Brasil de Fato<\/p>\n
Land occupations, also known as land retaking \u2013 retomadas<\/em>, in Portuguese \u2013 through which Indigenous peoples recover traditional territories from non-Indigenous people, are an instrument of struggle. For Karai Tiago dos Santos, a Guarani Mbya leader from the Tenond\u00e9 Por\u00e3 Indigenous Land in the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, this is perhaps how \u201cother eyes\u201d see Indigenous land occupations<\/a>. \u201cBut for us, it guarantees our continuity,\u201d he explains.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Each Indigenous territory reclaimed \u201cmeans diminishing land in the hands of the capital market,” says the organization Amigas da Terra<\/em> (ATBr, in Portuguese), which works for environmental justice. Thus, Indigenous occupations have been the constant target of armed attacks<\/a> by jagun\u00e7os<\/em> (the Portuguese word for armed bodyguards working for rich people) and large estate owners, many of them organized by the Invas\u00e3o Zero<\/em><\/a> (Zero Invasion, in a rough translation) group, which was involved in the death of Nega Patax\u00f3<\/a>, in southern Bahia.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we say retaken,\u201d says Dinamam Tux\u00e1, from the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib, in Portuguese), \u201cit means something has been taken from us. And that we are claiming and returning [to the land], taking back what was once ours and which, due to this very violent colonization process, was stolen from us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Self-demarcation of lands to deal with \u201cthe empty promises of white people\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the areas reclaimed in the country are territories that have already been recognized and delimited as having traditional Indigenous occupation, but whose demarcation process has stalled due to legal imbroglios and state delays.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the case, for example, with seven retakes led by the Guarani Kaiow\u00e1 in the Panambi-Lagoa Rica Indigenous Land<\/a>, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and the other seven made by the Av\u00e1 Guarani in the Guasu Guavir\u00e1 Indigenous Land<\/a>, in the state of Paran\u00e1. The demarcation of the former has not advanced since 2011; the latter, since 2018.<\/p>\n Both territories are overlapped by big farms and, according to the National Force, have been surrounded by pick-up trucks and attacked by armed men.<\/p>\n Thus, land retakings are a way of self-demarcation, argues Apib. \u201cThis is due to the failure of the Brazilian state to fulfill its constitutional duty to demarcate Indigenous lands. By not demarcating them, we are carrying out this process of self-demarcation to guarantee our lives and rights,\u201d Dinamam summarizes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see that we have no rights,\u201d says Laura*, an Indigenous leader from the Av\u00e1 Guarani people in Paran\u00e1. \u201cWe know that demarcation is guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, but what happens is that Indigenous lives are being shot down,\u201d she denounces.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve been receiving empty promises from white people for a long time \u2013 and we’re getting tired of it. That’s why what we’re doing isn’t an invasion,\u201d says Laura, referring to the retaking of areas of the Guasu Guavir\u00e1 Indigenous Land in the municipalities of Terra Roxa and Gua\u00edra, both in the state of Paran\u00e1. \u201cWe’re self-demarcating our lands because we’re tired of waiting. We’re going to do it for ourselves, for our children,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Erileide Domingues, of the Guarani Kaiow\u00e1 people, lives in a retaken land in the Guyraroka Indigenous Land<\/a>, surrounded by soybean plantations, in the municipality of Caarap\u00f3, Mato Grosso do Sul. \u201cWe’ve been resisting for 24 years in defense of our rights, our freedom and our territory. We wait politely and respectfully, but we get tired of waiting,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are occupying land because we need to retake what has been destroyed, what has been taken from us since the beginning of the invasion of Brazil. We are not invaders, we are retakers: we take back what is ours,\u201d says Erileide. \u201cIt’s for us to recover our seeds, to keep our language, our culture: our way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n A way of healing<\/p>\n \u201cThe Guarani way of life is not to be squeezed in, with houses very close to each other,\u201d explains Laura. \u201cAnyone who gets to know our reality here in the Guasu Guavir\u00e1 community will agree with us making these occupations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were already sick of being confined for so long. Today, those who have moved to the occupied areas feel more free. They feel good,\u201d she continues \u201cbecause retaking is also a way of healing.\u201d<\/p>\n Ancestors, spirits and encantados<\/em><\/p>\n The return to \u201cancestral\u201d Indigenous communities, says Karai Tiago, who is also a member of the Guarani Yvyrup\u00e1 Commission (CGY), doesn’t happen on a material level. \u201cThe spirits of our ancestors guide us. The retaking of land takes place in this search. It’s very difficult to understand, but those of us who are Indigenous can understand it perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n For Cacique Babau, from the Tupinamb\u00e1 de Oliven\u00e7a Indigenous Land, the second largest in the state of Bahia, retaking land is a form of prayer. \u201cA ritual to recover not only the land but our existence. We’re not just referring to the territory, but to taking into our hands the life taken from us,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe, the Tupinamb\u00e1 from Serra do Padeiro, have already said: it is not the white people who governs us. You don’t decide about our lives,\u201d says Babau. \u201cWe have an ancestral culture and it’s our encantados<\/em> (spiritual beings) who determine what we’re going to do. They’re the ones who define how we’re going to walk.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Opposition to tutelage\u00a0<\/p>\n