TUPINAMBÁ ARE DYING
[Why do people shoot at native indigenous children?]
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by ©MiguelPinheiro - Brasil 2015
(all images are copyrighted and cannot be used without written permission)
The Tupinambá children now study inside the indigenous village. The elders think it's safer this way, after the incident where local farmers shot the school bus that brought them back home.
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
_INTRO
They were one of the many indigenous tribes that lived in South America, Brasil. Nowadays they're nearly extinct, like many other native american tribes: they are being chase to death...
The Tupinambá are believed to be the first Indigenous population to have made contact with the Europeans on the Bahia coast. The few hundreds indigenous remaining today are regularly menaced by the land owners that surround their territory. That's what we found at Olivença, Bahia. Indigenous' villages are often attacked. Their men are ambushed, beaten up, and sometimes murdered. To add insult to injury, the Tupinambá's children used to go to the local school with the other kids, until a group of unknown snipers shot the bus when there were only the indigenous children inside! Yes, people shoot the native indigenous children, and to the public authorities (police, town hall, prosecutor, anyone really..) do nothing about it! As a result, the tribe built a school inside their territory and the children lost their contact with the outside world...
I spent one afternoon with them. It was hard to understand that in the XXIst Century there are people still chasing and killing these ancient nomadic cultures, that are truly the world's living heritage. And the reason being that the indigenous occupy space that can be used for agriculture purposes.
As I left the Tupinambá village I could see what was the remains of a big fire camp. "Why do you make your fires outside the village" - I asked!
- "Sometimes men come at night, if they catch us sleeping they will burn us all to death, children included. We must stay up at night, we must survive."
Kara-Kara is one of the elders of the tribe, and our guide for the day. He told us that in the past they moved all around their territory, but within some decades they were forced to stay in a very small fraction of land. And they had to cope with all limitations, and beware of any attacks to heis villages.
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
An original and sophisticated example of native indigenous' architecture from the coast of Brazil. The whole Tupinambá tribe joins forces to collectively build all the houses. They e resistant and very eco-friendly.
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
The uniquely carved wood weapons are mostly handle as ritual and symbolic objects, as part of daily lives
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
Kara-Kara doesn't hunt anymore with his bow and arrow. The multiple attacks by the surrounding farmers has forced the indigenous men to learn how to use fire weapons.
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
We have met several of the inhabitants of the village, we have bathed in the river, we have collected a sample of sap from a tree that Kara-Kara said it would help with my sore throat, and we had a great fish and flour meal. All throughout the children were around Kara-Kara. To the Tupinambá, school is still something new. True education to them is about listening to the elders.
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
It was time to say goodbye to Kara-Kara. I asked him why they had the sign stating that they took no responsibility to the presence in the surroundings by unauthorised people. His answer was swift... "Every night a group of men from the village sleeps outside the gates. In case they attack us, we can then have the time to evacuate the women and the children. That's the role of our warriors".
I left in silence...
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
Kara-Kara.
[ Bahia - Brazil ]
Campanha de Solidariedade para os povos Tupinambá e Pataxós, do sul da Bahia - Brasil, coordenada pela médica Maryana Dias, com Yohanna Ioshua, Leonardo Leone, Daniele Chirantini, Ricardo Stuckert e Miguel Pinheiro. [+info no link]
