Support to the Quilombo Conceição, in the municipality of Salinas da Margarida, Bahia
The Quilombo de Conceição de Salinas is a community of artisanal fishermen, farmers and extractive workers located in Todos os Santos Bay, in Recôncavo Baiano, which has made efforts to guarantee the identification, delimitation and titling of its traditional territory, and protect its beautiful ecosystem. manguezais where it is located. As the growing process of community organization and the vindication of its rights, Quilombo achieved important advances towards the regularization of land and reconstitution of its traditional territory.
In this process, there is now a systematic offensive against its existence, with physical attacks, attacks on leaders, discriminatory publications in the social networks of the local prefecture, depredation of community patrimony and legal contestations of community certification by the Palmares Foundation, promoted by local agents, both private and public, with interest in the use of community territory for the installation of real estate ventures (Parque das Margaridas lot, reported for mockery in the environmental licensing process for fractionation of the venture).
It is important to relate that these legal responses are based on scientific publications carried out in unqualified journals in the area of knowledge, which attempt to confirm that in Salinas da Margarida there was never any evidence of the existence of quilombos in the period of escravidão and that, therefore, it would not be serious It is possible to consider the communities of Conceição as remnants of quilombo. Tais publications, ethnographic and historiographical methods are established and interpretations submitted to scientific literature, in contrast to matters that have been largely pacified by the guarantee of the right to self-identification of both people, both in the field of Social Sciences, in History, and for all the legal archaeological records that mark and guides the actions of public competition institutions.
The lack of respect and violence towards the Quilombo de Conceição is expressed to the maximum when the prefecture of Salinas da Margarida itself, taking advantage of the difficult context of the pandemic due to COVID-19 (whose young people are primarily affected), makes an official publication on its social network responding to the existence of remnants of quilombo in the municipality, declaring not to reconhecer any quilombola community in its territory, raising doubts among the local public if the municipality would have been obliged to comply with the prioritization of this social group in the immunization agenda, as determined by the Ministry of Health.
Furthermore, one of two days of greatest circulation in the state of Bahia, or Jornal A Tarde, publishes more material in the O Carrasco column corroborating the position of the Salinas da Margarida prefecture, stating that “but once it is confirmed that in the Baía de Todos os Santos there are no remanescents, because they exist and have been eaten away Indians.” The day ends each column taxing the community of “fake quilombolas” and “true members of drug trafficking.”
We categorically condemn any offensive against the direction of self-determination of the Quilombo de Conceição or any initiative that threatens the identity, or life, of autonomy and free use of the territory of the community. EITHER CLACSO Working Group on Political Ecology(ies) from the South/Abya-Yala reaffirms that there is no technical and scientific burden that justifies the contestation of Conceição's quilombola identity and that, given the serious violence and violations of community direitos, it is necessary that the competent public institutions, such as INCRA, IBAMA, INEMA, Polícia Federal, Secretaria do Patrimônio The Union and the Federal and State Public Ministries undertake urgent efforts to:
1) the rapid implementation of fund regularization in the TAUS area,
2) fast preparation of RTID and titling of territory;
3) the environmental inspection of the Parque das Margaridas enterprise; and
4) the responsibility of all agents who attack the honor and image of community leaders and violate the rights of the Quilombo Conceição.
Finally, the CLACSO Working Group on Political Ecology(ies) from the South/Abya-Yala Let us publicly demonstrate full support for the Quilombo Conceição de Salinas and ratify the importance of protecting the remaining quilombo for the Brazilian State, not only as subjects of rights but also for being highly responsible for maintaining good social welfare, safeguarding the environment, producing agrobiodiversity, guarantee national food security, combat climate changes, protect and maintain material and material heritage of relevant importance for the country and perpetuate rationalities and ways of life that are more supportive and harmonious with the environment.
The situation of tension in Salinas da Margarida is also present in other quilombola communities of Recôncavo and throughout Todos os Santos Bay, such as recent attacks against women community leaders on the Ilha de Maré.
We express solidarity with these women, especially the leader Eliete Paraguassu, in the face of recent attacks, attacks and defamation.
August 20th, 2021
CLACSO Working Group
Political ecology(ies) from the south/Abya-Yala
This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Epolitical ecology(ies) from the south/Abya-Yala and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
