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RIGHTS-BRAZIL:
Blacks Demand
Adoption of Promised Measures
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, (IPS) -
The Brazilian state has failed
to make good on promises to
adopt a series of measures aimed
at promoting racial equality,
the country’s black movement
complained Wednesday in a march
in the capital dubbed Zumbi +
10.
Wednesday's demonstration
commemorated a similar one held
in 1995 to recall the 300th
anniversary of the death of
Zumbi, the leader of the
Palmares "quilombo" or
settlement of runaway slaves and
free-born blacks that survived
for over a century in
northeastern Brazil.
Nov. 20, the date when Zumbi is
assumed to have been killed in
1695, was named National Black
Consciousness Day in Brazil.
Blacks in Brazil, who officially
make up 45 percent of the
population of 184 million, bear
the brunt of unemployment as
well as the highest homicide,
illiteracy and poverty rates,
which reflects the racial
component of the country’s
extreme social inequality,
Marcio Alexandre Gualberto, one
of the coordinators of the
march, told IPS.
Some 67.2 billion reals (just
over 20 billion dollars) would
have to be spent on education,
housing and basic sanitation
services to overcome these
inequalities, says a report,
"The Cost of Racism in Brazil",
carried out by the coordinators
of the Zumbi + 10 march, based
on official statistics.
These funds and public policies
should focus on the black
population, establishing
affirmative action quotas in the
universities, the workplace, and
political office, and granting
"different treatment to those
who are not equal," because
otherwise they will not be
effective, said Gualberto, a
black activist, journalist and
editor of the on-line magazine
Afirma.
One of the main demands voiced
by the demonstrators was the
creation of a Fund for the
Promotion of Racial Equality,
which outlines plans and budget
resources for programmes that
would benefit ethnic groups that
suffer discrimination.
The Statute of Racial Equality
currently being debated by
Congress provides for the
creation of the Fund, which,
however, has run into resistance
in the Senate.
But Edson Cardoso, another
organiser of Wednesday’s march,
argued that if the Fund is not
included, the new law will lack
teeth.
A "racial atlas" of Brazil
produced by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and
the Federal University of Minas
Gerais, reports that 65 percent
of the poor and 70 percent of
the extremely poor are
Afro-descendants, while
illiteracy among blacks stands
at 17.2 percent, compared to 7.5
percent among whites.
Rates of violent crime also
reflect racial inequalities. In
Brazil, 14,000 youngsters
between the ages of 12 and 19 –
the most vulnerable age group -
fall victim to murder every
year, and the large majority of
them are black, according to a
U.N. Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
study.
"There is quite strong racism in
Brazil," which is why there are
higher unemployment and murder
rates among blacks, "and
meanwhile the government doesn't
do a thing," Dircileia Vieira
told IPS.
It takes Vieira two hours by bus
to get to her job as a doorwoman
in a middle-class apartment
building in Rio de Janeiro.
"Some of the residents don't say
hello to me, maybe because I'm
black," she complained.
Vieira used to live in a favela
(shantytown) near her job, but
she moved to a distant
neighbourhood to get away from
the frequent firefights. "My
19-year-old daughter can't find
a job, in spite of all her
efforts, and despite the fact
that she is finishing secondary
school."
Besides jobs and more schools,
Brazil's Afro-descendants need
housing, because "nearly all of
the people living on the streets
are black," she added.
The march in Brasilia also
called for a 25 percent quota
for black students in the
country’s public universities,
legal land titles for those
living in black communities that
were originally quilombos, and
the effective application of a
law that stipulates that African
and Afro-Brazilian history must
be taught in the country’s
schools.
The black movement's demands
"are revolutionary, because they
are calling for profound changes
in the structure of the
country," since what is needed
is to create dignified living
conditions for "the excluded
half" of the population, said
Gualberto.
He underlined that one isolated
measure cannot solve the
problem, and that what is
required is an articulated set
of measures.
Some advances have been made in
recent years, such as the
creation of the Special
Secretariat for the Promotion of
Racial Equality, which has the
rank of a government ministry,
and the inclusion of African and
Afro-Brazilian culture in the
regular educational curriculum.
But little has been done in
practice, said the activist.
"The training received by high
school teachers is steeped in a
‘white-centric’ conception of
Brazilian history," and they are
thus not prepared to teach
Afro-Brazilian history, said
Gualberto. Blacks are also
underrepresented in politics,
and nearly all members of
Congress are white.
Nevertheless, many people say
"there is no racism in Brazil,"
he added.
The Zumbi + 10 march drew
between 5,000 and 7,000
demonstrators from the country’s
27 states, in what was meant to
be "a symbolic act," said
Gualberto. An estimated 30,000
people took part in the 1995
demonstration.
What happened since then is that
the movement split. Another
march against racism will take
place on Nov. 22 in Brasilia,
organised by the Central Única
dos Travalhadores, which is
close to the governing leftist
Workers Party.
According to Gualberto, next
Tuesday’s march will be "in
support of the government,"
while the Zumbi + 10 march was
independent and was scheduled
two years ago, as a
demonstration organised by a
large number of groups forming
part of the black movement.
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