"Supreme Court rejects controversial deadline for Indigenous land demarcation, but agribusiness lobby pushes back in Congress".
"RIO DE JANEIRO - A few days ago, hundreds of Xokleng Indigenous people gathered around a screen in Ibirama-La Klãnõ territory in southern Brazil to watch the Supreme Court vote on Indigenous land rights.
The crowd erupted into cries and ritual dancing as the judges blocked, with nine votes to two, an attempt backed by the country's big agribusiness sector to stop Indigenous people from claiming land they did not physically occupy prior to 1988.
"We started to hug, to remember our elders," said Rafael Ndili, a Xokleng chief, by phone. "It is a thrill that only those who have been in our skins, who have lived our conflicts, can understand."
Persecuted by settlers and the government - which rewarded mercenaries for bringing it the ears of dead natives in the early 20th century - the Xokleng reclaimed part of their ancestral land in the 1990s, leading to the court battle that has played out in recent weeks."
Andre Cabette Fabio reports for Thomson Reuters Foundation September 26, 2023.
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