WORLD SOCIAL FORUM WAKES UP WITH A SUN-SALUTING CEREMONY

 

As the first sun rays appeared on the horizon last Tuesday (the 25th) in Porto Alegre, representatives of indigenous peoples from all the Americas saluted the sun in the first event held as part of the official program of the 5th World Social Forum.

 

The ritual, which was meant to welcome militants of the indigenous movement and its supporters, was organized by the Guarani from a village located near Porto Alegre, the Mapuche from Chile, and the Pataxó from the south tip of the state of Bahia, and it was the opening event for the activities which will be carried out in the Puxirum (the Guarani word for self-help) Art and Knowledge Space.

 

The first ritual was led by shaman Adolfo Verã Guarani, who asked the God Tupã to give strength and bring good vibes to all the participants in the fifth Forum. According to the Guarani shaman, the participation of so many people from so many different places (over 120,000 registered participants from dozens of countries of all continents) in the event in Porto Alegre affords a good opportunity “for the rights of the Guarani peoples in all countries to be recognized, particularly the right to the land.”

 

The shaman and leader of the Pataxó Struggle and Resistance Front, Jitaí Pataxó, also prayed for Tupã to protect the participants in the Forum, besides dancing and singing the toré with other members of the Pataxó community. The toré which were sang drew attention to the problems faced by indigenous people and their historical resistance. “Green and Yellow are the colors of my Brazil. The land of the Pataxó was invaded by Cabral,” they sang, referring to the arrival of the Portuguese colonizers to Brazil led by Pedro Álvares Cabral in the year 1500.

 

Jitaí, who has to deal on a daily basis with cellulose-producing transnational corporations which are invading Pataxó lands, believes that the Forum will be used “for building a new world and supporting our (the Pataxó) struggle.”

 

Right after the ceremony, the leader of the hosts, chief Pirilo Guarani, welcomed those attending it. “Let us remember our gods, so that they may enlighten our minds over the next few days in our discussions and solutions, that we may raise our children in our traditions, that we may preserve our culture, and, particularly, that we may recover our lands.”

 

In the afternoon, the indigenous delegations took part in an opening march in the streets of the downtown area of Porto Alegre together with about 200,000 demonstrators from other movements.

 

Mapuche

 

Besides taking part in the ceremony, the Mapuche took advantage of the occasion to draw attention to a problem similar to the one faced by their Pataxó “relatives” – as indigenous people refer to other indigenous people – in Bahia.

 

The Mapuche indigenous land is also being invaded by transnational corporations. Antonia Huentecura Llancaleo, leader of the Mapuche people who lives in Santiago, the capital of Chile, and is a member of the Mapuche Meli Wixan Mapu organization, is working hard to recover their territories.

 

According to Antonia, Chile has over one million indigenous people, the large majority of whom have been expelled from their traditional lands. Of all the indigenous population, almost half (500,000) live in Santiago in very precarious conditions. “They live in the outskirts of the city and belong to the lowest economic strata of the Chilean society,” the Mapuche leader reported.

 

In their fight to recover their lands, indigenous people face many conflicts and indigenous leaders are treated as criminals. “Over 400 Mapuche brothers have been in prison in Chile. There are about 20 indigenous people in prison today, five of whom are serving sentences. Two young people were killed, one of whom in a prison in Santiago,” Antonia declared. “It’s a good thing that the world becomes aware of what is happening to our people, our brothers and sisters. We want to recover our identity, our culture, our politics. But this is happening in a limited territorial space and that is why we came here to tell the world about our struggle and how the human rights of the Mapuche people are being violated,” she concluded.

 

Brasília, 27 January 2005

 

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council