Railane Ribeiro da Silva, president of the Association of Artisans and Extractivists of the Mumbuca Village, in Jalapão, Tocantins, is 26 years old and the youngest leader in the history of her community. "Many people fought before me so that I could be here," the young woman emphasizes in a conversation with ISPN.
The region where he lives, full of ecological attractions and natural beauty, is a contested area. Despite being a "black territory," conventional tourism with its large-scale developments has already arrived there, along with soy and other monocultures.
This scenario is, after all, common when we talk about quilombola, traditional, or family farming communities in Brazil. It is within this context that Railane establishes herself as a role model for the youth of her people. She affirms that she resists and seeks to include younger people in decision-making.
The National Coordination of Articulation of Rural Quilombola Black Communities (CONAQ), in its founding document, recalls that "the struggle of the Quilombola movement is characterized by the defense of its territory, and consequently, of its survival as a specific group threatened by the advance of real estate speculation and large-scale projects, which directly affect and alter the existence of these groups."
Establishing ethnic territories in the country, in addition to being a realization of land policy, is therefore an element in the recovery of Afro-Brazilian culture. Quilombos (maroon communities) have at their core Black ancestry and historical resistance to racist oppression.
Benedito Alves is the leader of the quilombo of Ivaporunduva, in the Ribeira Valley, São Paulo, and works with ethnotourism alongside his partner Elvira, his family, and his entire community.
For him, this type of tourism, which retraces the historical struggle of the Quilombola people, is a way to involve the outside population in the local culture. He further explains that community practices involve family farming and care for the environment.
"Our people have been here for 400 years and have never degraded the land," emphasizes Seu Ditão, as he is known.
While in the past quilombos remained shrouded in "invisibility" as a form of protection against external threats stemming from social segregation and enslavement, today these communities seek to break free from isolation through the recognition of territorial rights and cultural values, as explained by CONAQ.
This is the case of the São Félix quilombo, in the Grande Sertão Veredas National Park region, in Minas Gerais. At 62 years old, José Fino, who is a leader in the quilombo, explains that his community is beginning to work with Community-Based Tourism as a form of resistance.
The practice, which seeks to reconcile respect for community principles and the environment, is currently seen as a way to confront the pressure on the territory. "We, the quilombola people, have to resist and not give up," argues Zé Fino, as he is known.
In Railane's territory, not only tourism but also the sale of handicrafts has strengthened the community. It was through the cultivation of the stem of a small white flower from the everlasting flower family, popularly known as golden grass, that the community regained self-esteem and recognized the importance of their work.
The quilombola issue is also a land issue.
According to the Geographic and Statistical Information Base on Indigenous and Quilombola Peoples, an IBGE platform that organizes data on the subject, there were 5.972 Quilombola communities in 2019.
However, an article by Agência Brasil points out that in 2018 less than 7% of the lands recognized as belonging to quilombo remnant communities were regularized in the country.
This scenario signals serious opposition to the recognition of these territories, which have faced legal and administrative obstacles from the federal government itself in recent years.
The problem is that, without certification, quilombola communities lose access to basic public policies and become targets of land conflicts with land grabbers and large landowners.
This scenario is corroborated by data, since according to a survey by CONAQ and the Pastoral Land Commission, in 2017 the number of murders of quilombola people was the highest in ten years, and homicides against this population increased by 350% compared to 2016.
It is in this context that the quilombola issue gains importance on the national stage. The legal recognition of rights, with regard to land titles, has generated a series of demands for legislative proposals at the federal and state levels.
To meet these demands, organizations like CONAQ have emerged, aiming to fight for the guarantee of collective land use, the implementation of sustainable development projects, and the implementation of public policies in quilombo communities.
Black Consciousness
Furthermore, the struggle of the Black movement is intertwined with the advancement of quilombola rights in Brazilian legislation. It is no coincidence that Black Consciousness Day is also a day in homage to Zumbi dos Palmares, the last leader of Quilombo dos Palmares, the largest quilombo during the colonial period.
The Black movement was an important actor in the process of redemocratization of the country after the military dictatorship, especially with regard to ethnic and quilombola rights, having made the main articulations in this field.
The legal guarantee in the 1988 Federal Constitution regarding quilombola rights was a fertile ground for the emergence of new ethnic struggles for recognition and materialized in article 68 of the Act of Transitory Constitutional Provisions.
To the remaining members of the quilombo communities who are occupying their lands, definitive ownership is recognized, and the State must issue them the respective titles.
As a result of this struggle, in 1995, the first land title was granted to a quilombola community in Brazil, that of Boa Vista, on the Trombetas River. In 1996, it was the turn of the black communities of Pacoval and Água Fria to receive their titles.
There is still much progress to be made regarding the rights of quilombola communities. On Black Awareness Day, and always, revisiting this debate is a way to remember that it is necessary to keep the land free, since it represents the right to be free and the right to own the lived space.
Text by Camila Araujo, ISPN Communications Advisor. Photo: Méle Dornelas/ISPN Collection.