Support for indigenous peoples struggling in Brazil against the "Temporary Framework"
The history of the indigenous peoples of this territory we now call Brazil does not begin in 1988; nor in 1500! CLACSO Working Group on Political Ecology(ies) from the South/Abya-Yala It joins the fight of indigenous peoples against the Time Frame, a racist and violent legal argument that seeks to erase the memory of historical violence against indigenous peoples and legitimize illegal possession by invaders.
On Wednesday, September 1, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) is due to rule on the "Temporary Framework," a legal instrument in line with the ruralist policy of expanding the agricultural frontier, which aims to hinder the demarcation of indigenous lands, establishing that only areas where the territorial presence of indigenous peoples was verified before the date of promulgation of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution would be delimited.
In 2009, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruled on the demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory, amidst growing pressure from agribusiness against the recognition of Indigenous peoples' rights. On that occasion, the STF established sub-legal conditions for demarcation processes, including an argument suggesting a "timeframe" that would define Indigenous occupations as dating back to 1988. Since this was a ruling on a specific case, these so-called "conditions" could not be applied to other cases, as it is not the function of the judiciary to create laws, but only to judge compliance with the law. However, during this period, agribusiness violence against Indigenous peoples and its growing political power in the legislature were already on the rise. A few years later, after the 2016 coup, rural landowners managed to enact an infra-legal ordinance from the Attorney General's Office that transformed the "conditions" of Raposa Serra do Sol into legal norms, elevating to a "legal thesis" the argument of a supposed "timeframe" invented by the then-reporting minister, Ayres Britto. The Attorney General's Office ordinance was challenged and did not come into effect, but several states controlled by agribusiness, along with rural landowners' groups, began to challenge all demarcations of Indigenous lands, arguing that ranchers had arrived on the disputed lands before the Indigenous people. On the specific date of October 5, 1988, the ranchers claimed, the Indigenous people would not have been in that particular location. This is a rhetorical device that seeks to erase the memory of historical violence against indigenous peoples and legitimize illegal possession by invaders, a racist legal argument that will not only cause a significant increase in conflicts in the countryside, but also violence against indigenous populations, and yet another historical injustice that will mark the future of a violent, unequal, racist and authoritarian country.
Camped for fifteen days in Brasilia, in the camp called precisely #LutaPelaVida (Fight for Life), Brazilian indigenous people ask the STF to defend the 1988 Federal Constitution and the historical struggle for a fairer country.
The struggle for Mother Earth is the mother of all struggles. Not one more drop of Indigenous blood! Demarcation now! No to the time frame!
August 31th, 2021
CLACSO Working Group
Political ecology(ies) from the south/Abya-Yala
This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Epolitical ecology(ies) from the south/Abya-Yala and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
