The Tractor Invasion

Laura R Graham

The Brazilian Cerrado extends across the vast central Brazilian Plateau, stretching over approximately 800,000 square miles, almost one third of the nation's land mass and spanning 12 states. Its total area is equivalent to the combined area of Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and England (or, if you prefer, three times the size of Texas). It is one of the world's most biologically diverse tropical savanna regions and the nation's second major biome, after the Amazon rainforest. Conservation International identifies it as a "Conservation Hotspot," one of "the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life on Earth." The [Cerrado] houses the watersheds for three of South America's major river basins: the Amazon, Sao Francisco, and Paraná/Paraguai. As Xavante leader Cipassé Xavante says, "The fight to save the Cerrado isn't just for us, it is for all humanity." What happens in the Cerrado has broad human and planetary effects. One of the most egregious examples of purging Indigenous Peoples from their lands occurred in the Xavante area known as Maräwaitsede, located in the region of the Suya-Missú River near what is now the Xingu National Park. (The park is Brazil's "postcard" Indigenous Territory, an area of 108,000 square miles that is home to approximately 4,700 people Indigenous Peoples belonging to 14 distinct groups.) After a Säo Paulo-based rancher fraudulently purchased lands inhabited by Xavante, he flew an airplane over the area everyday and dropped food in a specific location. Eventually the Xavante relocated to the site to receive rations. The rancher then moved the group multiple times and finally settled it close to ranch headquarters, where he forced the Xavante to work for food, and subjected them to continuous harassment by the ranch's non-Indigenous employees. Conditions for Xavante deteriorated so severely that, in 1966, the owners - at that point the powerful Italian-based Olmetto group, whose corporate land holdings reached 6,000 square miles - in collaboration with Salesian missionaries, the government Indian agency, and the Brazilian Air Force, solved their "Indian problem" by airlifting the remaining Xavante some 250 miles away to the Salesian mission at Säo Marcos. Within two weeks after their arrival, more than 100 Xavante died of a measles epidemic. Although [Ellen Lutz] and I only visited a few of the 200 Xavante communities that exist today, we were heartened to learn about many positive projects that Xavante are undertaking to improve conditions in their reserves. Cipassé, the leader of the Wederä community in Pimentel Barbosa, gave us a tour of a recently inaugurated school in his community that had been built with government funds, with stateof-the-art kitchen equipment and a room ready for computers. He also told us of the community's project to manage, and hopefully increase, the population of white-lipped peccary in the reserve (see Cipassé's article, page 43). Wederä and many other Xavante communities are also undertaking projects, often in collaboration with NGOs, that validate traditional knowledge of Cerrado plants, many of which have medicinal properties. They want to revitalize collecting and processing practices that have been abandoned and encourage the eating of nutritious Cerrado foods. Small projects like these, which can make a tremendous difference in Indigenous Peoples' fives, are underway in many Indigenous communities throughout the Cerrado. The Krahó, for example, are helping to enrich the environment by participating in a Cerrado fruit project and earning some income at the same time.

The Tractor Invasion

Files and links (1)

Abstract

Details

Metrics