Instead of the usual
scenes of gaiety to celebrate
the 'Discovery of Brazil' on
April 22, Brazilian Indians
undertook protest demonstrations to display their
anger against an administration which has systematically
created more hardships for
them. Even as President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
along with local leaders of
the Pataxo area in the state of
Bahia led the celebrations,
landless rural Pataxo Indians
came forward to register
their protest and also presented the President with a
document demanding the
demarcation of their lands,
the removal of invaders from
them and the withdrawal of
Decree 1,775/96 (Down to
Earth, Vol 4, No 19).
The Indians also objected
to the building of a 'Open
Discovery Museum' which
seeks to pay homage to those
people who 'discovered'
Brazil and developed it. The
museum, which is to be built
by the year 2000, is to come
up in the Pataxo indigenous
reserve. The Indians see ii as
yet another symbol of colonialism and prejudice.
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