- Racism: light at the end of the tunnel

- Pataxo rebuild monument to indigenous resistance

- Racism: light at the end of the tunnel

A light went on during the National Conference against Racism and Intolerance held a few weeks ago in Rio de Janeiro. In one more example of the strength of civic mobilization, 2000 people showed up at the State University of Rio de Janeiro to create a national agenda committed to human rights. The meeting preceded the United Nation’s World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be held in South Africa August 31-8.

The realization of the National Conference may be evaluated as one of the best elaborated plans of political strategy uniting civil society and government on the issue of human rights. For the first time, we elaborated together a national agenda of government commitment before an international conference. It’s important to highlight the role of organized civil society in monitoring commitments to be made by the Brazil government during the world conference. It is important, therefore, that we be mobilized to accompany this endeavor, guaranteeing from the beginning the adoption of public policies that reflect our reality.

There were more than 300 action proposals included in the National Plan to Combat Racism and Intolerance, the document that was officially delivered to Ambassador Gilberto Saboia, president of the National Committee. Divided into 13 groups (race and ethnicity; culture and communication; religion; sexual orientation; education; health and work; youth; access to justice and defense of human rights; indigenous peoples; special needs; gender; the remaining quilombos communities; xenophobia and internal migration) we highlighted the following common points:

1. Repudiation of the racism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance that mark social relations and the lives of significant segments of the national population, with emphasis on the most vulnerable groups;

2. Recognition that such phenomena have historical origins and manifest themselves currently in the worsening problems of social inequality;

3. Recognition that different types of discrimination manifest themselves in multiple forms, highlighting, in this process, the role of educational institutions (from primary school to universities) and the means of mass communication;

4. The necessity of affirmative policies that make it possible to overcome or stop reproducing socially discriminating policies and practices.

5. The necessity of input from political powers and civil society in the formulation and execution of policies to combat racism and intolerance.

Civil society has taken the first step. Brazil now needs to embrace the flag of change. In the juridical field, we already have extensive mechanisms to combat discrimination and intolerance. The 1988 Constitution is one of the most advanced in the world. We have all the tools to combat this social evil, as long as "we adopt the principles of human rights, the self-determination of peoples, the repudiation of terrorism and racism and the cooperation among all peoples for the progress of humanity as stated in sections 2, 3, 8 and 9 of Article 4". Another instrument in the Constitution is the implementation of affirmative actions that aim to redress the lack of access of certain groups to basic citizens’ rights.

These and other juridical tools show that the guarantee of full access to human rights, with the exception of some amendments, already exists. What is missing is the adoption of public policies committed to guaranteeing equal rights among blacks, indigenous, homosexuals, women, persons with disabilities, people of different religions, people from Asia, people from the Northeast and so many others who form our cultural and ethnic diversity. Only with these can we build a new country.

By Benedita da Silva, Vice-Governor of Rio de Janeiro and Present of the National Conference Against Racism. Translation by Cathy Rowan. Article taken from Workers Party web site August 10, 2001

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

- Pataxo rebuild monument to indigenous resistance

One year and four months after the monument to the indigenous resistance was destroyed in Santa Cruz Cabrália by the Military Police of the state of Bahia, the Pataxó rebuilt the indigenous symbol. The new monument was built on the Pascoal Mount, which they re-occupied in 1999 and represents another symbol of the determination and struggle of indigenous peoples. It took almost one year for the monument to be built and its construction was kept secret to avoid new repressive actions of the police. The monument will be inaugurated on the same day that the indigenous people will celebrate two years of reoccupation of the Pascoal Mount. The activities will begin on Friday, the 17th, with cultural painting activities, puppet shows, music and videos for indigenous children and adults.

On Saturday, leaders of all Pataxó villages and representatives of indigenous peoples of other states will get together to evaluate the situation of indigenous peoples in Brazil and the reoccupation of the Pascoal Mount. On Sunday, the 19th, the monument will be inaugurated in a ceremony that will be attended by organizations engaged in actions to support the indigenous cause and parliamentarians.

Rebuilding the monument to the indigenous resistance was a matter of honor for indigenous communities, which are still outraged with the action of the Military Police on April 9th, 2000. On that night, a group of about 200 armed police officers surrounded the site where the old monument was being built (next to the old cross, under which the first mass was celebrated in Brazil), to make sure nobody offered any resistance as the monument was destroyed with a tractor, a power shovel, spades, and picks. In less than ten minutes, the work of many months was completely destroyed. The monument had been conceived to celebrate the arrival of the Indigenous March to Santa Cruz Cabrália and the Conference of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations, which brought together 3,600 indigenous people of over 150 peoples from all over Brazil.

The new monument preserved the intent of the first one, which is to translate into a visual form the violence faced by indigenous peoples in the last 500 years, to honor the memory of their ancestors, and to celebrate Brazil's cultural and ethnic diversity. The monument is located in a square called "praça do meio" (middle square), which from now on will be called "Resistance Square". The square is a passageway to various villages, to the visitation center and to the summit of the Pascoal Mount.

The monument has a circular base built with stones and concrete where a large space was reserved for dancing activities. In the central area, one can see a map of Brazil surrounded by a line made of concrete on which the names of indigenous peoples will be written. Inside the map, a garden with medicinal plants found in indigenous villages located in the various regions of Brazil will be planted. Around the circular base, five large arch-shaped columns rise and meet at the top, symbolizing the last five centuries of indigenous resistance. Pataxó communities located around the Pascoal Mount developed the whole project themselves on a self-help basis.

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