METHODOLOGY
How do we build the world we fight for?
OUR WORLDVIEW:
A MANIFESTO
We believe that our world needs climate justice to confront environmental and structural racism, capitalism, biases, and gender-related violence.
We believe that we deserve access to diverse, organic, and high-quality food, medicinal plants, and care products.
To contribute to this reality, we dedicate ourselves to creating collective spaces for listening, support, debate, and reflection that respect the diversities among all beings – human and non-human.
We develop collective care practices that include the ecosystem and the communities of each territory.
We envision generating income based on principles other than profit.
We produce our food and care products in search of sovereignty.
We offer training journeys that promote connections among participants and the communities we engage with.
We support the formation of new leaders to guide our collective regeneration process.
And we do all of this inspired by Nature, the mother of all technologies, and by the Cerrado, the biome that embraces us.
That's why our governance system aspires a horizontal and collective self-management, valuing diversity, addressing whiteness, sexism, and oppression.
STRATEGIES
Investing in the development of young leaders
Using the perspective of Agroecology and Climate Justice to conduce care work and foster connections
Developing strategies for care in response to Prohibition, with a focus on the war on drugs
HOW OUR SELF-MANAGEMENT WORKS
The Aroeira Collective meets every Thursday to conduct training sessions, restore degraded areas, implement and manage Agroforestry Systems, manufacture products, and offer community and pedagogical interventions and workshops.
During these weekly meetings, we provide space for each participant to give feedback regarding our work and to share how the Collective has been impacting their personal lives.
In the discussions held in the circle, we make decisions collectively. To strengthen the decentralization of our organization, we divide ourselves into Working Groups responsible for different dimensions, such as Communication and Fundraising.
Furthermore, we dedicate time and resources to develop the leadership of each participant, encouraging individual autonomy within our collective framework. We also create opportunities for each member to present proposals for improvements, revisions, and new projects.
We offer specific training for each participant, such as individual literacy classes and psychological support, and we alternate responsibilities for different tasks in each meeting, integrating the entire cycle of activities of the Collective.
Finally, we encourage the debate on the social structure of oppression and the scenario of privileges in which we are embedded, in order to build a structure that is as horizontal and equitable as possible. Hence, our presidency is held by a black woman in a situation of homelessness.
KEY WORDS:
A BRIEF GLOSSARY
HARM REDUCTION
Harm Reduction (HR) is an ethic of care that aims to minimize harms associated with the use of psychoactive substances, risky behaviors, and other situations harmful to people's health and well-being. In this approach, users actively participate in building strategies to reduce harm in their own situations. This is because HR believes that each person has the freedom and autonomy to decide about their own body. However, it is acknowledged that individual rights are not exactly proportionate among people due to their choices, class, color, or gender. In the Aroeira Collective, we understand that HR is a powerful strategy for historical reparation with vulnerable populations and also for environmental restoration.
Source: Ministério da Saúde (2003) e Cavalcanti (2021)
ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST FEMINISM
Anti-prohibitionist Feminism is a branch of Feminism that aims to fight against prohibitionist policies and practices, especially those related to drugs. This perspective understands that prohibition policies criminalize drug users, encourage police violence, strengthen drug trafficking, and reinforce gender and racial stereotypes – mainly affecting women and vulnerable populations. Therefore, we advocate that drug use be regarded as a public health issue – with the implementation of public policies that promote Harm Reduction and access to appropriate health treatments – rather than a moral or criminal problem.
Source: RENFA
AGROECOLOGY
Agroecology is the formalization of an ancient knowledge that takes into account popular wisdom, the health of the soil, and the community of beings that depend on it. This formalization emerged from the mobilization of various technicians, farmers, and rural leaders in favor of an agriculture that overcomes the damages caused to biodiversity and society, emancipated from the use of chemical inputs, labor relations, and technologies employed until then. Also known as Ecological Agriculture, Agroecology goes beyond the environmental dimension, also caring for political, social, cultural, and ethical issues through a holistic and systemic approach. Therefore, Agroecology can be a powerful ally in self-care, care for others, and care for nature, fostering Harm Reduction and Health while nurturing connections between people, living beings, and the environment.
Fonte: Cavalcanti (2021)
POPULAR EDUCATION
Popular Education is a pedagogical approach and a social movement aimed at promoting awareness, participation, and social transformation through Education. It is a form of Education that emerges from popular contexts and social struggles, valuing the knowledge and experience of marginalized and oppressed groups. Therefore, Popular Education seeks to break with traditional and hierarchical educational models, in which knowledge is transmitted in a top-down manner, and proposes a more horizontal, collaborative, and dialogical approach. It recognizes that people experiencing the most unjust social realities are protagonists of their own stories and have knowledge and wisdom that should be valued and shared.
CLIMATE JUSTICE
Climate justice is a concept that recognizes that climate change affects people and communities around the world unequally. It addresses social inequalities and injustices resulting from climate change in order to ensure that responses to climate change are equitable, taking into account the disproportionate impacts on marginalized and vulnerable groups, as well as the historical responsibility of developed nations for greenhouse gas emissions.