The land you stole
“They even think, to this day, that he was the first to see our land. But this is a thought full of forgetfulness! […]
Your ancestors did not discover this land, no! They arrived as visitors! But soon after they had arrived, they did not cease to devastate it and to tear its image to pieces, which they began to divide among themselves. They claimed that it was empty to take possession of it, and the same lie persists to this day. This land has never been empty in the past and is not empty now!”
Davi Kopenawa, The Falling Sky, words of a Yanomami shaman
In 2014, the indigenous population of the city of Sao Paulo occupied the Pátio do Colégio in a demonstration for the demarcation of land in the territories of the far north and far south of the capital. The term “occupy” is an unfortunate irony to talk about a place from which their ancestors were expelled. And why resume a discussion from 2014? Because the demarcation of land is, again, threatened by the discussion of the Marco Temporal. If approved, this population will once again be expelled from their territories.
Manifest
Why do we occupy Pátio do Colégio?
Today we Indigenous Guaranis from all the aldeias of São Paulo peacefully occupy the Pátio do Colégio, which is the place where the white men settled for the first time, and began to take possession of the lands that were our people’s.
We did this thinking that, in a few days, it’s going to be what they call “Indian Day”.
On that day, however, we got used to being deceived, in the same way that they deceived us when they arrived saying that they were our friends.
Everywhere our relatives live, governments hold parties on April 19, and try to get us to celebrate when there is no reason for it. Several governments even buy drinks for our relatives, to make them forget.
But we got tired of being deceived.
Peacefully occupying this symbolic place, the Pátio do Colégio, we are not taking revenge, nor are we deceiving you, as you have already done to us.
We just want to surprise you to announce that we need the demarcation of our lands. Indian Day, for us, will be the day that Minister José Eduardo Cardozo signs the document that guarantees the demarcation of our traditional lands.
Our lands are no longer here in the city center, they are not in the Pátio do Colégio, for this place has already been taken from us long ago, and we will never ask it back. They are on the edge of the metropolis, where it has not yet been destroyed and some of the forests where we have always inhabited remain.
We live in the Indigenous Lands of Jaraguá and Tenondé Porã, one in Pico do Jaraguá and the other in the extreme south of Greater São Paulo.
It has been a long time since we have been there to try to live our culture in peace, and many of you do not know it, even though you are so close to us.
Tomorrow, we will be here in front of the Pátio do Colégio, where we invite Minister Cardozo to, to show him and all of you our dances and the strength of our songs, and explain why we are fighting.
We won’t stop until we reach our goal. We have no other choice.
With this movement we announce that as from tomorrow we will start a campaign to fight for the demarcation of these lands.
Come and support us and show Minister Cardozo that he needs to guarantee our rights.
On April 24, we will also take to the streets, leaving Av. Paulista, from the Vão Livre of Masp. We want it to be an act to celebrate the signing of the demarcations of our lands, but if it doesn’t happen, it will be an act to continue fighting for them.
Learn more about the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission:
https://www.facebook.com/yvyrupa
Oreyvy Peraa Va’ekue, Guarani living memory
Excerpt from the song:
Pemê’e jevy pemê’e jevy
Oreyvy pera’a va’e kue
Roiko’i haguã
Pera’a va kue roiko’i haguâ.
Translation:
Give it back, give it back
The land you stole
From us
So we continue to live
Aguyjevete, Katu Mirim
Song lyrics:
I believe that, throughout Brazil
Will raise, or already raised
Enlightened Native Indians like me
Who will raise their voice
For the sake of their race
We fight injustice, slander, poverty, hunger
That civilization brought us
They think I should drop it
That I should return home
Be quiet, and put aside the suffering of my brothers
I’ll speak out, excuse me
I am here to introduce to you
The true story they try to camouflage
There’s genocide, pain, massacre, and slavery in Brazil
But your TV doesn’t show that
With a gun in their hands and a cross in their necks
They killed more than a thousand relatives of ours there in Mato Grosso
Absurd is the owner of the land having to fight for demarcation
And the rats call it the great revolution
My cry will echo, shatter your window
My blood is my pride, not your watercolor
I’m out, ’cause now our people will unite
So run now it’s you who will run away
It is you who will flee
Maraca, cocares, tambores, turbantes
The Earth will tremble like never before
Maraca, cocares, tambores, turbantes
The Earth will tremble like never before
Maraca, cocares, tambores, turbantes
The Earth will tremble like never before
Aldeia, quilombola, are strong, are resistance
But if one gives up, it weakens, there’s consequence
Bolsonaro shouted “out with quilombola and aldeia”
Hey, if racism is a crime, why isn’t he in jail?
Covert racism, our people being massacred
Covert racism, we are never the stars
Covert racism is bandeirantes being celebrated
Covert racism, no more keeping quiet
No more keeping quiet
My people will be celebrated
Covert racism
Maraca, cocares, tambores, turbantes
The Earth will tremble like never before
Maraca, cocares, tambores, turbantes
The Earth will tremble like never before
My life will be what I make of it
This will be the fight