Boletim Maio 05 English

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR REGULARIZATION OF QUILOMBO LAND

QUILOMBOL@ www.cohre.org/quilombos

Editorial Human rights violations involve complex plots that often become obscured in the public eye. Behind the numbers of economic growth and cellulose industry profits is hidden a serious violation of the rights of thousands of Quilombo families in Espírito Santo, Brazil.

The attacks on their rights are caused by the actions of businesses that, in the last 35 years, have increased the sizes of their eucalyptus plantations and have provoked the continuous displacement of these families, which are then destined to live in large, innercity slums. The displacements that occur in front of the government in some cases are just oversights, and in others the government is directly involved with private interests.

In one of the regions with a richer cultural tradition in the country, there is a shameful history of cruel acts against the enslaved African people.

Today, they are being submitted to new forms of oppression, this time disguised by the favorable public opinion of a contribution to the “development of the country”. Is it possible to develop a country using means which destroy cultures and traditional ways of life and expel rural black communities and Quilombos from their lands?

In this bulletin, we present the situation of the rural black communities and Quilombos in Sapê do Norte, Espírito Santo, Brazil, as well as their anguish and their hopes.

COHRE AMERICAS has accompanied the fight of these communities and has demanded, as much from businesses as from governments, respect for the Federal Constitution and the laws of human rights established by Brazil.

No.3 - May, 2005

Cellulose profits hide human rights violations

Monoculture of eucalyptus for the cellulose industry in Espírito Santo

In the middle of the 1970’s, the 15 rural black communities and Quilombos that live in the region known as Sapê do Norte (ES) got a powerful and troublesome neighbor.

The Aracruz Cellulose Company is a world leader in the bleached cellulose industry and produces 28 percent of world supply in this area. In one of their reports, the company registered an annual production rate of 2.4 million tons of cellulose with gross profits of around R$ 1 million in 2004. Numbers that make the business very attractive for its supporters: the Safra, Lorentzen and Votorantim groups- each group holds 28 percent of the voting capital- and BNDES, which controls the remaining 12.5 percent.

To feed the production lines, the company has devoured 252 thousand hectares for planting raw materials. The eucalyptus plantations are distributed throughout Espirito Santo, Bahia, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, and besides their own lands, the company also works with plantations on the properties of another three thousand “associated” rural producers. The impact of this activity is as monumental as the volume of resources being moved, mainly for the communities that live in the region. Pressured and isolated on their lands, surrounded by eucalyptus plantations, the residents have denounced the drastic changes to their ways of life, culture and networks of local solidarity. The legitimacy of the acquisition of the lands is strongly questioned by the local leaders, who call attention to the fact that the company

acquired areas that had been devolved from the State of Espírito Santo without taking into consideration the existence of the local residents, especially the African and indigenous groups.

Besides the loss of traditionally used land, the ones who managed to remain in the area are being submitted to the harmful effects of herbicide use from the eucalyptus plantations and the contamination of the water and rivers in the region. Added to that is the deforestation promoted by the cellulose company, causing the extermination of native plants in the region which are essential for making home remedies currently in use among the locals. The environmental damages have also affected the planting of manioc, compromising flour mills and the production of “beiju”, a typical product from the region.

Besides the pressure imposed by the economic activity that revolves around cellulose, the communities have denounced the governmental oversights in relation to basic necessities such as sanitation, electricity and housing conditions. The population has no public transportation and needs to walk many kilometers to get access to medical treatment and collective transportation. Some schools in the region are actually churches that do not even have a single bathroom.

The situation is serious and the demarcation and legalization of the Quilombo lands is fundamental for the communities to have a chance at recovering their rights and rebuilding their lives.

Quilombol@, may 2005

Community

Eucalyptus plantation harms traditional population Linharinho is a Quilombo community of 42 families in Conceição da Barra, Espírito Santo, Brazil. News of the Quilombos in the region originates from the 19th century, when around 30 Angolan Negroes arrived on the lands of Rita Cunha, president of the Saint Mathew’s Liberal Party and owner of an abandoned property between the Cricaré and São Domingos rivers. Elza Maria dos Santos, Mrs. Miúda, relates her account of life in the community: “There were many lands for the Negroes to work. The Ernesto family lived here, where we are today, my brother took this part here and worked on up to there. My other brother worked up to there. Then came João Cosme’s family and Manuel Joaquim’s family.

Before the arrival of Aracruz, there were many companies that also grew eucalyptus. The Krikaré Reforester.

The Negroes didn’t have any titles to their forefathers’ lands, because it was considered common land. Each one worked and lived and helped each other, just like we do here, today. The State gave us these lands.

Everything we talked about, it was given to our forefathers. There were many higher class people, many people that said they were in charge, that they gave the orders. They began taking the

Dwellers from the Quilombo Community of Linharinhos

land and giving it to the Krikaré Reforester who, in time, gave it to Aracruz Cellulose. Today, we are all being affected. Our animals began dying out. Whoever had a flock or a herd, it died out. Chickens, horses. The herbs were lost. We have nothing left. We have no land to work. This is what worries us. We worry a lot about our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. This is the fight we are in. We had a black awareness group to make the people aware that they were being discriminated against.

In Conceição da Barra, the Negroes were even ashamed of themselves because they were so discriminated against. The Negroes here were only for beating on. In Linharinho, one of our houses was even burned down by people from Barra.

Later on, this land here, they said it

belonged to the State. The State is also to blame for this. What if the State hadn’t done this to the people in Barra, the ones that said they were the owners?

Everything has gone. Many things here have been lost and people have been leaving because they didn’t have any way to work the land. It was a lot of work.

Today, you see Linharinho like this, through the sacrifices the people have been making. Before, we didn’t use electric lights, it was only oil lamps. We got water from a far away well, we didn’t have access to anything.

Nowadays, thanks to God, we are a community. By our own efforts, the people of the community - those that remain - we have a few things. Even with the impact from Aracruz Cellulose, we fight not to lose the little we have left.”

Observations on Policies and Rights Brazil ratified Convention 169 on tribal and indigenous peoples from the International Labor Organization (OIT), in 2003.

The problems of the black communities in Sapê do Norte can be considered a violation of the Convention. The Convention itself defines the paths which the government should take to solve these problems with respect for human rights. The Convention established the following rights: On Land (article 14): tribal peoples have the right to property and possession of the lands in which they have traditionally resided; when appropriated by others, actions must be taken to guarantee the rights of the people to use these lands; the government must determine where these lands are and guarantee their protection and possession.

On Natural Resources (article 15): the people have the right to participate in the use, administration and conservation of their natural resources; the people must be consulted about problems which could arise from the exploitation of these resources; they must always participate whenever possible in the benefits of these activities and receive compensation for any damages.

On Forced Evictions (article 16): the people involved shall not be removed from the lands they occupy; in rare cases where such removal and relocation is deemed necessary, it may only be done with their full consent, freely, and with full knowledge of the cause and furthermore, whenever it is possible, the people have the right to return to their traditional lands. If this is not possible, they must be compensated.

Public Policies: the agrarian programs by the government must guarantee to the people conditions equivalent to those which other sectors of the population have access to; the distribution of additional lands (when such lands are insufficient to guarantee normal subsistence or population growth); to make available necessary means for the development of these lands by the people.

Quilombol@, may 2005

Capacity Building

An exchange of experiences marks the course in São Mateus

Staff Letícia Osório, Sebastian Tedeschi, Emily Walsh, Cíntia Beatriz Muller e Sinara Sandri (8073 DRT/RS)

Participants in the qualification course, held in São Mateus, Espírito Santo

The capacity building workshop, held in São Mateus, brought together representatives from 15 black and Quilombo communities to discuss the protection and promotion of land and housing rights for Quilombo residents.

The meeting, which took place on the 1st and 2nd of April, was the result of a joint venture between COHRE and CONAQ, and made possible the elaboration of a review on the conflicts and principle causes of tension faced daily by the black communities in the Sapê do Norte region.

Besides an exchange with other social movements, the local leaders examined the conflicts and made clear the necessity of an action to halt the expansion of activities in the Aracruz Cellulose Company, with the consequent incorporation of new areas for the planting of eucalyptus.

For the Quilombo communities, the titling of their lands is also necessary, as well as the recovery of the lands that have been expropriated by the company since its arrival in the region.

After the identification of the problems, one of the initiatives proposed by the community leaders was the forming of a committee administrator among the popular organizations. The objective is to coordinate the initiatives and increase the visibility of the movement.

The committee will be composed of two elected representatives for each one of the four regions that the north of Espírito Santo has been divided into, covering a total of 28 rural communities, besides the representatives from CONAQ, FASE and the Small Farmers Movement of São Mateus.

The capacity building workshop was also an

opportunity for an exchange with the leaders from other sectors.

Invited to participate in the event by FASE/ ES, the Cacique Guarani Indian Antônio Carvalho described the problems that affect the Indians in the State. He made it clear that his people are willing to fight for their liberty and dignity, in a scenario where man and nature have been systematically destroyed by the actions of the Aracruz Cellulose Company.

According to the cacique, the Guarani and Tupiniquim populations in Espírito Santo have demanded that the area in which they live be increased to 18 thousand hectares, an extension that will be in agreement with the studies performed by the FUNAI. “You are not a just citizen only when it comes time to vote, you have to be recognized as a citizen on a daily basis. You are a citizen even before the sun starts to rise,” affirmed the cacique as he criticized the government’s lack of care for the rights of indigenous people in the state.

Luis Gonzaga Silva, leader of the Inner-city São Paulo Residents Movement, summed up the direction of the movement as a fight for worthy urban housing rights. He called attention to the fact that self-definition is an exercise of freedom which is possible in the Quilombos, but not so for most inner-city residents.

“There, you are defined by someone else; someone tells you who you are,” he said.

In his opinion, the demand for housing rights should not be restricted to just “four walls”, but should be a part of the fight for citizenship.

If you have any comments, or wish to subscribe to the mailing list for Quilombol@, please contact : quilombo@cohre.org If you have more information about National Campaign for Promotion of Ownership Regularization of Quilombos Territories or about other programmes and activities of Cohre Americas, please contact cohreamericas@cohre.org

Center on Housing Rights and Evictions Demétrio Ribeiro 990 / 305 Porto Alegre (RS) Cep - 90.010-313 Tel (x) - (51) 3212.1904 This publication has been made possible with the support of :