date, but rather the date of the signing of the current Brazilian Constitution. Trying to limit the right to communal possession of the original inhabitants of the land to 1988 would have meant a blatant injustice. Because? Among other things, because many indigenous groups, especially uncontacted peoples, had to put land between themselves and the advancement of progress to save their lives.
Order and progress, says the Brazilian flag. But even the staunchest defenders of the time frame would have to acknowledge that many Aboriginal people were violently expelled before 1988 by settlers. This is a question with many edges and that, taken to the extreme, could maintain that the entire territory of Brazil was indigenous before the colonization of Portugal, which would clash with that order and progress.
Nobody in their right mind tries to return to the Brazil of the 16th century. Indigenous people today occupy less than 14% of the national territory, with some 500 areas already delimited, although there are still another 200 whose limits and ownership should have been established long ago. That work could now receive a boost with Lula da Silva's government, which has supported the fight against the temporary framework, contrary to what his predecessor did.
Bringing already exterminated indigenous groups back to life is impossible, but the genocide of other communities that are still fighting for their survival can be stopped. This was defended by the indigenous organizations that sued against the interests of the agricultural macro-industry. Depriving them of their territories, furthermore, would not have enriched the country, as the supporters of expropriations maintained.
The lands would only have benefited a group of families who are already immensely rich and who control monocultures and livestock farms in the largest green lung on the planet. If the Supreme Court had ruled in his favor, Survival denounces, “indigenous rights would have been set back decades and hundreds of thousands of people could have been banished or completely annihilated, as in the past.”
The no to the temporary framework was approved with nine votes in favor and two against. The majority opinion of the court was that the Constitution cannot set temporal limits on indigenous rights and that such rights long predate this or any other Magna Carta. The resolution has not had the echo in Europe that a decision of such importance deserved, but in Brazil it caused a real commotion.
Hundreds of indigenous people in Brasilia followed the deliberations of the Supreme Federal Court, the apex of the Brazilian judicial power, composed of eleven magistrates, in charge of guaranteeing compliance with the Constitution, which is why they are known as the guardians of the law of laws. When the historic ruling was known, the representatives of the Aboriginal associations exploded with joy. It was not for less.
The problems are growing in the Amazon, threatened with death by illegal mining operations, extensive livestock farming and agriculture, the felling of the jungle and the tentacles of drug trafficking, which has found here an ideal place for its businesses, far from prying eyes. As if that were not enough, gold prospectors contaminate aquifers and cause irreparable damage to fauna and flora. And for the people...
People who, contrary to what those who attack them claim, are neither primitive nor savage. They do not live stuck in the stone age. They are perfectly adapted to their environment and they don't want anything to do with us because of the risk it brings them and because they already know what they are risking. Stereotypes of primitivism are the excuse to expel them from their lands and steal their natural resources with impunity.
This is also what the Supreme Court understands. A battle has been won, but not the war. Now there are countless aspects to develop. What will happen to the landowners who legally obtained lands now in dispute? Many landowners rely on property titles and purchase and sale operations before regional or supra-municipal institutions that sold land that did not belong to them.
Legislators will have to arbitrate compensation so that the current owners return their possessions to their legitimate owners, or concessions of territories of an area and wealth equivalent to those of the demarcations in dispute. The only thing that there is consensus on is the fact that the landowners who invaded lands with sword and fire, forcibly expelling the indigenous people, do not receive any compensation.
Justice has already ruled. Now we just need to ensure that the laws are not a dead letter. The same 1988 Constitution that has been used so much now established that the State would complete the demarcation of indigenous lands within five years. More than 30 years later, the goal is still pending. The demarcation was suspended during the mandate of Jair Bolsonaro, a fervent defender of the interests of landowners.
“The time frame was part of a brutal attack against the indigenous peoples of Brazil and the Amazon jungle promoted by former President Bolsonaro and his team, so the rejection of the Supreme Court is not only extremely important for the indigenous peoples, but also for the global fight against climate change,” explains Fiona Watson, research and campaigns director at Survival International.
