Money Brazil’s government has racked up a bill of US$ 791 million to pay for security during the World Cup. A similar sum would pay the annual budget of its cash-strapped Indian Affairs Department nearly ten times over. Ads not by this site FIFA ignores Brazil’s indigenous history On its website, FIFA makes no mention of Indians: FIFA says: ‘Officially, however, it is Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral who is regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. His fleet, in search of the Indias, sailed into the South of modern-day Bahia on 22 April 1500.’ Indian leader Davi Kopenawa Yanomami says: ‘The whites shout out today ‘We discovered the land of Brazil’. This is nothing less than a lie. It existed from the time that Omame, the creator, created us and it. Our ancestors have known this land for ever. She was not discovered by the whites. But the whites continue lying among themselves thinking that they discovered this land! As if it was empty! ‘We discovered this land. We have books and therefore we are important!’ say the whites. But these are lies. The only thing the whites did was to steal the lands from the peoples of the forest and destroy them. I am the son of ancient Yanomami and I live in the forest where my people lived when I was born and I don’t go around telling the whites I discovered it! I don’t say I discovered this land because my eyes fell on it, so therefore I own it. It was always there, before my time. I don’t say ‘I discovered the sky’. Nor do I shout, ‘I discovered the fish and I discovered the animals!’ They have always been there since the beginning of time.’ For hundreds of years the Guarani have been searching for what they call ‘the land without evil’. Today, this manifests itself in a more tragic way: profoundly affected by the loss of almost all their land in the last century, the Guarani suffer a wave of suicide unequalled in South America. For hundreds of years the Guarani have been searching for what they call ‘the land without evil’. Today, this manifests itself in a more tragic way: profoundly affected by the loss of almost all their land in the last century, the Guarani suffer a wave of suicide unequalled in South America. © Sarah Shenker/Survival No mention of Indians: FIFA says: ‘The Brazilian rainforest is another source of natural riches, including tung oil, rubber, carnauba oil, caroa fibre, medicinal plants, vegetable oils, resins, timber for construction and various woods used in furniture-making. Brazil has also begun mining fairly recently, again taking advantage of its abundant natural resources.’ The reality: The rainforest is not just a ‘source of natural riches’, it is the ancestral home of hundreds of thousands of Indians, and much of it has been stolen from them or destroyed. Mining on Indian land has been going on for decades. No mention of Indians FIFA says:‘Brazil has roughly 190 million inhabitants, making it the fifth most populated country on Earth. Almost 75 per cent of them are Catholics, whilst another 26 million are Protestants. Brazil’s Jewish community is very small by comparison.’ ‘The official language is Portuguese, however many Brazilians speak other languages according to their origins. German and Italian, for example, are fairly prevalent in the cities of the South.’ The reality:The overwhelming majority of languages spoken in Brazil are indigenous – more than 200.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 14:17:40 +0000