Quilombola movements went through four years of systematic attacks, with the strangulation of both public policies and processes to certify lands. For this reason, on 10 August 2022, quilombola movements from around the country travelled to Brasilia for the Aquilombar Political Act, whose mission was to defend the rights of these populations and guarantee traditional ways of life, preserving them for future generations. In partnership with CESE, through its Small Projects Programme, the Água Limpa Quilombola Community Association (Associação da Comunidade Quilombola de Água Limpa: ACAQUIAL) ensured that its representatives from the north of Minas Gerais were able to participate.
The event was run by the National Coordination for the Coalition of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas: CONAQ), with more than 3 thousand people, including representatives from 22 Brazilian states, gathered in the Eixo Cultural Ibero-americano arena. The aim of the act was to denounce the dismantling of public policies, to force a debate about the regularization of quilombola territories, to combat racism and demand rights denied to ancestral communities. As well as providing a lively political discussion and visibility regarding the paralysation of the regulation of quilombola territories (at the time approximately 1800 requests from quilombola communities and 55 lawsuits regarding land titles had been frozen by the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform – Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária or INCRA), the act also involved cultural presentations, drumming, dances to revive energies and regain strength for the struggle.
According to Emanoel Ferreira Silva Neto, teacher, family farmer and member of ACAQUIAL, “the Political Act was a moment of resistance! Because of the entire political situation, it was a period to resist, to fight so as not to lose what we had won. The meeting provided a moment to make our claims, to present our demands as quilombolas.” He explained how valuable the opportunity was for the quilombola movements of Minas Gerais. “It was important because we were able to demonstrate the strength of the communities in our region, Vale do Mucuri and Vale Jequitinhonha – this is considered one of the poorest regions in Minas Gerais. It was a time to take our demands to those who create laws, who allocate the budget,” he added.
Emanoel was able to identify certain results that arose from the public act. “We had dialogue with the National Fund for the Development of Education (Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educação: FNDE), specifically in relation to grants to help quilombola students remain at university. They had stopped opening up vacancies for the indigenous or for quilombolas for some time. They finally increased the number. In the long term, we were able to present our demands and future partnerships to the public authorities and put our struggles on the agenda,” he noted.
The partnership with CESE allowed the quilombola representatives to travel from the north of Minas Gerais to the event. According to Emanoel, “the arrival of the funds through CESE was crucial. Without these resources, it would have been almost impossible for us to participate in the act. Travelling from the community was very expensive and we were at a crisis point. We weren’t able to access public policies over these four years, and were going through a moment of economic crisis in the quilombos. It would have been hard for us to be part of this movement, which is why the support was so good, it’s a partnership we would like to strengthen.”
Defence of the Community – ACAQUIAL’s work takes place in the north of Minas Gerias, a region of acute social inequalities and centuries-old challenges. “In our association we seek to work on the social inequality that exists in our community. Many have already had to leave our territory to work in coffee, to get jobs and suffer exploitation by ranchers, who don’t provide fair pay for their work. We are seeking public policies for our community, for example, right now, we need water and want to process our fruit, which is dehydrated and comes straight out of the gardens,” he said.
The organization’s work includes the defence of the Água Limpa territory and quilombola traditions, and the fight to guarantee rights and value memory. “We are seeking to value our guardians, so that they can feel part of our environment, valued and important in it. Our struggle is also for education and for young people to be able to access universities,” the activist explained. Socio-environmental defence is also on the agenda of the organization, which works in the preservation of flora and fauna. “Recently we took a course for the recuperation of a water source, which we need, because we face dry periods here in the community. The course helped raise residents’ awareness, we learnt a number of practices to conserve the soil and water,” he declared.
The preservation of the quilombola community’s memory pervades their care for historical artefacts, which are still carefully guarded. “We have a vase that belonged to one of the quilombo’s first families. We like to conserve traditions, such as collective working parties, for example. We are working in this direction of recovery.”