{"id":70225,"date":"2022-05-10T10:14:21","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T13:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=70225"},"modified":"2022-06-24T09:10:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T12:10:43","slug":"in-an-act-of-religious-racism-garden-of-sacred-herbs-by-award-winning-activist-and-priestess-is-burned-in-guaratiba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=70225","title":{"rendered":"In an Act of Religious Racism, Arson Destroys Garden of Sacred Herbs Created by Award-Winning Activist and Candombl\u00e9 Priestess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This is our latest article in<\/em>\u00a0a\u00a0series<\/a>\u00a0created in partnership with the\u00a0Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies<\/a>\u00a0at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the\u00a0Digital Brazil Project<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0<\/em>climate impacts and affirmative action in the favelas for RioOnWatch.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It took Helo\u00edsa Helena Costa Berto<\/a> a long time to finally feel at home in Guaratiba<\/a>. The problem was not the location, but the reason for the move<\/a> that brought her to the far West Zone<\/a> of Rio. She is one<\/a> of hundreds of people who had been forcibly removed from Vila Aut\u00f3dromo in the pre-Olympic period<\/a>. The Olympic Park was built next to the area occupied by the community until 2016<\/a>. Today, nothing has been done to the site<\/a> of Helo\u00edsa Helena\u2019s former home. In addition to being her residence, the house also belonged to her <\/span>orix\u00e1 <\/span><\/i>(sacred spirit)<\/span>, receiving several practitioners of traditional Afro-Brazilian religions. Heloisa Helena is a <\/span>candombl\u00e9<\/a> <\/span><\/i>priestess, known as Luizinha de Nan\u00e3.<\/span><\/p>\n

With enormous effort, Luizinha built a new house for her <\/span>orix\u00e1<\/span><\/i> next to her new residence in Guaratiba. She has been living there for six years, but things haven’t completely fallen into place: \u201cI don’t have things settled, I’m still in the construction phase,\u201d she says. Separated by a narrow dirt road, in front of the entrance gate to her house, is the Jardim Pia\u00ed Channel, which is polluted by sewage and substantial garbage from the surroundings areas. Since she moved, the pollution of the stream that flows into Praia da Brisa, a mangrove beach, has been a source of great anguish for Luizinha.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mangrove is the main element of my mother Nan\u00e3<\/a>, my <\/span>orix\u00e1<\/span><\/i>. I felt indebted, spiritually, to protect the channel. I used to get very offended when people called the channel a ‘val\u00e3o.’ A <\/span>val\u00e3o<\/span><\/i> is a dirty place, a ditch. Then, I started to think: I have to clean the channel, I need to clean the channel,\u201d recalls Luizinha.<\/span><\/p>\n

To carry out the task, however, she needed support. \u201cWhen I talked to people about cleaning the channel, they wouldn’t even hear me out. Cleaning the channel is a huge undertaking. \u2018Who’s going to want to clean it? What project will accomplish this?,\u2019\u201d they’d ask Luizinha.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Jardim Pia\u00ed Channel receives the region’s sewage and trash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a member of several networks, including the Sustainable Favela Network* (SFN<\/a>), Luizinha did not give up and adopted a different strategy to gain support. \u201cI’d participate in every online event they had about the environment, ask for a moment to speak<\/a>, and share my struggles in relation to the polluted channel. It was just like that, passing the cup,\u201d she jokes. Representatives from the Living Bay Movement<\/a> and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz<\/a>) were present at one of these events, people who worked directly with actions for water recovery. They embraced Luizinha’s idea and started to support her in her mission to clean up the waterway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The dry banks of the Jardim do Pia\u00ed Channel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The movement around the idea grew and came to include people from different areas. From this collective came the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a garden of sacred herbs<\/a> that, in addition to growing herbs, would use plants to help improve the water quality. There is a protected environmental area on one side of the channel, and a narrow dirt road on the other, where the earth was visibly dry and cracked on the channel’s banks. Recovering the soil would be the first step to building the garden.<\/p>\n

Luizinha wanted to do everything by the book, so she wrote a project and proposed it to City Hall:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who went through a forced eviction knows the value humans place on the land. People kill for land. So, I approached the City, because that area [the garden] is a public area. I went to City Hall and asked if I could adopt the space, the stretch of land in front of my house and my neighbor’s. I presented the project, they considered everything, and let me adopt the space for two years. After that, we started organizing to plant.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The garden of sacred herbs after the first task force<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the papers formalizing permission to care for the space arrived, the first task force was scheduled, which took place on March 5, 2022. \u201cThe house was packed,\u201d Luizinha remembers. \u201cPericres Muniz, a biologist, came from Cachoeiras de Macacu to show us what to do, because this was during the period when the sun was very hot here in Rio. He taught us how to mitigate the sun’s intensity on the ground, and how to start recovering the very dry soil.\u201d The group distributed organic material such as branches, trunks, and dry leaves over the garden beds and, for a few days, Luizinha watered the area daily. \u201cI’d go there every day and water everything. Until, one day, I got there and found everything burned down\u2026 They burned everything down!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Burned garden beds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Religious Racism<\/h3>\n

In the area where the sacred herb garden would have been constructed, there were two large banners with information about the project and those responsible. The fire set to the beds was not accidental. For Luizinha, this is clearly a deliberate attack which constitutes yet another episode of religious racism<\/a>. This was not the first act of violence she has suffered motivated by religious prejudice. Insults to her religious practice, offensive comments about Candombl\u00e9, and even the non-recognition of her chosen name, Luizinha de Nan\u00e3, constitute some of the violence she has experienced in everyday life. \u201cSome people here are prejudiced and have already verbalized this to me quite clearly. But I’d been letting it go, I never thought it would come to this,\u201d said Luizinha.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the National Human Rights Ombudsman (ONDH<\/a>) from the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights (MMFDH<\/a>), this year alone, as of March 16, 111 complaints<\/a> of freedom of belief violations had been filed. This means that the country officially records, on average, three reports of religious intolerance every two days. In 2021, there were 581 complaints<\/a>, with the highest number (138) recorded in the state of Rio as compared to other states. The complaints, however, show a racial character to the religious attacks occurring in the country, where most of the victims are people and communities linked to religions of African origin. Thus, the violation of freedom of belief in Brazil is closely related to religious racism<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The project area had been clearly identified by a set of banners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sacred herb garden was not just a religious project, as Luizinha says. It was, above all, an environmental education and conservation initiative. \u201cEven without fully solving the problem, there are many natural ways to reduce the pollution of a channel, a lake, a pond\u2026 There are many ways to do that. We had been looking at plants that we might put at the channel’s edge in order to do these experiments,\u201d explained Luizinha. Using plants to clean water is a common technique<\/a>. In these instances, plants act as filters, capturing, treating pollutants and returning cleaner water.<\/span><\/p>\n

The intention was also to influence others and draw attention to the need to care for the region’s natural areas. \u201cThe idea is that it would be an inspiring action so that other people could take on similar efforts,\u201d says Luizinha about the garden. \u201cImagine if others adopted and transformed the land just across from their homes, that they took responsibility for an area and cared for it, planting and cleaning it\u2026 How would things be?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She did not have enough time to reflect and present all these ideas. The first task force to create the beds took place on March 5 and the arson took place six days later, on March 11. A new task force was scheduled for March 17, when people would once again gather to plant and inaugurate the garden of sacred herbs. The event was not canceled, but it took place amid a very different atmosphere than everyone had imagined.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe went on with the private event, just for us, inside the barrac\u00e3o<\/em> [the temple itself]. We just wanted to discuss what measures and paths forward we were going to take. Adriana Sotero, from Fiocruz, came and took a sample of the water. She did some sketches of how the garden could help, which part could be planted on and which one could not. But then we were left without a place to work on, in a frustrating situation, in a somewhat hostile climate,\u201d recounts Luizinha.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A representative from Fiocruz collects a water sample from the channel for testing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a garden persists, but in a new location. The proposal is to bring the project into the temple. The space will be open to people and communities from the surrounding areas and envisioned as an environmental education initiative. However, for now, cleaning and preserving the channel is a paralyzed dream.<\/p>\n

Luizinha de Nan\u00e3’s Struggle<\/h3>\n

\u201cWithout nature, there is no <\/span>candombl\u00e9,<\/span><\/i>\u201d stated Luizinha in a social media post. <\/span>Candombl\u00e9 <\/span><\/i>is an Afro-Brazilian religion based on the Yoruba religions of Nigeria going back about 12,000 years, and as described by her, is \u201cfrom a time when there was only man and his natural elements.\u201d The gods have always been linked and are still connected with some part of nature. She exemplifies:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, we have Yemanj\u00e1<\/a>, who is the queen of the sea. Then there’s Oshun<\/a>, who’s from the fresh waters. We have Oya<\/a> from the rains and storms. Nana Buluku, from the earth and mangroves. Then, we have Shango<\/a> with thunder. We have Osany\u00ecn<\/a>, who owns all leaves, and so on\u2026 It is precisely because our orix\u00e1s, who are our gods, are responsible for an element of nature, that we must have great respect for all natural elements, just as we have respect for our orix\u00e1s.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Engagement around environmental issues is only one facet of activism for Luizinha, who is internationally recognized as a defender of human rights. She is recognized<\/a> by Front Line Defenders<\/a>, a reference organization that works to protect those who defend human rights around the world. In addition to environmental work, Luizinha acts to combat prejudice and discrimination against black communities, in addition to promoting religious freedom and defending her sacred objects<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the eviction process in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, which culminated in her leaving the community in 2016<\/a>, she has become even more involved in the struggle of black and peripheral populations for the right to land. Today, she works in defense of the quilombos<\/em> and peoples of the West Zone neighborhoods of Vargem Grande<\/a>, Vargem Pequena<\/a>, and Jacarepagu\u00e1<\/a> and beyond in the Baixada Fluminense<\/a>\u00a0through the West Zone Solidarity Web<\/a>. She also participates in the Afroenvironmental Network<\/a>, an organization for which she will be an ambassador at Rio+30.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, on April 5, Luizinha was awarded the \u201cM\u00e3e Beata de Iemanj\u00e1 Award\u201d for her contribution to the fight against religious racism in the state of Rio, in recognition of Green April, the month that celebrates the fight against religious racism in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

*The Sustainable Favela Network and RioOnWatch are both projects of\u00a0<\/i>Catalytic Communities<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(CatComm).<\/i><\/p>\n

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Support\u00a0<\/b>RioOnWatch<\/i><\/b>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0<\/b>by clicking here.<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas This is our latest article in\u00a0a\u00a0series\u00a0created in partnership with the\u00a0Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies\u00a0at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the\u00a0Digital Brazil Project\u00a0on\u00a0climate impacts and affirmative action in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":70228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1328,1290,336],"tags":[315,662,1500,474,385,2329,11,60,530,1189,3378,1402,3011,471,3186,4,370,21],"writer":[3137],"translator":[2498],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-70225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-by-community-contributors","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-violations","11":"tag-african-diaspora","12":"tag-afro-brazilian-culture","13":"tag-candomble","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-environmental-education","16":"tag-fiocruz","17":"tag-forced-evictions","18":"tag-guaratiba","19":"tag-pollution","20":"tag-racism","21":"tag-religious-intolerance","22":"tag-legacy","23":"tag-series-human-rights-with-support-from-the-behner-stiefel-center-at-sdsu","24":"tag-sustainability","25":"tag-sfn","26":"tag-vila-autodromo","27":"tag-water","28":"tag-west-zone","29":"writer-jaqueline-suarez","30":"translator-sharonya-vadakattu"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70225"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=70225"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=70225"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=70225"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=70225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}