At last week’s cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) told government ministers of his recent visit to Brazil, praising the country’s new authoritarian President Jair Bolsonaro as “very impressive.”
“We have a new ally in President Bolsonaro, who is now leading a huge country, intends to make it an even stronger power by economic and other reforms,” he added.
While Israel has an unfortunate record of allying itself with some of the world’s most problematic regimes, Jerusalem cozying up to the new Bolsonaro government is especially troublesome within the context of Jews claiming to be an indigenous people while demonstrating no sensitivity or solidarity with the native peoples of Brazil.
As one of his first presidential acts, Bolsonaro stripped FUNAI – the Indian affairs department – of responsibility for indigenous land, and handed that responsibility to his government’s agriculture ministry.
Tereza Cristina, the new head of Brazil’s agriculture ministry, has long opposed tribal land rights and championed the expansion of agriculture into indigenous territories.
With this move, Bolsonaro has essentially declared war on his country’s indigenous population. He is attacking the rights, livelihoods and very lives of Brazil’s first peoples, as entire tribes could be wiped out if their lands are not protected.
The theft of indigenous territories also sets the stage for environmental catastrophe. Tribal peoples are the best conservationists and guardians of the natural world and evidence has shown time and again that they manage their environment and its wildlife better than anyone else.
Some are already gearing up to resist the Bolsonaro government.
Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous leader and former vice presidential candidate in Brazil’s recent election, said “We will resist. If we’re the first people to be attacked, we’ll also be the first to react.”
The Aruak, Apurinã and Baniwa tribes have released a statement, saying that “We don’t want to be wiped out by this government’s actions. Our lands play a vital role in maintaining biodiversity. We are people, human beings, we have blood like you do, Mr. President, we’re born, we grow… and then we die on our sacred land, like any person on earth. We’re ready for dialogue, but we’re also ready to defend ourselves.”
APIB, the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, issued a statement that “We have the right to exist. We won’t retreat. We’ll denounce this government around the world.”
Survival Director Stephen Corry said last week: “Survival International has stood in solidarity with Brazil’s indigenous peoples for 50 years – for their survival, for the protection of Brazil’s most biodiverse territories, for the health of our planet and for all humanity. We will continue to campaign passionately for their lives and lands to be fully respected and defended.”
As a displaced people that successfully returned to our homeland and achieved self-determination, Israel should naturally be siding with the tribal peoples of Brazil and helping them to resist Bolsonaro’s policies.
“Indigeniety” can’t just be a political talking point to justify Jewish statehood. It can’t just mean our people is from Palestine or experienced our national genesis here once upon a time. It’s gotta be an identity we internalize and let influence our alliances.
Internalizing an indigenous identity would lead to actual sensitivity to indigenous issues and solidarity with indigenous peoples and their struggles.
