﻿Indigenous+Peoples'+Rights+in+Brazil

__**Indigenous Peoples Rights in Brazil﻿ **__

//By Tim Montella //
 * Task 1: **

"This here is my life, my soul. If  you take me away from this land, you take my life."(Guarani) Kurete Lopes was a 69-year old women who was apart of the Guarani-Kaiowá tribe in the Brazilian state Mato Grosso do Sul. She was a victim in the violence over indigenous peoples' rights to control and own land. Indigenous people rights is a topic our nation does not see but should realize how the people in the Guarani-Kaiowá tribe are treated. On January 9, 2007 a private security company invaded the Guarani-Kaiowá's ancestry land in a convoy of trucks with 40 armed men. “Almost all their land has been taken from them”. Kurete and a few other people from the tribe were killed and/or severely injured. The private company came to their land to evict them from the land that wasn't theirs. After they evicted them from there land they put the rest of the tribes in trucks and dropped them off next to a highway. A tradition for the Guarani is to bury the person’s dead body at the spot where they were killed. The Guarani are now fighting to bury Kurete’s body on the spot she was murdered on. "we are growing impatient with the delay; it is slowly draining us of our life, and exposing us to genocide."(Brazil)

media type="custom" key="7378439" =Works Cited = "Guarani: The Story of Marcos Veron - Survival International." Survival International - The Movement for Tribal Peoples. Web. 01 Nov. 2010.

"His Voice Is Not Silenced". Perf. Marcus Vernon's Daughter-in-law. Web. 1 Nov. 2010.

"Brazil: Guarani Leaders Murdered, Tortured | World War 4 Report." World War 4 Report | Deconstructing the War on Terrorism. Web. 03 Nov. 2010.

__**Task 2: **__ //By Kyle Foote //

The rights of Indigenous people is a topic that many people are not aware of. Rigoberta Menchu, an activist in Latin America, has dedicated her life to protect the rights of Indigenous people in Latin America. Rigoberta was born into a Mayan Indian family in the highlands of Guatemala. Living a life as a native, she experienced inequality and some racism that influenced her to become an Indigenous people’s rights activist. For example, her family tried to help Indigenous people through social reform, but were tortured and killed by the military. The military wanted to keep the native people down so they tortured and killed anyone who tried to go against them. Fortunately, when she was 12, she was hired as a maid to a wealthy native Guatemalan family. She then discovered that you could be an Indigenous person and still acquire great wealth. Menchu began working on a social-reform project through her Catholic church and local women’s committee. She later started to receive harassment from the police and local men. This made her realize that this racism was a big problem and so she joined the CUC. The CUC was the Peasant Unity Committee that her father led, and she started going around the world to spread the ideas of rights for Indigenous people in other parts of the world. In 1980, native people were abused and suffered by the police in Rigoberta’s town. Her father, Vincente Menchu, and others of the CUC occupied the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City. Soon after, police set fire to the building and killed many Indigenous people. This event led others around the world to follow Rigoberta's views. Menchu promoted indigenous peoples rights through the “United National Working Group”. With the aid of this group, Menchu could make public speeches to help the native people in Latin America. Manchu later writes an autobiography about her struggles as an Indigenous person. Her story shows the torment and horrible life she had to live as a Native person. So, this brought a lot of attention to the topic. After all of her success, she receives a Noble Peace Prize in 1992 for her work in “social, political and economic justice for Guatemalan Indians.” Rigoberta Menchu really was one of the first people to fight for the Indigenous people’s rights in Latin America. Even though this discrimination is still going on, she educated people about the unacceptable racism towards the Native people in Latin America. Because of Rigoberta Menchu’s actions thousands of people’s lives were saved, and she put a stop to the horrible, appalling actions from the people in power.

__**WORKS CITED: **__ Edgar Zuniga Jr. "Rigoberta Mechu en Utah." Photograph. June 15, 2010. Flickr. University of Utah. Web. November 1, 2010

"Rigoberta Mechu Tum." Mural. June 11, 2006. Flickr. Birdfarms. Web. November 1, 2010.

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Indigenous people aren’t seen in our nation but should be recognized for their struggles and obstacles they face in life. One strong indigenous person is Kurete Lopes. She is a sixty-nine year-old woman that faced land related violence in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Many times Kurete suffered from mostly violent threats from the state for her farm land. The state of Mato Grosso do Sul wanted to evict her but she refused and wanted to stand up for her rights and homeland.On January 5th a group of fifty indigenous people went to their land they claim as ancestral in the Madama farm in the region of Kurusu Mba, Mato Grosso do Sul. On January 9th about forty armed men working for a private security company came to the land and shot Kurete in the chest, killing her. In “An Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie there is a native boy named Alexie who has a rough time while he is in school. Throughout his years he is bullied and suffers from racism due to being Native American. Kurete and Alexie are both very into their ethnicity and stick up for themselves and what they believe in, but receive different forms of harsh treatment from others. “She sent a letter home with that told my parents to either cut my braids or keep me home from class”. Alexie faces his teacher trying to change and threaten him, but Alexie and his parents proceed to go into the classroom and drag his braids across the teacher’s desk. This shows how Alexie and his family are strong Native Americans that come together as one. Alexie was like Kurete as an indigenous person because they were very strong even though they faced people’s violence and struggled in society. Kurete and Alexie are much alike although Kurete was shot dead they both faced consequences. “In the third grade, though, I stood alone in the coner, faced the wall, and waited for the punishment to end”. The Indian boy faced being punished in a different way from all the others just like Kurete was being threat because how she was. GSerrano, By. "The Triumph of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples | Trends Updates." Trends Updates - Gadgets, Fashion, Automobile, Environment. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. []. =="Google Image Result for Http:intercontinentalcry.org/wp-content/uploads/Indigenous-People-protesting-Belo-Monte-Dam-in-brazil.jpg." Google. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. . ==// ======

Task 4:
Indigenous peoples rights in Brazil has a lot of problems because a lot of people don't pay attention to the topic. We, as Americans, need to spread the awareness so that everyone can help in some way. First, to start a project we would need to raise money. So we would ask for donations and make a charity group for indigenous people in Brazil. You cannot have spread awareness and stop these problems without any money. Second, after raising enough money we would take a month long trip, and go to Brazil and find out more information about the discrimination. We would study the people and learn more about them and there discrimination. Third, while in Brazil, we would need to find a person who is aware of the causes. Who is somewhat popular, or has the ability to be liked. They would have the job to go around the world and talk in pep rallies and such. This would spread the ideas of Indigenous people around the world. Fourth, we need to spread the news that indigenous people in Brazil are having problems in there area. I would say most people do not know what is happening to people in these areas because our news does not usually cover these types of topics. So we would need to put up flyer's and have information commercials talking about the topic. Fifth, after the news spreads, we would need to find a person who people would respect and listen to. No one would listen to a group of 4 teenage boys, so we would need to find a influential person who is aware of the topic and who supports it. For example, Morgan Freeman would be a good example of a person for a speaker. This would make people no interested, to become interested in the topic. Lastly, we would need to get politicians involved so that they can make new laws for indigenous people. These torments that are happening there are awful and disgusting. So we would need to stop these actions stopped as soon as possible. And getting someone who makes laws would be the best thing to do. Making this happen would be hard to do as 4 teenage boys. But with a little heart, and dedication, we could get this six step plan going and we would make a big impact on the indigenous people in Brazil.

__**Task 5 **__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">By Sean Findlen

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Indigenous people are everywhere and very common in Brazil. The art work is called “Harmonia entre os filhos da terra” by Emilio Boschilia. Emilio Boschilia is a painter, graphic artist, and a engraver. Emilio lives in Brazil where she does her work. This piece of art illustrates how native people like the Guarani tribe have struggled with foreigners like the security company coming in and taking over their land, (Guarani). The different colors used in the art work could be showing all the different skin colored foreigners like the security company coming in and taking over the Guarani’s land,(Guarani). The bird may represent the natives or the locals like the Guarani tribe at Brazil,(Guarani). The human figure on the right is showing the foreigners like the private security comany coming in and taking over land,(Guarani). The circle picture frame might be represents the viewers eye looking upon the situation and seeing what everyone sees but no one does anything about it. This piece of art work perfectly show what everyone sees about indigenous people but no one says anything or does anything to stop it r prevent it. This art work really shows how indigenous. ======