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Brazilian indigenous activist Samela Sateré-Mawé uses social media to defend the rights of his people.
“The past is gone, but now there is an opportunity to do it differently.” Who says that it is the indigenous activist Samela Sateré-Mawé who calls on young Portuguese to be “more active” in supporting “environmental causes” and the fight “for the rights of indigenous peoples.”
Samela Sateré-Mawé highlights that prejudice against indigenous peoples is not new, but dates back to the period of Portuguese colonization, which led to the annihilation of most of the natives of Brazil.
An indigenous activist believes that Portugal has a “historical debt” towards the original peoples of Brazil, facing the period of the Discoveries, adding that young Portuguese now have the opportunity to make a difference.
“I wanted to tell the people of Portugal that we, the indigenous peoples, have continued to resist since the invasion in 1500, about 520 years ago, but now people have the opportunity to make a difference, in the present, ”says Samela, 24, of the Sateré-Mawé ethnic group and who has become one of the most promising female voices in activism indigenous. and Brazilian environmental.
“The past has passed, but there’s a chance to do it differently now. So young (Portuguese) need be more active, fights for environmental causes and the rights of indigenous peoples ”, appeals to Samela who is a member of the student movement ‘Friday’s for Future’ and SOS Amazonia campaign.
The young indigenous woman makes a point when remembering the suffering of her ancestors who, from the contact with Europeans, mainly Portuguese, due to the intense exploration and advance on the Brazilian territories, they were annihilated.
Some studies indicate that they existed in Brazil, before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500, between three and five million indigenous, most located along the coast.
By 1570, this population will have decreased to about 1.2 million people, while in 1825, after Portugal recognized the independence of Brazil, there would only be about 360 thousand indigenous, according to data from FUNAI (Fundação Nacional do Índio).
The indigenous population was the victim, in addition to the violence of the settlers, of several epidemics motivated by diseases that the Portuguese and other Europeans contracted for the Brazilian territory and for those without immunity, namely, smallpox, influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia and measles.
In 2010, the year of the last census, the indigenous population was less than 900 thousand individuals.
Young man uses social media to defend indigenous rights
It was at her home in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, where Samela, a future biologist, received Lusa and showed her the place where she records her daily videos for social networks, her main tool for mobilize other youth for the environmental and indigenous cause.
It was also at the back of their house that the Sateré-Mawé women established a small mask production unit protection against covid-19, as a means of support during the pandemic.
Customized with indigenous elements, the masks, which were initially sold in rather timid quantities, are now sent by thousands abroad, and throughout Brazil, in addition to being donated directly to the poorest ancestral populations.
Despite her 24 years, Samela already has her priorities well defined, and in the face of the current government, of Jair Bolsonaro, she is among them.
“Since 2018 that this ‘mismanagement’ attacks indigenous peoples with an unpublished, prejudiced, unscrupulous speech ”, he accuses.
Bolsonaro “encourages people to be prejudiced against indigenous people, but it does not take into account that Brazil was built through indigenous peoples. The women were raped, among other things, in order to have all this diversity that the country has, ”he warns.
“Not taking into account all this diversity is a crime. But even so, we resist more and more. We try to impose ourselves on social networksThey occupy all the places, all the screens, all the decision-making places ”, the activist emphasizes.
Bolsonaro’s government is “the biggest aggressor”
According to a study published last September by the Indian Missionary Council (Cimi), the violence against native communities in Brazil It increased in 2019, during Bolsonaro’s first year in office, a period in which attacks and invasions of his lands increased.
OR study indicates the government itself as the greatest aggressor indigenous peoples, due to their omission in the duty of protection and for making their territories available to agro-industrial, mining and logging entrepreneurs.
Just as i had promised in his 2018 election campaignWhen he said that he would not give “one more centimeter” to his ancestors, Bolsonaro did not demarcate any indigenous land.
In addition, it also returned 27 demarcation processes to the Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), in the first half of 2019, for review.
“OR The government encourages the cultivation of livestock and soybeans, which is what occupies the most indigenous territories. OR Brazil has 13% of demarcated indigenous lands. For a country that had 100%, 13% is very little and they are still thinking about revising these numbers. They are attack after attack, and it also encourages miners, loggers, fires and land grabbers to invade our lands. It seems that we don’t have time or voice ”, analyzes Samela.
“We are silenced many family members have already been killed while defending their land. Here in the Amazon, we have a lot about deforestation and burning. The president also says that it is the ‘Indians’ themselves – he does not even use the correct term’ – who burn their lands. This is not true and people end up believing it, because trust blindly“Laments the activist.
Samela emphasizes, however, that the prejudice against indigenous people is not new, but dates back to the period of Portuguese colonization, which led to the annihilation of the majority of the natives of Brazil.
“We, the indigenous peoples, we have always been unviable. The invasion in Brazil is more than 520 years old. Since then we have suffered prejudices of various kinds and we do not have access to all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, such as access to differentiated health ”and“ much less education ”, laments Samela Sateré-Mawé.
The young Brazilian also reveals that she feels discriminated against on a daily basis for being indigenous, giving the example of her neighborhood that rarely communicates with the Sateré-Mawé community, for example. “Fear, mistrust or simply prejudice”.
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