Ação política indígena no Brasil contemporâneo: enfrentamentos na luta por direitos

Abstract

Recognition of rights is the primary condition for access to justice. That said, this work provides a perspective on how we, indigenous peoples, are in a constant struggle to be recognized as subjects of rights and to guarantee access to justice. It is not about accessing specific public spaces, but rather which legal instruments foresee and recognize the right to territory, nature, and social rights provided for in the Federal Constitution of 1988, but decanted in their specificities, which means that they will be in accordance with the ways of life of each ethnic group. Through the narrative about my people, I bring to light the struggle it was to stay alive and guarantee our territory, considering the way we were seen and perceived before and after the administrative presence of the Indian Protection Service in the territory in 1940. The propagation of the image of being indigenous can be seen in the form of attention we receive and in the conformation of colonial and patriarchal structures regarding our recognition as holders of rights. However, access to justice in contemporary Brazil takes us back to old confrontations in the fight for rights, such as the right to health in the face of Covid-19, the right to vote, as well as the protection of traditional knowledge and ancestral sciences, specific situations such as the exercise of the right to life. The importance of indigenous women in these confrontations is a point of vital strength, considering that female resistance and resilience have been essential for the preservation and maintenance of cultures and traditions.