Day 268 - 24 Jun 96 - Page 28
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have her at 8, but it does not matter as
2 long as I have her.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: There were a number of documents disclosed. I do
5 not know if they are behind her statement, but one of them
6 was a handwritten letter which should be headed --
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are quite right, yes. Let me just see.
9 I have a statement: The impact of cattle ranching". And
10 then a translation of a Kaiowa and letter to survival.
11
12 MR. MORRIS: That is the one. It was Civil Evidence Act notice
13 on 13th May 1996.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Right. It is quite short.
16
17 MR. ATKINSON: I have got it.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Read that, Mr. Morris.
20
21 MR. MORRIS: Shall I do that now?
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
24
25 MR. ATKINSON: Can I ask if that has been confirmed as an
26 official translation?
27
28 MR. MORRIS: This was sent us to by Fiona Watson. I think she
29 said in the witness box she would get it translated and she
30 sent it to me, and I served a Civil Evidence Act Notice on
31 the 13th May, 1996 which was not challenged, in which I
32 indicated it had been translated by her. I do not know if
33 there is any challenge to that.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, unless Mr. Atkinson has any objection,
36 I suggest you read it out now. If there is some evidential
37 point on it, it can be taken later. Yes, read that then,
38 Mr. Morris.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Translation of Kaiowa letter to Survival.
41 Municipality of Juit, Mato Grosso do Sul. "We are
42 returning to our village of Jarara because we Indians can
43 no longer live on the periphery of the city because we
44 cannot even practice our cultural traditions any more.
45 Here in the city we have been massacred by white people.
46 We have waited a long time for justice, so for this reason
47 we are going to recover our land. Because justice only
48 helps the ranchers, our problems have never been resolved
49 by the law and our children go hungry living under black
50 tarpaulins. The President of Funai, The Minister of
51 Justice and the Federal Government," and then the original
52 fax is illegible of what she translated, "can see the
53 situation of our indigenous people. We are going to
54 reoccupy our land. If the law orders us to move off we are
55 going to commit collective suicide. nb we will reoccupy
56 Jarara on the night of 22nd March 1996."
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Now, I have Mr. Patel in pale blue
59 volume 2, section A, number 2. In other words, the second
60 statement in that volume.
