Indigenous Groups to Organise "White Man's Day"

rio de janeiro, apr 30 1992 (ips) --indigenous leaders from several countries are organising ''white man's day'' at the end of may to draw the attention of the rio summit's ''non-indigenous'' participants to their situation.

the announcement was made here thursday by marcos terena, coordinator general of the inter-tribal committee for the 500 years of resistance, which is organising the world conference of indigenous peoples on land rights, environment and development.

the world conference of indigenous peoples will be held from may 25-30 in the ''kari-oca'' village in rio de janeiro, with 300 indians from other countries and representatives from 80 of brazil's indigenous communities.

''kari-oca'', which means ''house of the fish'' in the guarani language, has been built by various indigenous groups, including the xingu and the tukanos from the amazon region, to house up to 500 indigenous delegates attending the conference.

''white man's day will be a surprise. in many countries they celebrate 'the indian's day', but we don't agree with that,'' terena said.

''we're going to show white people that we don't have favelas (slums), and we're going to tell them that we were rich before the white man came to america,'' terena explained.

however, he pointed out that the conference organisers were having financial difficulties and needed aid to ensure the

participation of brazilian indians at the meeting.

''we're still waiting for 200,000 dollars promised by holland. other countries such as germany and norway have already said they won't help us,'' terena said.

terena said the indigenous delegates would draft their own ''earth charter'' at the end of the conference, ''so that the earth can speak through those of us who have treated her well.''

he said he would ask the united nations authorities to break with protocol for five minutes during the official earth summit ''so that the indigenous peoples' ''earth charter'' may be read to the assembled presidents and heads of state.''

nearly 100 heads of state are expected to attend the united nations conference on the environment and development (unced) in rio de janeiro from june 3-14.

canada donated more than 85,000 dollars for the construction of the ''kari-oca'' village, while the brazilian government provided some fencing. however, many indians feel there has been a distinct lack of cooperation from the local authorities.

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