Pietra Cepero Rua Perez (PhD candidate in Human Geography at Durham University)
On 15th November, municipal elections, of mayors and city councillors, took place in Brazil. The Centrão (the centre-right bloc of political parties that at least in part supports the government of Jair Bolsonaro) won 45% of mayoral contests– revealing a continuation of the country’s recent conservative turn. However, the first-round results (excluding second-rounds, held only in the 57 largest municipalities) likewise register the largest number of indigenous candidates in the history of Brazil. Most of these are in the Amazon administrative region, which comprises the states of Maranhão, Pará, Amapá, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Acre, Roraima and Amazonas (See map). In all, 237 indigenous candidates from 71 ethnicities were elected, covering 127 municipalities and 24 states. Of this total, 215 indigenous people will occupy the position of councillors, ten will be mayors and 12 will be deputy mayors. This represents a 29% increase since 2016, when 169 councillors, six mayors and ten indigenous deputy mayors were elected. What accounts for this dramatic increase in indigenous political representation?
Amazon administrative region (source)
In part, this year’s electoral success for indigenous political representation reflects a similar increase in the number of original people running for office. A comparison with the 2016 data shows that 27% more indigenous candidates ran for office in 2020 than 2016, up from 1,715 to 2,215 candidates. However, indigenous people are still the underrepresented ethnic group in electoral races, in 2016, out of a total of 469,010 candidates 0.35% were indigenous. This year it had risen only slightly: to 0.4% out of 539,000 candidates.
The data provided by Coordination of Brazilian Amazon Organisations (COIAB) also reveals strong regional trends. The Amazon region accounted for the largest number of indigenous candidates elected, with 116 candidates elected from 45 ethnicities, covering 55 municipalities across nine states. Of the 116 indigenous candidates, 21 are women, and they include four mayors, 9 deputy mayors and 103 councillors.
In Amazonas (the state with the most self-declared indigenous people), 46 indigenous candidates were elected – over a quarter of these from São Gabriel da Cachoeira (the municipality in Brazil with the highest percentage of indigenous people), where citizens chose indigenous candidates as the mayor, deputy mayor, and ten of a total of 13 councillors. Also notable is the election of 17 indigenous representatives in the state of Roraima – the outcome of indigenous response to recent land policies that entailed the division of the Indigenous Land (IL) of Raposa Serra do Sol. The municipality of Uiramutã, whose territory is partially comprised of IL, elected indigenous representatives for the positions of mayor, deputy mayor and six out of nine councillors. Acre (with 12 indigenous people elected) and Mato Grosso (11) also stand out for the success of indigenous candidates. In other words, indigenous candidates are running for office and being elected in places with a high indigenous population. But why is this happening now?
Indigenous occupation of political positions is a hallmark of the history of the so-called New Democracy in Brazil, enabled by the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution. This text recognised, to an unprecedented degree, the right of original populations to their territories, as well as recognising the land rights of peasants and Afro-descendent populations. Albeit it is important to point out that there previously had been a history of indigenous resistance and political articulation during the period of military rule (1964-1985). Especially in the Amazon, indigenous people and peasants began to resist and struggle for territory in the face of the modernising project of the military dictatorship. Amazon lands were occupied for the construction of dams and roads, agricultural and mining projects, or simply for land grabbing and speculation.
As a reaction to this scenario, the last four decades have seen indigenous political formation and organisation - such as the unparalleled articulation between indigenous and peasant groups consolidated in the Alliance of the Peoples of the Forest in 1985. Since the 1970s, Amazonian indigenous peoples have pursued a two-pronged strategy: the push for new social and land rights - enshrined in the 1988 Constitution -, and the occupation of political spaces, especially in the legislative sphere. The first indigenous representative was elected in 1969, when Manoel dos Santos of the Karipuna people became councillor in the city of Oiapoque in Amapá.
In the last three decades, the indigenous political strategy has been marked by the struggle to implement and defend the rights granted to native peoples in the 1988 Constitution. The text establishes that indigenous right to territory is original (originário) in nature – that is, they precede the creation of the State, and the State has a duty to recognise and demarcate the lands occupied by indigenous peoples. In addition, the text states that native populations must have the right to difference (rejecting the idea that these populations should be assimilated to dominant Brazilian society), and access to citizenship policies, such as education, health and infrastructure. From the 1990s onwards, indigenous people began to occupy political spaces, as a way of ensuring the implementation of rights that had been formally recognised.
Since 2014, when the rural lobby (Bancada Ruralista) started to articulate a major institutional attack on indigenous rights, indigenous populations have become more focused on the necessity of creating new indigenous leaders to occupy the legislative and executive. Moreover, younger generations have started to participate in indigenous movement spaces and access the educational system at all levels, which has also contributed to the formation of a new indigenous political framework. In the 2018 election, there was an unprecedented participation of indigenous female leaders, culminating in Sonia Guajajara’s candidacy for the vice-presidency, and the election of Joênia Wapichana to the federal congress, representing the state of Roraima.
Indigenous Free Land Camp in Brasilia, 2017 (Source)
In other words, this year’s election could be placed within a longer political trend in the indigenous movement. Yet, the 2020 electoral result is also the consequence of the immediate context: it can be seen as a response to the recent authoritarian turn in Brazil, following the election of President Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Since his 2018 election campaign, Bolsonaro has questioned the validity of indigenous rights and the demarcation of their lands. For almost two years the processes of recognition and demarcation have been stalled, and the policies of the ministries of Agriculture, Environment, and Mines and Energy have enabled a rise in illegal deforestation, fires, land grabbing, illegal mining and human rights violations in indigenous territories.
Furthermore, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, indigenous peoples have been extremely vulnerable to the virus. The most recent data released by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples (APIB) suggests that indigenous people account for 40.642 confirmed cases and 884 deaths, with 161 indigenous ethnicities affected by Coronavirus. The denialism of the federal government in the face of the pandemic, its attacks on indigenous rights, and the spread of illegal mining in indigenous lands, have been key drivers of the spread of the virus in indigenous lands.
Indigenous people, in addition to denouncing the current situation, have started to build new political paths by electing candidates from their people - or as they prefer to say, “parentes” (relatives). The urgency of defending already recognised indigenous rights, and human rights, is clear and represents an important context for understanding the success of indigenous candidates in this year’s municipal elections.
Acknowledgment
Earlier drafts of this text have benefited from generous comments and suggestions of my PhD supervisor, Dr Penelope Anthias.
References
APIB. Eleições 2020: número de indígenas eleitos é o maior da história do Brasil. Available at < https://apiboficial.org/2020/11/17/eleicoes-2020-em-contagem-parcial-apib-mapeia-159-candidatos-indigenas-eleitos/ > accessed on December of 2020.
COIAB. Eleições 2020: 116 candidaturas indígenas foram eleitas na Amazônia. Available < https://coiab.org.br/conteudo/elei%C3%A7%C3%B5es-2020-116-candidaturas-ind%C3%ADgenas-foram-eleitas-na-amaz%C3%B4nia-1605910913730x631991913576923100> accessed on December of 2020.