Bridges destroyed, acts of arson, death threats: Ibama’s battle to enforce the law in the Amazon
SUMAÚMA spent three days following the biggest operation ever carried out by Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama to remove cattle from the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory, home to isolated forest peoples
Historic cut-off point: the timeframe of Xokleng children isn’t the timeframe of white men’s justice
In the past, mercenary killers skewered Indigenous children on their machetes; today, these little ones face hazards on their way to school and are the target of racism in public spaces—while they wait for the courts to decide whether they will have a territory and a future, or whether their lives will be condemned once again.
Raoni walked up the ramp with Lula in Brasília but couldn’t get past the door in Belém
President Lula strung the Kayapó elder along, leaving him waiting for five hours and ultimately failing to show, instead sending a few cabinet ministers to receive Raoni in a backroom cafeteria
Indiana Jones: the world’s most racist archeologist strikes again
The newest – and hopefully the last – movie in the series reinforces a colonial discourse that champions a white Western hero, disrespects local populations, and deliberately ignores the fundamental precepts of archeology. Watching the film for Sumauma, our reviewer asks whether Hollywood’s soft power is deliberately being used to destroy cultures, ways of life, and nature
Demarcation legal battle: ‘middle way’ creates more problems than it solves
Attorneys for Indigenous peoples warn the supposed compromise opinion put forward by Brazilian Federal Supreme Court minister Alexandre de Moraes will open the door to new conflicts and forced evictions
The Senate could make the Apocalypse Bill law
The historical cut-off point rushed through the Chamber of Deputies is just one of the bill's atrocities. If a majority in the Senate votes for passage, it will produce large-scale destruction, redraw the map of Brazil, and compromise, perhaps irreversibly, the fight against global warming
The Xokleng’s brutal origins of the historic cut-off point debate
SUMAÚMA visited the native peoples of the Ibirama-Laklãnõ territory, the center of the legal case being judged by the Federal Supreme Court. They have been victims of extermination campaigns for hundreds of years. Now once again they are threatened.
The brutal spectacle of a Congress betraying the future
By 283 votes to 155, the House of Representatives approved unjust historic time limits on indigenous land demarcation
Narco-miners challenge government in Yanomami territory
In a single week, at least 14 people were murdered inside the indigenous territory, including a member of Brazil’s largest criminal organization – First Capital Command (PCC). In retaliation, the faction has sent out a message telling its members to target police and federal agents.
Undefended
defenders
Flooded homes, food insecurity, restricted access to health care, and no prospects for the future—this is the undignified situation for people who defend the Amazon from powerful enemies while enduring death threats and receiving insufficient protection from official programs
