Seeing this photo, everyone should know that we respect the carnival of the jurua kuery (the non-indigenous) and we respect the indigenous people who make the most of this moment to raise the profile of our people’s age-old struggle for survival.
Those who feel within their heart the desire to wear an Indigenous adornment during the festivities must not only think about whether it is politically correct, but must understand that a great struggle for the survival of indigenous peoples is still ongoing. Neither your political opinions nor the reasons that motivated you to use an indigenous costume matter.
What matters is our hope that, whether you use an indigenous attire in homage, to ridicule or just for the sake of wearing one, that you do not fail to recognise that there has been struggle and resistance, and that indigenous peoples’ resistance will continue for as long as the last warrior who holds the secret of what it means and represents to be indigenous, remains alive.
So if you use our costume and hate indigenous people, we will be praying and fighting nonetheless. And if you use our costume and respect indigenous peoples, we will still be praying and fighting just the same. It is not improper or misguided use that hurts our souls, but the continued massacre and attempted domination of our territories that shamefully stains this country’s flag with our blood. We are ancient peoples and our struggle is for peace and the right to life, our goal is not death and destruction.
I can say, with full clarity, that our path will not be lead astray by a moment of political conflict nor a month of festivities. We find new ways to face and resolve problems when these situations arise. Today we live united, and the understanding of the jurua kuery can help us a lot. It is really important to remember, amid so many attacks and disagreements, that we were not the ones who started this ideological war of catastrophic proportions that is underway in Brazil.
Who would have more reason to spread hatred than the first to be trampled, humiliated, massacred, robbed and wronged on their own territory? On the contrary, we are, at the moment, asking people to look after themselves and others because we are all human. The end-result of war is nothing more than pain, suffering and the desire to start again peacefully.
Do we really need great war again to understand that this is not the path to life and peace?
We know how not to feed war, we will always seek peace. In a war there is always a winner and a defeated side. Our people are not at war, our people are always seeking the spiritual life that gives us the necessary resilience to not enter the war that was embedded into the core of this country’s society, that was spawned over our territory and our history.
May Nhanderu give light to all people of this country and that differences not cause discord and conflict. May our differences show us that in spite of them we can live in these sacred lands respecting one another, that, above all, we are all human beings equal to all those who today live in this sacred Earth.
Aguyjevete to my kin.
Aguyjevete to the Brazilian people.
DAVID KARAI POPYGUA
INDIGENOUS TERRITORY OF JARAGUÁ
2018
Originally Published in Portuguese: http://sustentabilidade.estadao.com.br/blogs/eu-na-floresta/nos-sabemos-como-nao-alimentar-a-guerra-e-vamos-sempre-buscar-a-paz-diz-lideranca-indigena-guarani/