Brazilian indigenous lawmaker Celia Xakriaba made history when she was elected to the Brazilian Congress, but she said she sometimes gets called “Indian,” and asked if she is in the legislature selling handcrafts, showing how deep prejudice still runs.
It has been an empowering year for native peoples in Brazil, where a record five indigenous lawmakers gained seats in the lower chamber and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva created a new indigenous peoples’ ministry.
Indigenous rights activists said the gains are long overdue for groups that have endured a tortured history of abuses since colonial times, and whose defense of their ancestral lands — including in the crucial Amazon rainforest — plays a vital role in fighting deforestation and climate change.
Photo: Reuters
However, Xakriaba, 34, said that indigenous Brazilians still face “constant racism,” including in the conservative-majority legislature, dominated by allies of far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
“We’re used to facing bullets and genocide on our land... But even here [in Congress] people often try to silence us,” Xakriaba said, wearing traditional face paint and a blue-and-white feather headdress.
She has been subjected to degrading remarks, while some colleagues in the 513-member Brazilian Chamber of Deputies have targeted her with “intimidating” comments, Xakriaba said.
Photo: AFP
It has not stopped the young lawmaker, who hails from the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, from doing what she came to Brasilia to do: Defend diversity, indigenous lands and the environment — even if that means clashing with the powerful agribusiness lobby.
“We’re here to ‘reforest’ Congress,” she said.
Indigenous leaders in Brazil have won international recognition for their fight for the environment, including icons such as chief Raoni Metuktire, who rose to fame in the 1980s campaign against deforestation with the English singer Sting.
However, until recently, indigenous Brazilians were largely excluded from political power.
That is changing, with five indigenous candidates elected to the lower house in the country’s elections in October last year — but none won office in the 81-member Brazilian Senate.
Lula, who took office in January, named respected indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara to head a newly created ministry defending the interests of Brazil’s 1.7 million indigenous people — about 0.8 percent of the country’s population of 203 million.
Indigenous movements are now preparing for Brazil’s local elections next year, striking alliances with progressive parties and pressuring the courts to require electoral funding and media access for native candidates.
That is just the beginning, said Dinamam Tuxa, coordinator of the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples’ Association.
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