Government responds to demands of 3rd Indigenous Women’s March
Five ministers of state took part in the last day of the 3rd Indigenous Women’s March on Wednesday (Sep. 13). Organized by the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (Anmiga), the demonstration brought around 5 thousand participants from all over Brazil and other nations to Brasília to call for the end to violence against women and to stand up for the protection of their territories, biodiversity, and indigenous traditions.
The event was attended by Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara, Minister of Women Cida Gonçalves, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva, Minister of Racial Equality Anielle Franco, and Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Luciana Santos, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Culture.
In response to one of the protesters’ demands, Ministers Sônia Guajajara and Cida Gonçalves signed an agreement at the closing ceremony pledging to implement joint measures, including the Guardians of the Territories program, to train women leaders and fight violence against women in indigenous territories, Minister Cida Gonçalves explained. The initiative, she added, should be implemented in partnership with women’s protection agencies at state level, “so all public policies are also designed for indigenous women in their territories.”
The two ministers will also cooperate in the creation of the first Brazilian Women’s House for indigenous women, in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul state. They also vowed to create specific homes for indigenous women wherever they are located.
Women in power
Before signing the agreement, Minister Sônia Guajajara addressed members of indigenous communities countrywide in a speech broadcast online:
“We’re leaving this march with the commitment to keep fighting to strengthen women’s candidacies. We want to elect indigenous women as state parliamentarians and increase the number of indigenous women as federal representatives,” she said, further noting that the indigenous movement has long resisted the idea of occupying spaces of institutional power and governments.
“But we’ve seen that our presence in Congress makes a big difference. It’s important to amplify our voices in these policy-making spaces, where we have the visibility to take a stance on the indigenous reality,” Minister Guajajara affirmed. She pointed out that next year, in the municipal elections, indigenous people can help strengthen the indigenous political presence also in the cities.
Connectivity
Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Luciana Santos spoke about the role of expanding access to the web in villages.
“I’m not here to sign any ordinances, but I’m committed to studying how far we can take connectivity in the villages. It’s a must, if we are to promote sustainable development and access to information, and offer communities a perspective for transformation,” she said, stressing the need for “indigenous policy to make itself present in all of the federal government,” which was backed by Minister Marina Silva.
The Environment Minister added: “We have to walk hand in hand with the indigenous peoples. When we fight deforestation, we are helping the indigenous peoples. When [environment authority] Ibama goes there and expels criminal mining from indigenous lands along with other bodies, this is also [Minister Guajajara’s] policy, as she can’t devise a health care or education policy in her ministry. What she has to do is coordinate, provide guidelines on how these policies should operate across the different sectors of government.”
