THE INDIGENOUS GENOCIDE IN BRAZIL: COVID-19 AND COLONIAL HERITAGE

The objective of this work is to present the results of an investigation that deals with a critique in terms of decolonial theory to the issue of universal human rights and Western democracy in the protection of Brazilian indigenous peoples during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. To this end, a wide bibliographic review on the subjects of human rights, democracy, coloniality of being and coloniality of gender was utilized, as well as a qualitative analysis of data collected through indigenous rights organizations and newspapers specialized on the subject. The results point to a deficiency in universal human rights and Western democracy in being effective regarding ethnic minorities present in an extensively heterogeneous state like Brazil. Finally, this research sought to point out the importance of peripheral studies aimed at understanding the peripheral reality in detriment of the Center/West reality, since it provides evidence of the difficulty of fitting the reality of the global South into bureaucratic legislation apparatus designed for populations from the North.