By Hiparidi Top’Tiro
Hiparidi Top’Tiro is a Xavante leader from the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Since 1996, through the Xavante Warã Association, he has been fighting against the advancement of agrobusiness in and around Indigenous lands in the Cerrado. In November of 2006, he assumed leadership of the Mobilization of Indigenous Peoples of the Cerrado.
Celebrating the legacy of Chico Mendes and the courage of thousands of present-day grassroots activists who follow in his footsteps.
April 4-6, 2014
School of International Service
American University, Washington, D.C.
Meet activists and experts from around the world to discuss and debate global environmental issues that affect all of us.
On October 1, 2013 hundreds of Indigenous and non-Indigenous protesters gathered in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, to challenge a constitutional change that would allow encroachment by agribusinesses and extractive industries on Indigenous owned land.
On June 4, 2013, 144 Munduruku Indians boarded Brazilian Air Force Planes in Altamira en route to Brasilia to attend talks with the government to address a week-long occupation of the contentious Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River. Amazonian Indians from the Munduruku along with those from the Juruna, Kayapo, Xipaya, Kuruaya, Asurini, Parakana, and Arara tribes have bonded together to occupy the main construction site of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam—a dam costing $14 billion and projected to be the third largest dam in the world.
December 6, 2012 was the deadline for removal of illegal invaders in the Xavante Indigenous territory of Marãiwatsede in Mato Grosso state. The invaders remain and the situation continues to be very tense in the region. Xavante’s allies, among them the 84 year old Bishop Pere Casaldàliga, continue to receive death threats.
On Thursday October 18, the President of Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Carlos Ayres Britto, overruled the decision to suspend the removal of illegal occupants from theXavante Territory of Marawãitsede. Tserewamriwe, a leader from Marawãitsede, applauded the decision and stated, “Because of our struggle, the [court] decided in our favor. Now we want to recuperate all that was lost: our roots, our trees and animals. We will plant our gardens to nourish our families.”
In September, the Regional Federal Court (TRF1) suspended a May 2012 ruling that mandated the removal of illegal occupants from the Marawãitsede Xavante Indigenous Reserve in Mato Grosso state, the epicenter of Brazil’s booming soy agroindustry. This reversal came just days before the October 1 deadline for beginning the removal of invaders occupying the area.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.