**The CIM, for Comitê Indígena Mineiro, is a decentralized committee of Indigenous Women, Men and Children from 42 families, 22 different ethnic groups of Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru and Argentina, supported by non-Indigenous volunteers, with the core mission to support Indigenous Peoples in urban contexts, defend our rights and our lands and organize events to make our voices heard and explore new tools to increase our self-determination.

TL;DR : 

• We promote decentralization of decision-making power in the model of Indigenous organizational formats, while being Decolonial, Feminist, Anti-racist, Anti-Lgbtphobic. We want to explore how decentralized technology such as Web3, can help us to protect our autonomy;

• We've recently had to cope with a sudden end of the state subsidies that were helping us to organize locally, and we're looking for new forms of funding more aligned with our values in order to continue our mission and become more autonomous;

• Important mobilization in the context of environmental ecocide laws in Brazil. We are right now in urgency about the Marco Temporal Thesis, a bill which is about to be voted in the Brazilian Senate in the coming weeks, and if it passes, will reduces the area of Indigenous lands up to 80%, including uncontacted Indigenous Peoples’s one, and open them to mining, infrastructure projects and agrobusiness lobbies, among other radical changes;

• The CIM is sponsored by Mycelia for a first Gitcoin Round, to help creating trust with those new technologies. In this context 10% of the funds will be directed to an Indigenous Education pool to learn more about Web3;

CIM Overview 

The Minas Gerais Indigenous Committee (CIM) was founded more than ten years ago, in 2012. Our main objective is to support Indigenous collectives and people who are in urban contexts, in retaken areas and in villages (mainly around Belo Horizonte but also in other regions of Brazil).

We are composed of 22 ethnic groups, among which ones: Aranã, Kambiwá, Tukano, Macuxi, Pataxó, Pataxó hã hã hãe, Kamakã, Aymara , Quechua, Penom, Puri, Borun Kren, Xukuru Kariri, Manxineri, Yek'uana, Kambeba, Tupinambá, Kaxixó, Karinã, Enepá, Mapuche, Tikuna , Xavante e Carajá, Maxakali.

We are deeply concerned about the well-being and development of these people, families, migrants and communities, so we always seek to support them through the organization of joint efforts, solidarity campaigns and collective funding.

We work to defend the rights of Indigenous women, socio-environmental rights, the protection of Mother Earth and we fight frontally against the criminal and irresponsible action of some sectors of the Brazilian economy, such as: illegal mining, irregular mining, rampant deforestation and agribusiness without environmental and social sustainability. 

We also promote debates and conferences on gender and racial equality and anti-racist and gender literacy in culture and education and also assisting Indigenous Peoples who are in territorial movement, such as the Warao, the Maxakali or Pataxó Hãhãhãe.

How ? 

Through meetings, virtual and face-to-face meetings, events, debates, we seek to welcome, guide and strengthen ties with Indigenous Peoples and communities, promoting social transformation, through labor insertion favoring, above all, the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples, as well as immigrant Indigenous Peoples and collectives.

An example of this is the “Abya Yala Exhibition”, the first Indigenous and immigrant exhibition, with regular weekly activities. Therefore, our work covers a portion of autonomous Indigenous (and immigrant) workers who were brutally affected both by the pandemic and by its social and political consequences.

CIM encourages the appropriation of the city and public spaces, values different cultures and, whenever possible, establishes multicultural dialogues and exchanges. Our collective, in addition to strengthening autonomous work (art exhibitions, participation in cultural and environmental events, etc.), also fosters and engages in the promotion of discussions of relevant issues that contribute to the construction and reflection of public policies focused on the themes: Indigenous, territory and territorialities, environment, racial and gender literacy, rights to fair and sustainable cities, women's rights, children, adolescents and Indigenous youth.

In more than 10 years of existence, many struggles have been fought through unequal dialogues, in which the institutions of the capitalist system have always sought to override our collective way of being.

However, CIM's collective has established resistance and achievements, such as: 

• A representative place in the Municipal Council for the Promotion of Racial Equality; 
• The achievement of the Law establishing the Municipal Week of Indigenous Peoples in Belo Horizonte; 
• The insertion of Indigenous Peoples in the Parliamentary Front in Support of Peoples of African Matrix, now called Parliamentary Front in Support of Indigenous Peoples and of African Matrix; 
• Institutionalization of the Abya Yala Expo.

Now we are extremely concerned about the sudden end of the government subsidies that were helping us to organize locally and over the national law context which is threatening more than 80% of the Indigenous lands of Brazil. 

In this context, we want to learn, explore and discover new tools to help us in our missions of remaining decentralised, helping minorities and having self-determination in our economic activities. We still don't know much about Web3, but this campaign reflects our desire to learn and have trust.

More than never we need support and urgent funds to maintain or work and autonomy. 

➡️ Here more information on our current Fight against PL 2903/23

Use of Funds 

1.000$USD (~4.850 $BRL)

• Urgency: Funding mobilizations against the PL 2903/23 to prevent the destruction of our lands and cultures in the Brazilian Indigenous Territories. The bill is currently being examined by the Senate and is due to be voted on in September 2023. 

5.000$USD (~9.700 $BRL)

• Fund a digital place (website) for the CIM and the Abya Yala exposition to help our community in its organization, and communication while promoting our voices on the current political conflict. 
• Setting up an emergency fund for Indigenous women in situations of distress and violence.
• Urgency: Keep funding mobilizations against the PL 2903/23 if necessary. 

10.000$USD (~48.500 $BRL)

• Funding for a research on how Web3 digital tools can empower our community, and how to apply them in a way that is consistent with our reality (low digital identity).
• Strengthening the emergency fund for Indigenous women in situations of distress and violence;
• Urgency: Keep funding mobilizations against the PL 2903/23 if necessary. 

20.000$USD + (~97.000 $BRL)

• Exploring the possibility of a digital market to support and create more visibility to the artisanat of the Indigenous Community, in a context where physical places get more and more difficult to maintain. 
• Strengthening the emergency fund for Indigenous women in situations of distress and violence.
• Urgency: Keep funding mobilizations against the PL 2903/23 if necessary. 

As our project is sponsored by Mycelia, 10% of the funds received will be sent back to a pool to subsidize the Education Web3 program for Indigenous Peoples autonomy, and so that we will benefit directly depending on demand from our community. 

Core Leaders/Coordinators: 

Links 

Instagram CIM Twitter CIM

Social Media Leader - Avelin Kambiwá - Maria Flor Guerreira - Yaku Runa Simi

Mycelia Sponsoring (🍄,🟢)

Mycelia is an independent project supporting the connection of Indigenous Public Goods (IPGs) to Web3 technologies and platforms such as Gitcoin, with reflection on the Indigenous sovereignty in the Cyberspace in the context of decolonisation.

10% of the funds received in this project will be sent back to a pool to subsidize the Education Web3 program for Indigenous Peoples autonomy. 

IPGs are public goods provided by Indigenous Peoples and allies such as cultural diversity, ecological knowledge, biodiversity preservation, social and community values, medicine knowledge, ancestral wisdom, native education, languages and more, which go beyond the borders of their communities by having an impact on the well-being of humanity and all life in the broadest sense.