Resist

My name is Jasir De Souza.
I am a Macuxi and my name in my language is Salomão. I live in Roraima state in the north of Brazil and we, the Macuxi, are the biggest population of indigenous peoples in Raposa Serra do Sol. We also have other indigenous peoples who live near us like the Wapichana, Ingaricó, Patamona, Taripan, Lanomami, Wapichamas, and Uaiuai people.
I am a Macuxi Indian. I am 60 years old. When I talk with the older generation of indigenous peoples, our relatives and friends, they say at the time of our grandparents and our great grandparents there were no white people around,
it was just our people. We lived from the land, fishing and hunting. We used to have a big roça (plantation) and we had no problems. Everything was good.
We also had Macuxi that lived on the other side of the boarder in Guiana and for us there was no border; we all used to go there and it was one area. Everything was very tranquil. It was like there was not even the concept of a frontier - the concept of a frontier was very far away. We lived together with no worries and we really did live a very tranquil life. Lots of other indigenous peoples lived near us and for a long time we lived in peace and harmony with
no need for the concept of leadership. There was no leader or chief and there was not the organisation (in the political sense) that we have now.
However, the time arrived when we thought we needed to elect a chief and Iʼm not sure
when that started but when it came around we felt it was needed.
Then one day the Whites arrived and everything changed. We still have things that remind us of our heritage, for example we have banana plantations that our grandparents and our great grandparents planted and thatʼs a reminder of
how they used the land.
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When the cattle ranchers and miners came here they were very good to the local people and very friendly. They came with gifts, clothes and Cachaça (sugar rum). They said that they would help us with our land. The elder people of the
tribes thought that this would be ok and so they agreed to let the white people stay.
As time went by the cattle ranchers came and started to build ranches but then more and more people came and began to build houses on the
riverbanks and mine for illegal diamonds. At first the ranchers and the Indians worked together. The Indians, however, began to notice that the ranchers were bringing more and more cattle on to the land, it was a continual process
and then, one day, when Indians would traditionally build new houses on the land, they were told that they could not as that land no longer belonged to them and was for the cattle. The cattle ranchers started to destroy the houses
of the Indians and no one knew of our suffering and no one knew the famers and ranchers were destroying our homes.
Then in 1973 FUNAI (Brazilian Nation Indian Foundation) appeared in its role to defend Indians but I saw that there was no one around to defend our rights so I founded an organisation.
On 25th April 1979 we founded SEER. I talked to all the leaders of the communities and said that we had to work together. We realised that if we
worked together we would be more powerful and people would take more notice of our situation and that is really how our movement started.
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When we started our organisation it was because we saw the problem we had in being unable to fight for our rights and that is why our organisation exists today. There are people like Survival and the Catholic Church who know us
well and have helped us to see that the most important thing to do is to be able to show the truth of what is happening to us.
The ranchers and miners put their cattle on the lands but donʼt allow us to work the land how we want to work it. They arrived and promised us a share in the gold and the diamonds they were mining and then donʼt even let us work on the land they are using which rightfully belongs to us.
One of the worst things the white people have done is too sell Cachaça, which means everyone gets drunk now and canʼt work the land as they used too. Little by little we were left without the land that we used to plant, hunt and fish
on. There was also a lot of alcohol among the communities.
One of the reasons for founding our organisation is that we saw we could no longer carry on living in the same manner as to which we had now become
accustomed to under the white farmers and ranchers. We were not in charge of our land, it was not the same life as before, we used to live in harmony with nature and that way of life was no longer available to us. We looked for partners to help us and we denounced the invasion of our land and we mounted a campaign and pressurised FUNAI to recognise and map out our land. We put pressure on the President of Brazil to demark and ratify our lands and sign it into law that the land belonged to us.
So far we have been fighting 35 years to get our land back to the way we want. The problem we are now facing is the escalating violence in the region.
I came over to Europe in 1995 to mount a campaign and finally the Brazilian government did listen to us. They have demarked and ratified the land but the problem of violence and trespassing still continue. After the land was recognised we had a big party in my village to thank everyone who had
helped us but we still see violence all the time.
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Our fight is our fight. We can not just go and live on another estate or in another country because the land in contention is our land. We have to face up to the white people and fight for what is ours. The reason we have been able to do this is because we are very much united. We called all the other indigenous peoples in surrounding areas; the Wapichana, Ingaricó, Patamona, Taripan, Lanomami, Wapichamas, and
Uaiuai people; and asked for their help and they have helped us against the ranchers, politicians, state government and the armies that are all against us.
We just would not let them do what they wanted.
I am not the only one who is fighting for our rights. Others have travelled around the world and Brazil to talk about our struggle. At first people did not know what we were going through but now we are going out and spreading the word. We now have an indigenous lawyer who looks after our legal rights. We have young Indians studying law; we now are using our knowledge to educate the younger generation. We made it very clear to the indigenous people who live here that they cannot leave this land; they must stay and defend it!
Since the fight for our land began we have already lost 21 leaders who have been assassinated. Blood has been spilt for this land and we do not want those people to have died in
vain.
The land was ratified and signed into law as ours but the businessmen that work the land here do not respect the law and still try and move us off our land; but we are defiant. We have an ability now to tell our plight to the world, we have people who know about computers and the internet and this is how we are defending our land, we keep our own cattle, we have film makers which is how you saw the video we made and we are now able to spread the word of our resistance across the world. That alone shows just how united we are.
The attack on May 5th which we filmed on the video shows the federal police moving people out of the land. In 2005 the President of Brazil ratified the land and signed it off to us and said that everyone who is not Indian had to leave
our land within a year but 1 then 2 years went by and nothing had happened.
So I went down to Brasilia and talked to the President myself. He told me he would keep his promise and make sure anyone who was not Indian was removed from the land.
When the farmers heard that the federal police were on there way they burned all the access bridges to the area. Their tactic was to isolate us, making it impossible for the police to get through but when they did they arrested the
worst of the farmers, Paolo Cezo Quatiero. He is the biggest of the invaders and they arrested him but then let him out the next day. We once again decided to take matters into our own hands and in protest decided to build new houses on the land he occupied. When Quatiero realized
e were doing this he got his hitmen to attack us. Using rifles and homemade bombs they attacked and wounded 10 Indians.
Eventually the federal aid came in and helped the wounded and tried to arrest all the men but the hitmen had fled. They arrested Quatiero and his son and they were put into prison for 9 days and then let out – that is not justice.
It is raining now and because the bridges have been burned down we are very much isolated. There is no way to get important vaccines into the area
and I am worried about food and health. If we wanted to go to the local village to get supplies we cannot because the bridges have been burnt.
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We are asking for help so that the federal government of Brazil keeps its promises to
our people and do not undo the signing over of our land to us.
We are asking people to write emails and letters and to help make sure that everyone in the world knows what we are going through and to make the
government of Brazil realise we have worldwide support.
Our message is clear. If the government of Brazil try to take our land or try reducing it in size then we will fight.
We have people in Brasilia and here, with all this violence happening in Roraima state, distributing flyers, getting the information to the public and trying to help our cause.
We are here campaigning for justice and the right to our land, as it was. Our message is simple. Please help us.