Governor of Roraima stated that indigenous people have to “acculturate, they can no longer stay in the middle of the forest, looking like an animal”
The Hutukara Associação Yanomami, an organization representing the indigenous group, published on Monday (30.jan.2023) a note in which it repudiates the speeches of the governor of Roraima, Antonio Denarium (PP), about indigenous people needing to “acculturate”. For the entity, Denarium has been “Accomplice to Tragedy” and maintains a colonizing vision.
“While the Yanomami people are experiencing one of the greatest crises in their history, which has been denounced in recent years by the Hutukara Yanomami Association, Governor Denaritim not only denies reality, but also argues that indigenous peoples “have to acculturate, they can no longer stay in the middle of the woods, looking like an animal”says the association in a note.
“Facilitating the entry of thousands of prospectors into our Indigenous Lands and disorganizing basic health care are the direct consequences of this prejudiced notion that Governor Denarium shares. This has been an accomplice in the tragedy, even by sanctioning laws that were unconstitutional, intended to promote prospecting activity and weaken the inspection of activity in Indigenous Lands in Roraima.”
In interview to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, the governor stated that the humanitarian crisis of the yanomamis has been a problem for years, that he does not believe it is possible to link mining to the situation of the indigenous peoples and defended that they should adapt to urban centers.
“I have 260 schools in communities. They want to be lawyers, teachers, doctors. I think it’s correct. They [indígenas] they have to acculturate, they can no longer stay in the middle of the forest, looking like an animal. They have to be there properly, with a road, a school, a health center, doing their own farming, producing cassava, flour”, said Denarium.
In response, the Hutukara Association stated that statements such as the governor’s indicate the prejudice and discrimination that indigenous people suffer. For the group, Denarium would be “accomplice” of the situation for allowing illegal mining in the region.
“It is necessary to vehemently repudiate the colonizing view of the country’s indigenous peoples that reduces them to animals, incapables, or any subcategory of subjects excluded from rights who must submit to the ways of life in the city.” Read the full note below.
supporter of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Denarium has repeated that the humanitarian crisis that affects indigenous communities is not the result of mining. It also denies that the records show malnourished children and adults.
“THE cufa [Central Única das Favelas] is delivering food baskets here. You see in the queues, in the videos they publish, there are no malnourished people. Everybody neat, everything neat. The problem is localized, not generalized”said the governor.
Here is the full text of the Hutukara Associação Yanomami note:
“It is with great indignation that we read the interview of Governor Antonio Denarium to Folha de São Paulo published today, January 30, 2023. While the Yanomami people are experiencing one of the greatest crises in their history, which has been denounced in recent years by Hutukara Yanomami Association, Governor Denaritim not only denies reality, but also defends that indigenous peoples “have to acculturate, they can no longer remain in the middle of the forest, looking like animals”.
“Speech of this tone denounces the degree of discrimination and prejudice to which the Yanomami people are inhuman. Our ways of life are denied to us as if we were primitive, incapable, inhuman. Far from being limited to political discourse, this thought was reflected in policies with a genocidal tendency that were systematically implemented in recent years to make it impossible to maintain the lives of the Yanomami. Facilitating the entry of thousands of prospectors into our Indigenous Lands and disorganizing basic health care are the direct consequences of this prejudiced notion that Governor Denarium shares. This has been an accomplice in the tragedy, even by sanctioning laws that were unconstitutional, intended to promote prospecting activity and weaken the inspection of activity in Indigenous Lands in Roraima.
“It is necessary to vehemently repudiate the colonizing view of the country’s indigenous peoples that reduces them to animals, incapables, or any subcategory of subjects excluded from rights who must submit to the ways of life in the city. Assimilationist policies on indigenous peoples are not compatible with a Democratic State of Law. We are subjects with full rights, and we want to live well with the forest, as our ancestors lived, as guaranteed by Article 231 of the Federal Constitution.
“The Yanomami people are one of the most populous indigenous peoples of recent contact in the world, and holders of great ancestral knowledge about the forest where they live. It is our right to live in the forest alive according to our customs, with health and life.”
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