Palmas, Tocantins 28 March 2025
To the relevant authorities
To interested members of the public
Between 26 and 28 March 2025, in the city of Palmas, Tocantins, prompted by the Ecumenical Coordination of Service (Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviço: CESE), we, representatives of the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil (Igreja Presbiteriana Unida do Brasil: IPU), the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana do Brasil: IECLB), the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil: IEAB), the Roman Apostolic Catholic Church (Igreja Católica Apostólica Romana: ICAR) and the Alliance of Baptists of Brazil (Aliança de Batistas do Brasil: ABB), as well as representatives of the African-origin Religions of Ilê Asé Omo Layê Loyá Silé, Ilè Asè Fùnfún Osoguiã – Egbe Eseremagbo – Casa Branca da Serra, Ilê Axé Ajotu, the Rede Centro Espírita os Guardiões – Quimbanda and Casa Flor de Liz – Movimento Pela Vida, alongside local and national organizations and social movements, indigenous peoples and quilombolas, share our anxieties, fears and denouncements in the face of the advance of religious fundamentalism in the State of Tocantins.
Although considered a capital of faith, Palmas is marked by the dangerous exploitation of religion to silence other religious expressions and legitimize forms of economic and political power that destroy the regions rich biome, the ancestral ways of life of original and traditional peoples, and members of African-origin religions, which also exacerbate racism and violence against girls, women and the LBTQIAPN+ population.
Religious, political and economic fundamentalism are killing us from both inside and out. We want to live and we want our biomes to live too. This is why we demand:
- that the State of Tocantins be guided by the principle of secularism, in order to value religious plurality;
- the urgent creation of a Human Rights Defenders Protection Programme;
- the monitoring of the use of pesticides and the assurance of accountability for practices that lead to the acid rain that contaminates our waters and our food, putting both human and animal health at risk;
- that the State of Tocantins develop Public Policies to tackle Religious Racism.
On the last day of the meeting, we visited the community of the Rio Preto Quilombo, located in the municipality of Lagoa do Tocantins, in the region of Jalapão / Tocantins, which has suffered constant attacks from land grabbers in the region.
We note that grabbing lands occupied by traditional communities has been a recurring practice by the agribusiness sector, which continues to threaten the Cerrados and the people of Jalapão.
The Community in the Rio Preto quilombo is composed of approximately 200 people, including 60 children and, despite all the threats faced by this ancestral community because of the expansion of soy monoculture, we were received with immense love, songs, blessings and a fantastic lundu circle dance. We observed that the basic rights that guarantee minimal existence, such as the right to education, health, access to electricity and water, are not accessible to this community.
The Rio Preto Quilombo community complained that their children face enormous difficulties gaining access to formal education, because the Bibiano Ferreira Lopes Municipal School – the only one that serves the location – was closed in 2019 and remains so today. We note that, according to National Education Council Resolution no. 8 of 20 November 2012, Quilombola School Education must be provided by the State.
The residents of the quilombo face various and recurrent forms of violence, including houses set on fire; crops destroyed by tractors; intimidation and continuous threats by people hired by the land grabbers; intimidatory visits made by police officers and countless attempts to criminalize the community by attempting to apply environmental legislation in a distorted way. However, we found a territory of brave people who nurture their ancestral culture, preserve the Cerrado around them, survive through family farming and resist with faith, courage and joy.
We demand that the process to entitle the land of the Rio Preto Quilombo be assured and swiftly undertaken in order to bring to an end the violations of their rights.
This year, in which Brazil will host the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, we demand that the 54 quilombos, the indigenous peoples and the African-origin traditional peoples in the state of Tocantins have their constitutional and ancestral rights to land, territory, education, ways of life and worship of the sacred guaranteed.
May the sound of drums and maracas continue to sound out despite the fundamentalist policies that destroy the cultural, liturgical and environmental riches of this state.
Sincerely,
Agri is Fire (Agro é Fogo)
Alliance of Baptists of Brazil (Aliança de Batistas do Brasil)
Association for the Development and Preservation of the Araguaia and Tocantins Rivers (Associação de Desenvolvimento e Preservação dos Rios Araguaia e Tocantins)
Association of Small-scale Agroecological Producers of Matinha (Associação dos Pequenos Produtores Agroecológicos da Matinha) Tocantins
House A+ (Casa A+)
Tocantins Voices for Climate Justice Coalition (Coalizão Vozes do Tocantins por Justiça Climática)
Young Environmental Educators’ Collective (Coletivo Jovens Educadores Ambientais)
With Health (Com Saúde)
Child and Adolescent Commission (Comissão da Criança e Adolescente)
National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil: CNBB/ICAR)
National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (Conselho Nacional de Igrejas Cristãs)
State Coordination of the Quilombola Communities of Tocantins (Coordenação Estadual das Comunidades Quilombolas do Tocantins: COEQTO)
Ecumenical Coordination of Service (Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviço: CESE)
Encamto, Women’s Houses of Tocantins, 8 March House (Encamto, Casas da Mulher no Tocantins/ Casa 8 de março)
Evangelicals for Gender Equality (Evangélicas pela Igualdade de Gênero)
Flor de Liz – Movement for Life (Flor de Liz – Movimento Pela Vida)
Black Consciousness Group of Tocantins (Grupo de Consciência Negra do Tocantins: GRUCONTO)
Institute of Indigenous Chiefs and Peoples of Bananal Island (Instituto de Caciques e Povos indígenas da Ilha do Bananal: ICAPIB), JAVAE
Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil)
Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil – Belém Parish (Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana – Paróquia de Belém)
United Presbyterian Church of Brazil (Igreja Presbiteriana Unida do Brasil)
Ilê Axé Ajotu
Ilè Asé Fùnfún Osoguiã – Egbe Eseremagbo – Casa Branca da Serra
Ilê Asé Omo Layê Loyá Silé,
Land Rights and Citizenship Institute (Instituto Terra Direitos e Cidadania)
Movement of People Affected by Dams (Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens: MAB)
Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra: MST)
Indigenous Movement of Tocantins (Movimento Indígena do Tocantins)
Centre for Studies in Agroecology and Sustainable Development – Federal University of Tocantins (Núcleo de Estudos em Agroecologia e Desenvolvimento Sustentável – Universidade Federal do Tocantins: NEADS/ UFT)
Youth Pastoral (Pastoral da Juventude – CNBB)
Process of International Networking and Dialogue (Processo de Articulação e Diálogo: PAD)
Rio Preto Quilombo (Quilombo Rio Preto)
Guardians Spiritist Centre Network (Rede Centro Espírita os Guardiões)
Quimbanda Temple and Flor de Lis House (Templo de Quimbanda e Casa Flor de Lis)
Union of Black People for Equality (União de Negros e Negros pela Igualdade: UNEGRO), Tocantins