Dozens of academics and indigenous leaders carried out the pre- IX National Meeting of Indigenous Students (ENEI), between July 28th and 30th. The event featured students from different locations across the country and activists from the indigenous movement, who discussed topics related to research, permanence and political mobilization. Pre IX ENEI was a preparation for the in-person event, scheduled to take place in 2022 at Unicamp.
No first day of the event, opened with a ritual by the Awê Heruê Pataxó group, from Aldeia Boca da Mata, indigenous researchers discuss the recognition and need for their knowledge in academia at a thematic table. On the second day, the program began with the opening ritual Waopari Mahsã (People of Karriçu). Afterwards, the official art of the event was launched and followed by the thematic table “Indigenous Movement, political formation and self-determination”. Chirley Pankará (state co-deputy in SP and doctoral student at USP), Kretã Kaingang (APIB), Almir Suruí (Parlaíndio).
Claim for rights
Chirley Pankará talked about her political activities as a co-deputy in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo on the Activist Bench. When talking about political articulation, she pointed out that defending the territory is a way of expanding the demand for rights. “It is by defending our territory that we will be defending spaces such as universities, our education, our health”.
PhD student in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (USP), she also shared the importance of research focused on indigenous peoples. “Work focused on the ethnology of indigenous peoples is emerging, but still slowly. We have to mark these spaces, strengthen ourselves in these spaces, but we cannot forget who we are. Despite bringing theories from non-indigenous people, it is necessary to make a connection with our knowledge”. Strengthening spaces like ENEI, working within university spaces on indigenous forms of resistance was also a need highlighted by the co-deputy.
Defense of indigenous lands
Projects in progress that threaten indigenous lands, including those that put natural resources at risk, assessed Kretã Kaingang, from APIB, make mobilizations such as Levante pela Terra, of which he was one of the organizers, urgent. The defense of indigenous lands, according to Kretã, is central, and several projects being processed in the National Congress further threaten this right.
The Uprising for the Land is an indigenous mobilization that led hundreds of indigenous people to camp in Brasília to demand rights, in July this year. The overthrow of PL 490, which attacks land demarcation, was a central demand. “The Levante was built within a calling [...] and today there are thousands of us in Brazil. It is a mobilization for which relatives heard this call and came to join and fight”, stated Kretã Kaingang.
Other forms of articulation around projects that encourage land grabbing and the environment were also highlighted by Kretã Kaingang. “I believe that there is no other way of fighting if we do not put our mother, our Earth, first, which is where our body must rest one day. When you attack mother Earth, you attack all beings that are on her. And when you attack indigenous people, you attack the planet.”
Fights for indigenous rights connect to global challenges
The challenges the world is going through, for Almir Suruí, leader of Parlaíndio, show that the discussions raised by indigenous peoples also concern the future of humanity. “When we talk about the forest, the land, rights, respect, we are talking about the future. It’s not about respecting the indigenous people or the forest, we’re talking about respecting the future of humanity.”
The problems brought about by the pandemic and resulting from climate change were listed by him as examples of the convergence between indigenous agendas and concern for the future of the world. “We are going through great challenges, such as the pandemic, Covid-19, which has affected the world and thousands of families. Today, we are seeing in practice, the next challenge will be climate change. And how will the earth have the strength to produce, to feed the millions of people in the world?” The construction of serious, sustainable public policies that respect the Amazon, for example, are fundamental to facing the problems.
Indigenous student permanence
On the third day of pre IX ENEI, the topic discussed was student permanence, at the thematic table “Context of Higher Education and Indigenous and Quilombola Permanence”. At the opening of the program, there was a performance by the group Oz Guarani. The guests to debate the permanence were Poran Potiguara, a forestry engineer from the University of Brasília (UnB) and Kähu Pataxó, graduating in Law from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). In addition to sharing their experiences as students and activists, both demanded the need for the federal government to resume the Bolsa Permanência Program (PBP), which provides scholarships to indigenous and quilombola students and which has been suspended. After the table, the event ended with a presentation by the artist Djuena Tikuna.
Poran shared his journey as a student and also political mobilization, which he considers imperative among students. “We must never forget that this was all a struggle for those who dreamed of the Constitution at the beginning of the 2000s and fought so that we could access these vacancies. So it would be unfair on our part not to continue the fight at the University, to fight for permanence”.
He also spoke about the importance of further strengthening retention policies, due to the cultural shocks that indigenous students suffer when going to university. “It is because of this cultural shock that we identified that the first semester is essential to know if you will stay,” he said. Due to these difficulties, related to financial insecurity and mental suffering, which the engineer indicated to urgency of the reestablishment of the Permanence Grant Program. "One of our demands would be to make the grant permanency law. But that it becomes a law that meets the specificities, thinking about psychological and mental suffering”, he pointed out.
In a similar way, Kahu Pataxó recalled the importance of permanence and highlighted the history of articulation for the law. In 2013, after mobilizations, the BPB was won, with the issuance of ordinance 389. From 2017 onwards, scholarships were suspended for more than a semester and, with this, the intensification of coordination for respect for compliance with the program . After the protests, the government resumed payment of scholarships. However, BPB is currently suspended. “Without indigenous students fighting this fight, without indigenous leaders, we will not be able to win,” he said. “We have always resisted, there is no point in waiting, we need to mobilize.”
In-person event is scheduled for 2022
The theme of the IX ENEI is “Ancestry and contemporaneity: Weaving stories from the epistemologies, cosmologies, ontologies and experiences of indigenous peoples”. The event is scheduled to take place in person in 2022, being hosted by Unicamp. Among the members of the organizing committee are Unicamp students. Find out more about the event at: https://enei-evento.com.br/
The visual identity of IX ENEI was chosen through a competition, with Clebiton Tikuna's art being chosen as the winner. The launch took place during the pre IX ENEI. “I was very happy with the choice of art when the event came up. Following the theme of contemporaneity and ancestry, I thought of a logo where you can see a headdress, which represents ancestry, and a graduation cap that represents what we are experiencing today. May ENEI continue to occupy more spaces in universities and other spaces in Brazil”, said the student.
Also read the coverage of the first day of pre IX ENEI:
Indigenous researchers guide the recognition and need for their knowledge in academia
