A new era of retomadas and insurgence among young indigenous people facing socio-environmental impacts, state violence, and the ruralist limbo in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

This paper is the result of a collaboration between two indigenous geographers and a non-indigenous geographer, intending to construct collective research and reflection on the contemporary dynamics of conflicts and violence resulting from the political practices of the State under the auspices of various governments and the ruralist offensive against indigenous territories. In parallel, we analyze the multiple dimensions of resistance among young indigenous individuals in the face of the ongoing war against their lives and territories. To this end, we adopted a qualitative approach that encompasses a literature review from both indigenous and non-indigenous researchers' theoretical and political perspectives, semi-structured interviews, as well as an analysis of the changing land use and land cover context with a focus on Mato Grosso do Sul. First, we examine the dimensions of state terrorism and the offensive actions of ruralists in Brazil, which have engendered a context of systematic violence against indigenous lives and territories. Next, we analyze the vital role of self-organization among indigenous youth, reflecting on their fronts of action and prospects for resistance. Amidst the violence as the modus operandi of the State and agribusiness, indigenous peoples, and in this case, especially the youth, break through the sieges, strengthening fortifications in defense of the reclamation of their territories and their autonomy, confronting the offensive of extraction dynamics, biodiversity plunder, and labor super-exploitation articulated by this “war machine”.

Keywords: Indigenous autonomies; Indigenous youth; Neo-extractivism; State violence.