By: Communications Office of the Cerrado Network
The Quilombola community of Monte Alegre enters the history of struggle of the peoples and traditional communities of Brazil.
The thatched hut, erected by residents of the community itself, was not, until that moment, a common space in the quilombo. The desire to have a place for celebrations, drums, and sharing had not yet materialized. It was only when news arrived that the National Seminar of Traditional Peoples and Communities would take place there, on that dirt floor, dusty from the sun, that… That was it! Hands, arms, legs, shoulders, amidst a few tools, mobilized the community, which, in a collective effort, in a few days, erected the hut. Just as in a few minutes, signs were put up indicating the way. The open kitchen had embers burning day and night. Good, real food, and plenty of it. The house was ready. The people who would arrive from all parts of Brazil could now, many with their hammocks, "approach."
The Quilombola community of Monte Alegre, located in the municipality of São Luís Gonzaga, in the interior of Maranhão, was already celebrating when, between July 3rd and 5th, it welcomed around 200 people to its land, including council members from traditional peoples and communities (PCTs), partner social movements, national and international supporters, and the community itself. More than 13 Brazilian states were represented there. The purpose? To evaluate the National Policy on PCTs and discuss a common agenda for the National Council, which, despite never having been officially appointed by the Federal Government, began its activities in pursuit of well-being for the nearly five million people who resist for the existence of traditional customs.
The Quilombo of Monte Alegre, throughout three days of intense studies and debates among the traditional communities, both welcomed and was welcomed. A territory marked by the struggle of a people who, since 1870, have resisted on that land, generation after generation, for the right to remain on the land that is common to them. That is sacred to them.
But one day in that story was sadly marked. The horrified eyes of those who were there saw 97 houses in the community, which at the time were all made of straw, catching fire. Like branding an ox with a hot iron, those men branded hundreds of hearts that could never forget that November 12, 1979.