Lula needs to guarantee land to quilombolas, says secretary – 03/05/2023 – Daily life

The new secretary of Policies for Quilombolas of the federal government, Ronaldo dos Santos wants President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to prioritize the titling of land in communities and the expansion of access to public policies in these places.

“It seems trivial what I’m talking about, but it’s not. Structural racism takes care of leaving some things with a very easy rhetoric, but with a very difficult execution”, he said in an interview with Sheet.

To achieve this objective, Santos wants the support of both President Lula (PT) and the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa (PT). That’s because he considers that these actions depend on the performance of several ministries, not just the Ministry of Racial Equality —to which his secretary is linked.

The themes involve areas of activity of different ministries and, therefore, it has as a strategy to seek the support of the Executive leader and for the theme to gain strength in the other ministries.

The secretary also criticizes the lack of actions aimed at quilombola communities during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and says that the previous government scrapped Incra, the body responsible for land titling.

“When we look at the body’s current structure, the logistics part, the budget, you understand that INCRA today is unable to indemnify or expropriate a site, let alone a farm with thousands of hectares. So, this policy is paralyzed .She is dying of starvation”.

According to Santos, “quilombola communities fight more than against people, they fight against historical structures of a State that is racist by its nature”.

About policies for the quilombola population, what have you been able to observe in relation to what was left by the last government? We can say that the policy [para quilombolas] was abandoned by the state.

To some extent, an anti-quilombo policy was implemented, which I don’t even think is inconsistent, because the former president himself [Bolsonaro] pointed to it. He had a stance against what he calls minorities, and that translates into public policy. the ministry [da Igualdade Racial] ceased to exist. So, now is a great challenge.

We need this third government of President Lula to be efficient in standardizing, in regulating policies in this area. He needs the final result to be the delivery of the definitive title to the property, the arrival of public policy in these territories, the house, the school.

It seems trivial what I’m talking about, but it’s not. Structural racism takes care of leaving some things with a very easy rhetoric, but with a very difficult execution.

Can you give any examples of problems related to policy for quilombolas that were left aside by the Bolsonaro government? The main policy of the quilombola communities is the regularization of the territory. In fact, territory and communities are inseparable.

Not by chance, this has always been the main demand of the quilombolas. The attitude of the government that left is reflected when looking at Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform), which is the State body responsible for articulating the quilombola territories.

When we look at the body’s current structure, the logistics part, the budget, you understand that INCRA today is incapable of indemnifying or expropriating a site, let alone a farm with thousands of hectares. So this policy is paralyzed. She is dying of starvation.

Our government will have to have the courage to rebuild this structure in order to provide a viable response.

What will be your main measures to advance public policies for this population? It’s going to be a very challenging year.

First focus is to discuss the PPA [Plano Plurianual], the next budget. Aim for a budget that has some connection to reality [da população] It’s a technical job that we have to be part of and that will require a lot of our capacity and our working time.

We modified some regulations of the Brasil Quilombola Program, which had been a fundamental program for some time and in practice had ceased to exist.

In addition, we have not stopped receiving calls to put out fires. It’s a mining license inside a quilombola territory that the last government gave at the end of the lights, it’s concerns about this whole history of the Yanomami and that can be replicated on unimaginable scales.

We cannot forget that my secretariat also works with other audiences, such as gypsies. The Gypsy Statute is back on the agenda. It is being discussed in the National Congress and we need to pay attention. It has the agenda of combating religious racism.

Quilombola policies require the participation of other ministries such as Agrarian Development, Health, Education… People usually say that Racial Equality is the biggest ministry on this Esplanade, because its central role is to articulate all the others around our policy. It is a body responsible for mainstreaming policies.

Today we have great potential, which is our Minister’s ability to articulate [Anielle Franco]. It is she who knocks on the door of other ministers and presents this demand.

But I think the most important thing is to raise awareness among the President of the Republic and the Civil House. The minister sometimes does something because he really convinced himself, but sometimes he does it because the Civil House said to do it.

This repair policy is absolutely unfinished. It is only at its beginning. The Brazilian State never managed to give answers to the problems. The very history of our colonization generated these communities. We perceive both in President Lula’s speeches and in the posture and speech of some ministers, that this agenda is really in place now.

But let’s not be innocent. Quilombola communities fight more than people, they fight against historical structures of a state that is racist by nature. The actions of the Brazilian State throughout its history were much more oppressive.

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Ronaldo Santos, 45
Secretary of Policies for Quilombolas, Peoples and Traditional Communities of African Matrix and Gypsies of the Lula government. He was national coordinator of Conaq (National Coordination of Quilombos Articulation); leader of the Quilombo do Campinho, in Paraty (RJ); and member of the rap group Realidade Negra

The Quilombos do Brasil project is a partnership with the Ford Foundation