On the eve of Black Consciousness Day, on Wednesday (19), President Lula met with indigenous people and civil society movements in the Blue Zone of the COP30 to discuss climate change. But representatives of the black movement claim that they were not invited.
The Black Coalition for Rights, which includes more than 250 black organizations and groups from across Brazil, says it was unaware of the meeting and was surprised by the agenda.
“We were expecting announcements,” says Thani Nascimento, executive director of PerifaConnection. “Indigenous border demarcation has been announced. Will they announce quilombola lands?”
Among the 12 participants in the meeting were representatives of environmental and scientific organizations, as well as movements of extractive populations, workers and those affected by dams. Aviv (the term for the indigenous peoples of Brazil) was represented by the indigenous leader Kleber Caribuna.
The federal government states that the two individuals nominated by the Peoples’ Summit, a civil society movement parallel to the COP30, “represent the range of social movements in this area, including black organizations and collectives that contributed to the final document of the Summit.”
The government says that representation was not achieved through individual organization, but rather through collective bodies, as was usual at the summit. He says the racial justice agenda was laid out throughout the UN conference.
“The Ministry of Racial Equity was active daily in negotiations and committees, advocating for the inclusion of markers of race, gender, and territory, as well as the adoption of the term ‘African Descent’ in official conference documents. These positions are consistent with the historical demands of the Black Movement and were presented in high-level spaces,” the memo said.
This Friday (21), the new draft of the main decisions of the Conference maintains the unprecedented reference to the term “people of African descent”.
However, the Black Alliance stated that it wanted the meeting to demand climate action within the country itself.
“There is an international agenda, with the COP30 presidency, and a subnational agenda, with the Brazilian government, which includes land demarcation and climate adaptation in cities, for example,” says Thuan Nascimento.
He adds: “What does Lula’s government say about the remote areas? Will it continue to build Minha Casa and Minha Vida without the ability to adapt to climate change?”
The federal government’s relationship with the black movement was also strained by the appointment of the Attorney General of the Federation, Jorge Mesías, to the STF (Supreme Federal Court). It is a long-standing and growing demand of the movement that the first Black woman be appointed to the court.
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