Quando os espíritos vão à corte: a mobilização do direito pelo povo indígena Mayagna de Awas Tingni contra o neoextrativismo

Abstract

The expansion of neo-extractivism imposes new dynamics on the territories where it disseminates, which increases the appearance of new political confrontations. As a result of the granting of a concession for logging in the territory of the indigenous Mayagna community of Awas Tingni, a contention broke out to oppose the advance of the State and the transnational concessionary company. The community's strategy for confrontation was based on the formation of international networks, an alliance with the World Wide Fund for Nature and academic actors, as well as on legal mobilization, especially in the modality of strategic litigation in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The analysis of the judicial appeal of the community in this context demonstrated the existence of a spiritual dimension in the confrontation, characterizing it as an ontological conflict of a dispute between the indigenous world and the modern world. The legal framing obtained in the trial to condemn the State was decisively influenced by the public hearing, with emphasis on the testimonies of an indigenous person and an anthropologist conducted by the President of the Inter-American Court at that time. The trial represented the first Inter-American precedent on the relationship of indigenous peoples and their cosmopolitics with their territories and declared a series of rights, such as the right to their lands, the holding of the territory and the preservation of their spiritual bonds. The analysis of the resonance of this trial in subsequent decisions by the Court demonstrated its effectiveness, since it reasoned convictions against States that authorized neo-extractivist actions in indigenous territories. The precedents based on the case of the Awas Tingni community have broadened the recognition of indigenous peoples' rights and the scope of States' obligations.