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33.2 (Summer 2009) The Other Brazil

Indigenous Rights Organizations Come of Age

On August 9, 2008, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, Amazonian Indigenous Peoples across eastern Peru, organized by the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), held a massive but peaceful demonstration. They paralyzed road and river transportation, closed a hydroelectric plant, and blocked the output of oil and gas pipelines.

A Mixed Aftermath for Peru Protests

peru

Intense political repression and violence has continued in the wake of the June 5 protests in Peru, which resulted in the deaths of at least two dozen Indigenous people in Bagua Province of northern Peru. Violence continued in June, when government officials stormed the Petroperú oil facility in Bagua Province. Indigenous protesters had seized control of the pumping station, threatening to cut off oil and energy supplies to major Peruvian cities. Approximately nine police officers were killed during the clash.

The Poetry of Politics

Haunani-Kay Trask

Haunani-Kay Trask is an Indigenous Hawaiian poet, scholar, and activist recognized in the United States and abroad for her leadership in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and her use of the written word as one of the tools to support that movement. Commenting on Trask’s poems in the preface for Night is a Sharkskin Drum, New Zealand scholar Witi Ihimaera says, “She does not simply write with a pen; she slashes with it.”

The Doctor Is the Medicine

mexican shaman
Medicine has existed as long as people have existed in the world. So, too, have the elders, who learn throughout their lives how to use medicine to help their families and communities. The elders begin their study of medicine by learning about the remedies, most of which are plants. After this, they specialize in different medical techniques. The first thing those who study medicine must know is: what is medicine, what is it used for, and why does it work?

A Passion for Pungent Paste

A dish holds balls of soumbala in its final, ready-to-use form. Photo by Christian Costeaux.A dish holds balls of soumbala in its final, ready-to-use form.

The Prescription for Indigenous Rights

Mirna Cunningham addresses an audience about Indigenous rights. Photo courtesy of Mirna Cunningham.Mirna Cunningham addresses an audience about Indigenous rights.

Performing Dreams

xavante

On the morning of August 8, 1984, seven elder men in the Xavante community of Etéñhiritpa, known as Pimentel Barbosa in Portuguese, slipped quietly from their houses. Each followed the path that passes behind the arc of beehive-shaped houses, discretely making their way to the marã, a secluded forest clearing used for ritual preparations. The night before, Warodi had told me that the celebration would take place today. As we sipped the precious coffee that I had brought to Pimentel Barbosa, I eagerly awaited some sign that preparatory activities had begun.

The Lever of the Law

An Interview with Deborah Macedo Duprat de Britto Pereira.

Editor’s note: Deborah Macedo Duprat de Britto Pereira is an attorney in the Office of the Attorney General who specializes in Indigenous and minority cases.  This article is adapted from a conversation in the attorney general’s office in 2008 between Duprat, Laura Graham, Ellen Lutz, Hiparidi Top’Tiro, and Daniela Lima.

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