Agroflorestal Maroon People Group

To reveal the environmental and institutional racism of developmental ventures installed (or in the process of being installed) in the quilombola territories of Santa Rosa dos Pretos, Santa Maria dos Pinheiros and Joaquim Maria, in Maranhão, as well as autonomous ways of resisting these violations and reversing the impacts caused by them.

• Gatherings;
• Workshops;
• Discussion tables;
• Mapping.

The impacts caused by significant developments in the territory have been felt for 80 years: large energy lines; the Carajás Railroad of Vale S.A.; and BR 135, of the federal government. These ventures have silted streams, cut down forests and reduced areas for housing and farming. However, governments and companies do not stop: Eletronorte deforests new areas to install another large line, and DNIT, in 2017, entered the territories cutting down trees and silting streams to duplicate BR 135 freeway. This violence is based on the environmental and institutional racism that expropriates in the name of progress that does not contemplate the community.

The Quilombola Agroflorestal Group is formed by young quilombola residents of the quilombo Santa Rosa dos Pretos, in the rural area of Itapecuru-Mirim, in the Maranhão countryside. It is structured horizontally, collectively and autonomously, according to the form of social organization of the community. Elders and leadership are always heard as people who have been in the struggle for a long time. It is based on these principles that the meetings of political formation are organized. The group was formed to resist the human rights and environmental violations that have been committed for decades by the public power, large enterprises, and landowners.

Rede Justiça nos Trilhos (Justice on the Rails Network);

Teia dos Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais do Maranhão (Peoples’ Web and Traditional Communities of Maranhão);

Movimento dos Atingidos pela Mineração (Affected by Mining Group).