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Xavante Strategy - documentary film
an article by IDETI, the Brazilian Institute of Indigenous Traditions
(Editor's note: This film tells the story of an ancient warrior
people, untouched by "civilization" who chose the path of understanding
instead of war in order to survive. The following description is
translated from the IDETI website where one may also find brief
excerpts from the film.).
"This documentary will help teach our history to future generations.
It comes just in time! Our history will now be perpetuated. For this,
we must remain strong as our father left us his teaching, the creative
word. You, my son, and your cousins, come from old ancestry and you
must honor your ancestors." - the words of Mauricio Urawę, father of
Siridiwę.
The documentary Xavante Strategy recounts the astonishing history of 8
Xavante boys, from the village Pimentel Barbosa, chosen by the great
chief Apowe in the decade of the 70's for a mission to learn Portuguese
and the thinking of the "warazu" - the foreigners - and to return to
assume the defense of Xavante territory and tradition. These are the
life histories of people who suffered Rites of Passage both inside and
outside of their native village with the understanding that their
sacrifice could be the decisive point between the death or life of the
Xavante people.
"When my son, my only son, was chosen to go to the city to learn
Portuguese, to learn the world of the warazu, I understood the strategy
of my father-in-law Apowe, but I was sad. When he was chosen, I cried
very much. From the bottom of my heart, I cried. It was as if they had
pulled out a piece of me. As his mother, I cried for the emptiness that
followed, for the silence of the day that passed without his presence,
as if the light of the sun could feel it as well. It was like that." -
the words of Célia, mother of Andres Surupredo.
The friendship constructed throughout years of sharing between the
Xavante and a group of men of the city of Ribeirăo Preto, led by Pablo
Barbosa, who worked a farm by the River Cristalino, resulted in the
alliance with these families of the city. The "provisory parents" had
been chosen with care by the elders of the village, and they assumed
the responsibility to collaborate with the important mission of the
Xavante people. As stated by Guega Fofanoff, the warazu brother of
Tsetetó, one of the chosen boys, the cultural difference between the
village and the city is like going to another planet. The boys, who had
been prepared as warriors inside their own culture, had to face
challenges far beyond their understanding: to overcome fear, the
homesickness for their families, the solitude, all the cultural
differences, and they had to learn Portuguese and the way of life of
the warazu.
(click here for continuation and Portuguese original.)
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Xavante Strategy - documentary film
Continuation and Portuguese original
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COMPLETE REPORTS
LATEST READER COMMENT:
The
ruling described in the following article on the website of Amnesty
International is a fitting followup to the Xavante Strategy:
Brazil's Supreme Court upholds rights of Indigenous Peoples
12 December 2008
A
vote in Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the rights of
Indigenous Peoples in the reservation of Raposa Serra do Sol on the
frontier between Brazil and Guyana/Venezuela. The vote is seen as a
victory for all Indigenous Peoples across Brazil.
The Supreme
Court's vote is a milestone in the thirty-year battle of the Makuxi,
Wapixana, Ingarikó, Taurepang and Patamona indigenous peoples for the
recognition of their constitutional right to their ancestral lands.
Raposa
Serra do Sol is a 1.7 million hectare reservation and is home to 20,000
people, the majority of them Macaxi. The reservation was decreed by
President Lula in April 2005, ending a thirty-year struggle for the
recognition of the lands.
During that period, at least twenty
Indigenous people were killed, hundreds more beaten and their homes and
livestock destroyed by local landowners, settlers and members of the
military police.
The state government continues to oppose the
process of demarcation, supporting illegal settlements in the area and
rice farmers who, despite an earlier offer of compensation to leave the
area, have illegally maintained their operations on reservation land.
Army officials have also criticised the existence of the reservation on
the grounds that is a threat to national sovereignty.
In April,
the Supreme Court suspended a federal police operation to evict the
rice farmers pending a ruling on an appeal against the ratification
process brought by the state government and two deputies. In August,
the Supreme Court hearing was adjourned after one of the judges
requested time for further consideration.
Eight out of eleven
Supreme Court judges voted to maintain the original demarcation of the
Reposa Serra do Sol reservation as a single, continuous area, after
state politicians and local farmers challenged the constitutionality of
the reservation. However, the final ruling has been delayed until next
year, after one of the remaining judges requested more time for
consideration.
While the majority vote has secured the integrity
of the reservation, Amnesty International expressed concerns over the
delay in delivering a final ruling.. . ...more.
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