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Brazil: indigenous people rally in capital to protest against Bolsonaro onslaught
Source: The Guardian
Brazil: indigenous people rally in capital to protest against Bolsonaro onslaught
Thousands join ‘Free Land’ protest camp in Brasília after far-right president launches broad assault on tribes’ rights and territories
Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Wed 24 Apr 2019 18.09 BST Last modified on Wed 24 Apr 2019 21.24 BST
Thousands of indigenous people have descended on Brazil’s capital Brasília to protest against a widespread assault on indigenous rights and territories by the government of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Up to 4,000 indigenous people from all over the country are expected to join the annual demonstration, which organizers say has taken on new significance after Bolsonaro – who has repeatedly called into question the existence of indigenous reserves – took power in January.
“We are defenders of the land, we are defenders of the Amazon, of the forest. The white man is our finishing off our planet and we want to defend it,” said Alessandra Munduruku, a representative from the Munduruku tribe who had travelled from the Amazonian state of Pará to join the “Free Land” protest camp near Brazil’s congress.
Elected with the help of powerful agribusiness and evangelical lobbies, Bolsonaro has vowed to freeze demarcations of new indigenous reserves, revoke the protected status of others, and free up commercial farming and mining on others such as the landmark Yanomami territory.
-snip-
Thousands join ‘Free Land’ protest camp in Brasília after far-right president launches broad assault on tribes’ rights and territories
Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Wed 24 Apr 2019 18.09 BST Last modified on Wed 24 Apr 2019 21.24 BST
Thousands of indigenous people have descended on Brazil’s capital Brasília to protest against a widespread assault on indigenous rights and territories by the government of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Up to 4,000 indigenous people from all over the country are expected to join the annual demonstration, which organizers say has taken on new significance after Bolsonaro – who has repeatedly called into question the existence of indigenous reserves – took power in January.
“We are defenders of the land, we are defenders of the Amazon, of the forest. The white man is our finishing off our planet and we want to defend it,” said Alessandra Munduruku, a representative from the Munduruku tribe who had travelled from the Amazonian state of Pará to join the “Free Land” protest camp near Brazil’s congress.
Elected with the help of powerful agribusiness and evangelical lobbies, Bolsonaro has vowed to freeze demarcations of new indigenous reserves, revoke the protected status of others, and free up commercial farming and mining on others such as the landmark Yanomami territory.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/24/brazil-indigenous-people-bolsonaro-protest
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