ABOVE: In the Amazon, indigenous debate how to save their lands
By Associated Press (AP), September 06, 2019
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEATH.
The country’s native tribes have a constitutional right to reject any development on their territory, but President Bolsonaro recently said he will allow mining on indigenous land without their consent.
EXTERMINATED
In one of the largest and most gruesome attacks in Brazil last year, members of a group of Gamela indigenous people were attacked with machetes and rifles after occupying what they said was their traditional territory in Maranhao state in Brazil’s northeast.
Ranchers were using the land, which was seized from the Gamela during Brazil’s military dictatorship, as a pasture for cattle.
The assailants attacked 400 Gamela families at night, firing numerous shots and even hacking off some people’s hands.
The survivors accused police officers of standing by while the violence took place, and indigenous rights activists released audio of what they claimed were the voices of military police promising not to interfere in the attack.
Global Witness said it has recorded an average of 42 killings a year since 2012."
IT'S WORLDWIDE, THE TAKING OF LAND AND RIGHTS FROM INDIGENOUS TRIBES.
FEW SEEM TO CARE WHEN THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE LOSE ANYTHING; LAND, SACRED PLACES, NATURAL RESOURCES (INCLUDING WATER), ACCESS TO TRADITIONAL FOODS, THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT (ESPECIALLY TREES), OR EVEN THEIR LIVES AND ANY HOPE FOR A FUTURE TO CONTINUE THEIR TRADITIONS AND WAYS OF LIFE.
BRAZIL'S NEW PRESIDENT, JAIR BOLSONARO, APPEARS TOO BE MUCH LIKE AMERICA'S MOST NOTORIOUS INDIAN-HATER, THE ACCURSED ANDREW JACKSON.
HE HAS EXPRESSED DISDAIN AND OPEN HOSTILITY FOR THE BRAZILIAN INDIGENOUS POPULATION FOR YEARS, AND NOW, WITH HIS NEW PRESIDENTIAL POWERS, HE'S MAKING GOOD ON HIS THREATS TO END THE SOVEREIGN RIGHTS OF ALL INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN BRAZIL.
IF THEY STRONGLY OPPOSE THIS EFFORT TO ROB THEM OF THEIR RIGHTS AND SOVEREIGNTY, ONE MUST WONDER, WILL SEE ANOTHER "AMERICAN GENOCIDE", THIS TIME IN SOUTH AMERICA'S BRAZIL?
WE CAN ALSO WONDER, WHO GIVES A DAMN.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HAS CERTAINLY NOT BEEN MUCH HELP TO ANY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, HAS IT?
THE DISGUSTING UNITED NATIONS HAS ALWAYS BEEN ON THE SIDE OF "PROGRESS" AGAINST THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF LANDS ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE, NEVER ON THE SIDE OF THOSE WHO HAVE INDIGENOUS RIGHTS TO THE LANDS INVADED TIME AFTER TIME BY FOREIGN "SETTLERS".
THE U.N. HAS HELPED INVADERS AGAINST INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND HELPED THEM STEAL TERRITORY AND RESOURCES FAR MORE OFTEN THAN THEY HAVE EVER "PROTESTED" OR "SANCTIONED" SUCH THINGS.
THEIR OWN 'BLUE HELMETS HAVE BEEN NAMED AS MURDERERS, RAPISTS AND THIEVES IN MANY NATIONS.
[SEE ALSO THIS]
AFTER ALL, THE U.N. IS A NATURAL RESOURCES-GRABBING ENTITY ON ITS OWN.
IT AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND/WORLD BANK HAVE FOR DECADES MOVED IN AND TAKEN CONTROL OF HELPLESS MINORITIES' PROPERTY.
IF, BY DOING SO, LIVES ARE LOST, ENTIRE TRIBES AND CULTURES OBLITERATED, THE U.N. SIMPLY DOESN'T CARE.
HOW CAN ANYONE "LEGALIZE MINING LAND THAT DOESN'T BELONG TO THEM?
JUST BECOME PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL.
Sao Paulo (AFP) - December 19, 2019-
"Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday his government was preparing to legalize mining on indigenous land and defended plans to expand farming in the same areas.
Opening up protected native territory was a key campaign pledge for the right wing leader but activists blame economic activity for an uptick in violence and increased pressure from miners and loggers.
"Why can you, being white, mine on your land when the Indians can't?" Bolsonaro said as he left his official residence in Brasilia, without revealing when the reform would be presented to parliament.
Bolsonaro also defended moves to expand livestock farming and soya and corn plantations on indigenous land, much of which is in the Amazon rainforest.
"The price of meat is rising. We need to raise more livestock here," he said.
Bolsonaro has long railed against the protected indigenous areas in the Amazon that he says are a threat to the country's sovereignty.
He claims other countries are encouraging the expansion of protected areas in a bid to take over Brazilian land.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged by 104 percent in November compared to the same period in 2018, according to official data published last week.
Since Bolsonaro came to power in January, there has been almost twice as much deforestation as last year in the Amazon, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE.)
Last month, Amnesty International called on Bolsonaro to curb illegal cattle farms in the Amazon, claiming they pose "a very real threat, not only to the human rights of indigenous and traditional peoples who live there, but also to the entire planet's ecosystem."
THOSE INTERESTED IN PROFITS, IN GATHERING WEALTH NEVER HAVE EVEN A FLICKER OF A THOUGHT ABOUT HUMAN WELFARE, ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS, ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT.
THEY WANT MONEY SO AS TO INCREASE THEIR POWER, ONLY THAT.
LOOKS LIKE OTHERS (ALL?) IN HIS CABINET HAVE THE SAME DISDAIN FOR THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE THAT BOLSONARO HAS.
Brazil’s environment minister ridicules climate talks with image of steak dinner.
Environment minister, Ricardo Salles, posted a photo on Twitter of steak with the caption: "To compensate for our carbon emissions at COP, a vegetarian lunch!":
STEAK IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN LIVES ONLY TO THE SELFISH AND ELITE.
Brazil is one of several countries that want to count emissions cuts achieved by offsetting carbon credits to another country as a boost for their own climate targets.
Carbon offsetting allows a country to fund emission reductions in another country to help reach its own reduction targets.
NO, CARBON OFFSETTING IS SIMPLY LYING AND MANIPULATING FACTS, A MONEY-MAKING SCHEME THAT ONLY THE RICHEST NATIONS CAN AFFORD, WHICH BUY THEIR "FIX" FROM POORER NATIONS.
The practice, known as ‘double counting’, was countered by other countries who say it would undermine the entire market.
A staunch climate change skeptic, Mr Bolsonaro has been criticized for dismantling regulation and environmental and Amazon protections since his first day in office.
Brazil is the world’s top beef exporter, an industry that drives illegal deforestation caused by cattle farmers who want to convert the Amazon rainforest into pasture to feed their herds.
This year, the Amazon rainforest has seen a record number of fires fuelled by cattle ranchers, resulting in irreparable damage of a natural resource and the deaths of indigenous forest activists.
Mr. Bolsonaro dismissed concerns about the destruction of the rainforests and said: “I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame.”
NERO, WE'RE TOLD, FLED ROME IN TERROR, BUT TURNED BACK, ALSO IN FEAR. THE ROMAN SENATE DECLARED HIM A PUBLIC ENEMY, INTENDED TO EXECUTE HIM BY BEATING HIM TO DEATH.
NERO CALLED FOR A GLADIATOR TO QUICKLY KILL HIM BY SWORD.
ALL GLADIATORS REFUSED.
WITH HIS ARMY TURNED AGAINST HIM, NERO FLED ROME IN DISGUISE, AIDED BY FOUR FREED SLAVES AND HID AT THE VILLA OF ONE OF THOSE.
WHEN THE FREEDMEN ALSO REFUSED TO KILL HIM, NERO DECIDED TO DIE BY SUICIDE, BUT HE JUST DIDN'T HAVE THE FORTITUDE TO DO SO AND, INSTEAD, COMPELLED HIS PERSONAL SECRETARY TO DO IT FOR HIM, STABBING HIM IN THE THROAT.
NERO DIED A SLOW, AGONIZING DEATH.
THUS TO TYRANTS, YES?
THE SLAUGHTER HAS ALREADY BEGUN, AND, UNDER BOLSONARO HAS BEEN INCREASING SINCE 2018.
DECEMBER 7, 2019
FROM 'GUARDIAN', UK
Amazon indigenous leaders killed in Brazil drive-by shooting
"Gunmen opened fire on a group from the Guajajara tribe on a highway in Maranhão state, killing two and wounding others.
Two indigenous leaders have been shot dead and two others wounded in Brazil’s Maranhão state, in an attack not far from where a prominent tribesman who defended the Amazon rainforest was killed last month, authorities said.
The attack on the members of the Guajajara tribe, which is known for the forest guardians who protect their territory against illegal deforestation, occurred on the margins of a federal highway near El-Betel village in the country’s north-east on Saturday.
The group was returning from a meeting when they were attacked by gunmen in a moving car. Indigenous tribes in Brazil are facing escalating violence during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, who has promised to reduce tribal rights and encouraged the commercial exploitation of their protected lands. Tribes have faced violence from illegal loggers and miners.
The incident comes during the UN’s two-week international climate change conference in Madrid, where Brazilian indigenous leaders are present and attempting to draw attention to the importance of protecting their forest territories.
“How long will this go on? Who will be next?” Sonia Guajajara, coordinator of a network to connect Brazilian indigenous peoples, said in a phone interview from Madrid. “The authorities need to look at our indigenous people. They’re taking away our lives.”
The program director of Amazon Watch, Christian Poirier, said:
“An institutionalized genocide of indigenous peoples is taking place in Brazil. They are being left alone, vulnerable to all kinds of threats and violence.
“The international community must not accept that any more indigenous blood be shed. It is the constitutional duty of the Brazilian government to protect indigenous territories and ensure the safety of their peoples.”
HAVING THREE 'NATIVE AMERICAN' GRANDPARENTS, I CAN ONLY ASSURE THOSE NATIVES OF BRAZIL THAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WON'T BE COMING TO YOUR AID.
THE WORLD WANTS YOUR RESOURCES, YOUR LAND, AND IF THAT MEANS YOU ALL MUST DIE, THAT IS WHAT THEY WILL DO TO GET WHAT THEY WANT.
OUR "INDIAN WARS" ARE STILL ONGOING IN THE U.S.
IT NEVER ENDS.
LOS ANGELES TIMES, AUGUST 2018 -
"When villagers refused to let a timber exporter log on their land in a remote Amazon rainforest area of Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, the hit men were sent in.
When police finally arrived 24 hours later, slowed by poor communication in the region, they said they found the bodies of nine men, all shot or stabbed to death, many bearing signs of torture.
The slaughter of Brazilian environmental activists and land defenders has been unrelenting for years, with new research from the watchdog group Global Witness showing that 57 people in the country were killed last year in confrontations with ranchers, loggers, miners and poachers.
That total marks a steep increase from the 39 killed in 2005, the year that the plight of Brazilian land defenders first caught the world’s attention with the fatal shooting of Dorothy Stang, an American nun who became an environmental activist and human rights defender in the Amazon.
Stang was shot six times by a pair of gunmen. A rancher was ultimately convicted of ordering her death.
[FOURTEEN YEARS OF MURDERS AND LAND THEFT, AND LOOK WHAT THAT "INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" HAS DONE FOR THE TRIBES!
NOTHING!]
According to Global Witness, a nongovernmental organization that tracks the exploitation of indigenous people and their resources, 2017 was not only the most lethal year on record for environmental activists in Brazil, but one of the deadliest in any country.
Global Witness said its tally in Brazil is probably an undercount because its methodology requires that it identify each victim by name, which can be a challenge because some potential victims live in highly isolated areas.
“On paper, Brazil has many of the policies and institutions that could solve this problem and protect the rights and well-being of ordinary Brazilians, but this government is weakening those institutions in favor of facilitating big business,” said Ben Leather, senior campaigner for Global Witness.
The Global Witness report also noted that the powerful agribusiness lobbying group known as the ruralistas initiated a special congressional commission investigation into irregularities in land demarcations as a way to damage the reputations of FUNAI and INCRA.
The commission’s final report accused the two agencies of backing fraudulent land claims and requested that 67 people be indicted. No indictments were issued, however.
More than half the members of Brazil’s Congress also belong to the ruralistas group, which also has close ties to Temer.
The lobbying organization is known for vehemently opposing land demarcations that allocate property to indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and small-scale farmers who already live on the land.
While the three groups make up the majority of the 57 activists killed in Brazil last year, Global Witness said it is the indigenous peoples who suffer the most when struggling to defend their land, much of it in the Amazon, where 80% of 2017’s killings occurred."
MURDER ON A BUSY STREET
The union which represents staff at Brazil's indigenous protection agency, Funai, said Maxciel Pereira dos Santos was reportedly shot twice in the head in the city of Tabatinga, near Brazil's borders with Colombia and Peru.
Union officials said Mr Santos was shot in front of members of his family as he drove his motorcycle down a busy street.
INA officials said he was killed in retaliation for his work at the Vale do Javari reserve, where for years he helped prevent hunters, farmers and loggers illegally entering the area.
The reserve is said to be home to the world's highest concentration of uncontacted indigenous tribes.
BUT NO CHARGES OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY FROM THE U.N., NO SANCTIONS BY THE U.S., NOTHING FOR THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE BUT A SLIGHT SHAKING OF THE HEAD, PERHAPS.
PROGRESS...MUST HAVE PROGRESS AND THE MONEY AND THE POWER THAT COMES WITH IT.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
ARE THEY NEXT ON THE 'HIT LISTS'?
DOES ANYONE CARE?
I DO!
//WW
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