Marcus Kolbrunner is a member of Liberdade, Socialismo e Revolução (ISA in Brazil).
All support to the strike of the workers of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI)! Xavier out! All support to the struggle of indigenous peoples in defense of their lives and lands!
The barbaric murder of the Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips on June 5 caused outrage and fury around the world. It is a result of the lack of measures to protect Indigenous lands and the environment, which has been worsened by the reactionary policies of the Bolsonaro government.
Bolsonaro is dismantling enforcement, projects and agencies such as Funai (National Indian Foundation), Incra (Agency for Land Reform) and Ibama (Agency for the protection of the environment), acting as a direct agent of loggers, land grabbers, illegal fishers, illegal gold miners, and big mining and agribusiness, who want to transform indigenous lands and thousand-year-old forests into short-term profits for an insatiable elite. Brazil is among the countries that kill the most environmental activists.
In the front line of the struggle against this situation are the Indigenous peoples and their organizations. But this should be a struggle of the entire working class. It is part of the struggle against the attacks on our rights and the destruction of our future. The strike declared by the FUNAI workers’ union, which took place on June 23, deserves all our support. Trade union, student and social movements should call for actions in support of the strike, along with the demand for an independent commission to investigate the murder of Bruno and Dom, with representatives of indigenous, environmental, union and other social movements.
Dismantling of Funai
The National Indian Foundation is going through its worst moment. Despite being founded in 1967, in the middle of the military dictatorship, it has never been so dominated by the military as with the arrival of the Bolsonaro government, which has appointed police deputies and military officers to top positions in Funai, who have no interest in protecting Indigenous peoples and lands.
On the contrary, from the very first moment, Bolsonaro’s explicit intention has been to prevent the demarcation of new Indigenous lands and open them up to exploitation by mining, agribusiness and other economic interests.
The Funai workers’ union, together with the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies, produced a dossier showing how the Bolsonaro government has implemented an anti-Indigenous policy, with the non-demarcation of territories, persecution of staff and Indigenous leaders, a militarization of strategic positions and the emptying out of the entity’s personnel.
According to the Folha de São Paulo, of a total of 3,700 Funai positions, only 1,400 have permanent staff in activity, plus a contingent of 600 temporary workers, hired after an order from Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF). The Bolsonaro government has already denied two requests for hiring new employees made by the foundation in 2019 and 2020, with another request under review.
Illegal fishing
Witnesses describe how Bruno and Dom’s killers are linked to illegal pirarucu fishing in the region, financed by drug trafficking, which uses illegal fishing to launder money by extracting tons of fish from the region. The pirarucu is an endangered fish whose fishing in the Amazon is only allowed in management areas, conservation units, or Indigenous lands.
Illegal hunting and fishing in the Indigenous land of Javari Valley has increased after the abandonment of the rural settlement there and the sustainable management plan for the pirarucu fish in the region. The Agro-extractivist Settlement Project (PAE) in Lago de São Rafael, near Vale do Javari, was created in 2011 to settle 200 riverside families, but suffered a dismantling during the Temer government that has been intensified by the Bolsonaro government. This led to an increase in conflicts and invasion of Indigenous lands headed by illegal fishermen.
The position of head of the Segat (Service of Environmental and Territorial Management), responsible for the supervision of the Javari Valley, has been vacant for over a year, leaving the way open for illegal hunting and fishing. The president of Funai, Federal Police Deputy Marcelo Xavier Silva, has denied three times the request of the Funai coordination in the region to appoint a permanent Funai employee to the position. Xavier was nominated by Bolsonaro to the presidency of the foundation in 2019 with the support of the parliamentary group of agribusiness in congress.
Bruno Pereira took a leave of absence from Funai after being dismissed from his position as the General Coordinator of Isolated and Newly-Contacted Indians, following Xavier’s appointment. Bruno began to act as a collaborator of Univaja (Union of Indigenous Peoples of Javari Valley). He had been denouncing illegal fishing and was seeking the reactivation of the pirarucu management plan.
The conscious policy of the Bolsonaro government
The Bolsonaro government was slow to act on these murders and responded as usual by trying to blame the victims and divert attention away from its policy that is directly responsible for the crime. Vice President Mourão even talked about the crime being the result of “drunks,” not only disregarding the planned ambush, but the economic interests behind it.
There have already been protests in Brasilia and other cities in Brazil, and also abroad, such as in London. New protests took place on the June 23 in several cities, together with the beginning of the Funai workers’ strike.
The strike by the Funai workers’ union demands that those responsible for the murder of Bruno and Dom be held accountable and the immediate removal of Funai president Xavier. The union summarizes: “For an Indigenist Funai and for the Indigenous peoples! For the protection of Indigenous activists, the Indigenous Peoples and their leaders, organizations and territories!”
The way forward is through struggle
All this comes at the same time that the Supreme Court had planned to resume its judgment on the “marco temporario” law, a new major threat to Indigenous peoples, since it prohibits the demarcation of Indigenous lands that were not proven to be under Indigenous control until 1988, negating the 500 years of theft of their lands. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has again postponed the judgment, while Bolsonaro has already declared that he will not obey a ruling that strikes the law down. The Supreme Court is evidently trying to avoid another confrontation with Bolsonaro and is postponing the issue until after the elections, but the attacks on Indigenous peoples do not take any break. This shows that we cannot depend on or trust the good will of the Supreme Court. Only the unified struggle of the indigenous peoples and the workers’ movement in all its diversity will be able to reverse this reactionary onslaught that affects us all!
We Say:
- For justice for Bruno and Dom, holding the culprits and the people behind them accountable. For an independent commission of inquiry, with representatives of Indigenous, environmental, trade union, and other social movements with full powers to monitor the investigations.
- Full support for the strike of Funai employees. For a Funai that is Indigenist and for the Indigenous peoples, with control by workers’ and Indigenous movements. For the hiring of new employees and against the persecution of activists. Xavier out!
- No to the marco temporario, demarcation of Indigenous lands now!
- For the preservation of the Amazon, in defense of Indigenous peoples and other traditional communities. Veto powers to the local population against any predatory extractivism. Fight the interests of mining companies, agribusiness, timber, and the entire capitalist system that destroys the environment and lives in the name of profit.
- Down with Bolsonaro, Mourão and their neoliberal and authoritarian agenda!
