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I know what awaits me
On 13 October, 2012, gunmen attacked the Guarani camp of Potrero Guasu
in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
On 18 October, a new attack sought to kill indigenous leaders.
Eleven months earlier, on 18 November, 2011,
about 40 gunmen invaded the indigenous camp
of Guaiviry. They murdered Nísio Gomes.
After the crime, leaders of the Kaiowá
and the Guarani people gathered
for an assembly - the Aty Guasu.
Elpídio Pires, a leader of Potrero Guasu camp,
narrates the tension he lives in
and the threats he receives:
Now, it is over,
and when we get back there we shall live in peace.
We do so many things that we are now forgetting.
We’ll get back...
to recover again.
I have experienced this,
I see how I felt so peaceful there in my village.
We think about everything...
to do everything again.
And then I look at my children.
They’re growing up.
When I took my little boy there,
he was 8 or 9 years old.
When they were 8, 6, 9 years old,
I took them there.
Now they are growing up and feel good there.
Everything is all right.
At the moment, we are not really at ease,
because we are not getting our entire land back yet.
It isn’t just that we want to go back to our traditional land.
This land is very sacred to us.
It’s sacred because we know that, when we go back there,
it [Tekoha, the land] takes care of us.
If farmers harm me, it [Tekoha] doesn’t allow them to.
I’ve felt this.
When the mayor sent me to jail,
I said my prayer my own way, according to my tradition.
I have experienced all of this,
now I have to tell all of this to the “white ones” so that they understand
how we, indigenous people, live and feel in that village.
The law states that the land belongs to you.
Yes, it says it, it ensures it. It’s very clear.
The law ensures it, we understand it does.
But then why must we face these problems?
Why only farmers have the right?
We know why farmers have more rights, don’t we?
Why do farmers have more rights?
Because of money!
And we have rights too.
Our right is to tell what we know.
We know that land is ours and we also have our wisdom.
This is difficult for the white ones to understand.
Even if there is no forest left or animals for us to hunt,
there would be still something we could practice there.
That’s what I feel for our land.
Since it’s been 12 years,
in 1998 we retook that land.
We feel happy about this.
Even if we are all killed... We say, as my grandfather always said,
that one day a leader will rise.
That’s a gift.
A gift, that’s how we call it.
Even if he doesn’t know about our struggles.
One day a leader shall rise again.
After this statement, Pires expressed his fears of being the next victim to FUNAI personnel
attending the assembly as representatives of the Brazilian government.
I know what awaits me!
And we can no longer put up with this!
I’m not scared! You can kill me!
No problem!
This is what happened there.
I witnessed my friend, bleeding for his land!
Dying on the ground!
And nobody was held accountable!
The murderer is a farmer!
And what is there for us?
This is why we have police!
And what if I kill a farmer?
The police would come straight away!
But for my friend there was no police!
This is what hurts so bad!
I thought about my son!
This is what I wanted to say!
This is what I have to share with you today, comrades.
May you feel it, comrade!