Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

[Yehuda]

Afro-Venezuelan Day ratifies the struggle against racial discrimination

Written by Nohemí Trejo on May 10, 2022

Afro-Venezuelan Day is celebrated in the country every May 10 since 2005, as a tribute to the fight against slavery that our African brothers heroically waged during Spanish colonization.

The origin of this date dates back to 2004, when Commander Hugo Chávez created the Presidential Commission against Racial Discrimination.

However, it was in 2005 when activists for the recognition of African culture and history in Venezuela proposed May 10 as Afro-Venezuelan Day, on the occasion of the 221-year anniversary of the African slave rebellion led by José Leonardo Chirino, from the state of Falcón.

The bill to establish this event was promoted by Nicolás Maduro, when he presided over the National Assembly.

During Commander Hugo Chávez's rule, the National Council for the Development of Afro-descendant Communities (Consejo Nacional para el Desarrollo de las Comunidades Afrodescendientes; CONADECAFRO) was also installed; the Law against Racial Discrimination (2011) was also enacted and the Institute against Racial Discrimination (Instituto contra la Discriminación Racial; INCODIR) was created.

Commander Chávez's rule dignified and shed light on Afro-Venezuelans, strengthening ties between "Mother" Africa and Latin America, which President Nicolás Maduro preserves and strengthens.

José Leonardo Chirino's legacy

In 1795, José Leonardo Chirino, along with a group of slaves, seized the Macanilla plantation followed by El Socorro, in Curimagua, in the province of Coro, as an act of rebellion against the colonizers who subjected them to physical abuse and treated them like merchandise.

Chirino's idea of equality, emancipation and fraternity was inspired by the French Revolution and paved the way for pre-independence feats, such as the movement of Manuel Gual and José María España.

Chirino's indomitable spirit led to his arrest and sentence to the gallows on December 10, 1796, in Caracas.

In tune with the Afro-Venezuelan Day, the Bolivarian Government, through the Ministry of People's Power for Foreign Relations, will develop the XVII World Africa Week under the slogan "Venezuela and Africa consolidate the people's diplomacy."

The programming will take place from May 23 to 29 and includes exhibitions on heroines and heroes, numismatics and cultural expressions of this continent.

Afro-Venezuelan Day ratifies the struggle against racial discrimination

 

[Yehuda]

The III Afro-Venezuelan National Congress promotes equality and cultural diversity

By Manuel Cedillo
May 10, 2022

On the 227th anniversary of José Leonardo Chirino's rebellion in the spaces of the Venezuelan School of Planning in Caracas, the Plenary of the III Afro-Venezuelan National Congress was installed, which in this edition pays tribute to the revolutionary leader Aristóbulo Istúriz in order to promote the struggle against racism, establishing equality and cultural diversity as a priority.

During the meeting, the attendees highlighted the need to create a national organization that would provide comprehensive assistance to the country's Afro-descendant communities, in addition to agreeing on a common agenda and the organizing and training of Afro-descendant youth.



Likewise, the Afro-descendant deputies presented their management report before the plenary and a meeting was held with the Commission for the Clarification of Historical Truth, Justice and Reparations on Colonial Dominion and its Consequences in Venezuela.

"We, Afro-descendant men and women, hereby decided to meet to be able, collectively, to hoist our Maroon legacy and assume this new task in this process that has allowed us to advance," said the general coordinator of the event, deputy Casimira Monasterios.



In the same manner, policies related to Afro-descendants and the recognition of the historical rebellion of the African people in Venezuela, led by the zambo José Leonardo Chirino on May 10, 227 years ago, were debated, therefore "one of the proposals arising from the plenary session is the creation of the Afro-descendant Vice-Presidency within the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)", a press release says.



The III Afro-Venezuelan National Congress promotes equality and cultural diversity

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[Yehuda]

The People’s Summit for Democracy offers a progressive vision to counter US dominance in the region​

Parallel to the exclusionary Summit of the Americas organized by the Biden Administration, people’s movements and organizations have organized the People’s Summit for Democracy to uplift diverse voices from across the region and engage in necessary dialogue

May 26, 2022 by Sheila Xiao, Manolo De Los Santos

Coalition organizations from the People's Summit for Democracy marched on May Day in Los Angeles, California.

In a recent interview, Brian Nichols, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, was asked the question that is on everyone’s mind ahead of the June 2022 Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California: Will three particular countries in Latin America (Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua) be invited? Nichols responded with neither hesitation nor equivocation that the answer was no. Speaking on behalf of President Joe Biden, he further added that countries whose “actions do not respect democracy”—as the US government views these three countries and others like them—“will not receive invitations.” Nichols’ seemingly offhand comment, said with the usual arrogance of US officials and calling the three countries “regime[s that] do not respect [democracy],” sent a shockwave through the region that the US was likely not expecting.

Throughout Latin America, the reaction was immediate. Leaders such as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Bolivian President Luis Arce, and Honduran President Xiomara Castro, as well as several heads of state from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) including Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley, all expressed that they would not participate in the summit if the exclusions of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were maintained. CARICOM has called for a summit that ensures “the participation of all countries of the hemisphere.”

Biden’s insistence on continuing the US policy of exclusion and aggression against Latin America has made his summit a failure before it has even begun. Mired in controversy and criticism, the Biden administration has not been able to build consensus around any common agenda because of the double standards it creates.

While the US may have already moved on, the memories of recent coups and interventionist plots by the US government in the region are still fresh. The US and the Organization of American States (OAS) both helped engineer a coup in Bolivia in 2019 that overthrew a democratically elected government.

There is no Americas without Cuba

The summit since its inception has been met with skepticism by progressives across Latin America due to the outsized or, more accurately, domineering role played by the US and the OAS with regard to invitations, agenda, and vision. However, this year the US seems to have underestimated the important political shifts in the region and their impact on the political legitimacy of the US

The US does not seem to have anticipated any challenges to its leadership of the summit, but the pushback against US hegemony comes as no surprise to most Latin Americans and those around the world who have been following the region’s politics of late. Since the last summit in 2018, the political map has undergone radical transformations. Not only are progressive governments outnumbering reactionary ones across the region, but many of them emerged precisely out of a deep rejection of US-backed governments and policies, and the conditions that they create for the people.

Across the region, countries whose public sectors were undermined for decades by US- and IMF-imposed neoliberal policies saw their societies and economies devastated during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the extreme poverty rate in the region rose from 13.1 percent in 2020 to 13.8 percent in 2021, representing a setback of 27 years. At more than 2.7 million deaths from COVID-19, the Americas represent 43.6 percent of global COVID-19 deaths despite constituting only 12 percent of the world population.

The outliers in this general trend of economic crisis and humanitarian emergency were Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, which suffered some of the lowest rates of deaths from COVID-19 in the region and the world due to their comprehensive strategies of, above all else, putting the health and well-being of their citizens before profits.

This policy extended beyond their national borders. From as early as March 2020, Cuba was already sending medical brigades to countries across the region and the world to support their responses to COVID-19. With Cuba’s development of five vaccines against COVID-19, the country has worked closely with other global south countries to distribute vaccine science and technology to promote localized production and distribution; meanwhile, US pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies like Pfizer and Moderna were turning record profits. At the height of the pandemic in Brazil, Venezuela sent oxygen to the city of Manaus, which had run out of the vital supply despite pleading for federal aid from the Brazilian government under President Jair Bolsonaro.

It has become glaringly clear that countries in the region have everything to gain from maintaining cooperation and partnerships with the countries the US declares to be its enemies.

Democracy for whom?

The US excuses its aggressive policy against Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua by citing these countries’ alleged human rights violations and the so-called threats that these countries pose to democracy.

However, many have started to question what kind of democracy exists in a country where 1 million people have died from COVID-19, 2.2 million people are in prison (accounting for more than 20 percent of the world prison population), where police kill an average of three people a day (with Black people being 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than white people), and where $801 billion is spent on the military (the US makes up 38 percent of global military spending).

The majority of people in the Americas have rejected this hypocritical moral high ground and the premise that the US has the right to decide who participates in what forum and with whom. This is why a coalition of more than 100 organizations from across the region have come together to organize the People’s Summit for Democracy to counter the improperly named “Summit of the Americas.”

The People’s Summit carries forward the legacy of movements against neoliberal capitalism and US imperialism that have organized counter-summits every time the US organizes its Summit of the Americas. The People’s Summit will be held in Los Angeles, California, on June 8-10, and seeks to bring together the voices of people whom the US would prefer to silence and exclude. Immigrant organizers in Los Angeles will take the stage with landless rural workers from Brazil to discuss their visions of democracy for all. Feminist organizers from Argentina to New York will share strategies of how to fight for abortion access and counter the reactionary right-wing attacks on women and LGBTQ people.

These unprecedented times call for more cooperation and less exclusion. While unfortunately the US government also denied the visas of a 23-person delegation of Cuban civil society to the People’s Summit, the bonds between the Cuban people and the people of the Americas are unbreakable, and despite their best efforts, the US cannot silence the aspirations of the people.

For the Americas, which are on the cusp of transformative times, the age of the Monroe Doctrine is over.

The People’s Summit for Democracy offers a progressive vision to counter US dominance in the region

 

[Yehuda]

The Black feminist activist who could be Colombia’s vice president​

By Samantha Schmidt and Diana Durán
May 21, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Colombia's vice-presidential candidate for the Historic Pact leftist alliance, Francia Marquez (R), gestures during a campaign rally ahead of the May general election, in Medellin, Colombia, on April 4, 2022. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images)

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — As a prominent activist, Francia Márquez faced death threats, racist tweets — even an assassination attempt. Then she was named a candidate for vice president to the front-runner in this month’s election. Within weeks, the president of Colombia’s senate accused her of links to one of the country’s most violent guerrilla groups.

But Márquez was used to defending herself. Surrounded by reporters, she responded to the attack in a firm, confident voice.
“What really makes the president uncomfortable,” she said, “is that today, a woman who could have been the woman in his house, working as a maid, could now be his vice president.”

It’s a statement Márquez has repeated proudly throughout her historic campaign, reminding supporters and critics alike of who she is: An Afro-Colombian woman. A single mother of two who gave birth to her first child when she was 16 and cleaned houses to pay the bills. An award-winning environmental activist who led a 10-day march to defend her community from illegal mining.

A lawyer who could now become Colombia’s first Black vice president.

The 40-year-old, who has never held political office, stunned Colombians in March when she won the third most votes in the country’s presidential primary. She’s now one of the most visible candidates in the election, packing plazas and electrifying crowds as she runs alongside leftist senator Gustavo Petro. If they win, she would be one of only two Black female vice presidents in Latin America.

Of the six presidential tickets in the May 29 election, four have an Afro-Colombian vice-presidential candidate — a remarkable shift in a country historically led by men from a small group of elite families.

But it’s Márquez whose message has broken through. Her straight talk and her life story are forcing Colombia to confront its racist, classist and sexist past and present.

“I’m part of a community that has historically been excluded and marginalized, a community that was enslaved,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s more than just about the color of our skin. It’s about the elite who believe they are superior, that the rest are inferior and that it doesn’t matter.”

Márquez is a kind of leader who has rarely reached the highest levels of power in the hemisphere, and not only because she is a Black feminist activist from a working-class background. She’s forcing people to question their privilege in ways few other Black politicians have.

“She’s disputing the legitimacy of a government run by the elite,” said Mara Viveros Vigolla, a professor of gender studies and anthropology at Colombia’s National University. “She’s telling them, ‘You’re speaking on behalf of a community you do not know.’ ”

Supporters of Márquez and presidential candidate Gustavo Petro at the Cali rally. (Paola Mafla/AFP/Getty Images)

Colombia has one of the largest populations of descendants of Africans in Latin America. Census data indicates Afro-Colombians make up more than 6.2 percent of the population, but analysts say the true count may be much larger.

Márquez’s talk about race is disruptive in a country that for generations identified its people as sharing a single mixed race, called Mestizo. In its 1991 constitution, Colombia formally recognized itself as multicultural, distinguishing among Indigenous and Black ethnic groups with specific territorial and cultural rights.

But Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty, violence and displacement. About 31 percent of the Afro-Colombian population are living in poverty, 11 points higher than the national population, according to government figures.

“We are not happily diverse, we’re conflictingly different,” said Johana Herrera, director of the Observatory of Ethnic Territories at Javeriana University.

As much as 90 percent of the population along the Pacific Coast is Afro-Colombian, most of them descended from people enslaved by the Spanish to work in gold mines in the region before the legal abolition of slavery in 1851. But there’s a long-held belief among Colombians that Black people live only in the remote forests of the Pacific region, Herrera says. This false narrative — along with an undercount by the census — allows local officials in some parts of the country to deny that Afro-Colombian people live in their jurisdictions, limiting the resources and land titles granted to these communities.

Unlike in the United States, race and racism has rarely been discussed on a national stage.

“The racism that exists in the United States has been one of institutional explicitness,” said Colombian anthropologist Eduardo Restrepo. “Since there have never been segregation laws here, like in the United States or South Africa, people take that to mean there’s no racism here.”

Márquez did not graduate from a prestigious university, nor did she rise through traditional political jobs. She was educated as an agricultural technician and in 2020 earned a law degree from a university in Cali, near her home.

This is also what distinguishes her from the other Black candidates running for vice president. Luis Gilberto Murillo, the running mate for centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo, is a former environmental minister and governor who was educated abroad. Murillo “speaks in the language of the elites,” Viveros said.

Murillo, asked if Colombia is racist, responded: “I’m not the one saying it; the constitutional court has said it, many times. If I say it is, then people will call me resentful.”

Murillo always wears a suit and tie, he told The Post. “If you dress down, as an Afro-descendent man, you can be sure you’ll be stopped.”

Márquez, meanwhile, wears colorful Afro-Colombian prints and big jewelry. When she stands beside Petro, she often raises a fist — while smiling.

“The problem people have with Francia is that she is a Black woman who does not behave well, who knows she is Black, and knows what that means in historical terms,” Restrepo said. “And she doesn’t shut up.”

It wasn’t always so. As a child growing up in a predominantly Afro-Colombian community in Cauca, Márquez said, she didn’t want to be Black. She associated her roots with images of Africa she saw on television, “showing us malnourished children with flies in their mouths.”

As a teenager, she thought that dating a White man would help her move up in society. But when she became pregnant at 16, he abandoned her.

She began to connect with her Black identity as she listened to stories from her grandmother, who never learned to read and whose great-grandmother was enslaved. “She told me about our people’s struggle to protect our land,” Márquez said.

Márquez, center, speaks to supporters in Medellín. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images)

Márquez spoke out against illegal gold mining. Death threats forced her to flee her town. That same year, she led dozens of women on a 217-mile march to Bogotá to protest a mine that threatened a river on which her community depended. The Colombian government eventually responded by sending troops to push the illegal miners out.

In 2018, Márquez won the Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded to one activist from each of six regions around the world. A year later, she survived an assassination attempt.

“She forces people to wake up,” said Axel Rojas, an anthropology professor at the University of Cauca, “despite all of the real risks that means.”

On the campaign trail, she has been the target of racist attacks on social media. A Colombian singer compared her to “King Kong.” A member of her own party shared an image depicting Márquez as a gorilla, and claimed he was trying to defend her.

Some rivals say she isn’t being singled out. Rodrigo Lara Sánchez, running mate to conservative Federico Gutiérrez, is the son of a justice minister who was killed by Pablo Escobar’s hit men in 1984.

When asked about racist attacks against Márquez, Lara argued they were no different from the threats and comments he faces as a politician.

“To me, there’s no difference between what I’ve suffered and lived and what she’s lived,” said Lara.

Márquez says racism in Colombia has long been “covered up.”

“It’s more difficult to demonstrate racism here,” she said. “But now, it’s not as difficult. And if there’s one thing that makes me happy, it’s that. That people don’t need to tell us we’re resentful for talking about racism anymore. That they’ve realized it exists, right?”

The Black feminist activist who could be Colombia’s vice president

 

[Yehuda]

Afro-Colombians Support Petro for Colombia’s Structural Change

"Faithful to our principle of inclusion and common good, we will be inviting all Colombians to vote for Gustavo Petro next June 19 in the second round," political party Colombia Renaciente said. Jun. 1, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@WILSONAVA

Published 1 June 2022 (18 hours 34 minutes ago)

"Afro-descendant based" political party Colombia Renaciente announced its support for the leftist candidate for Colombia's presidency, Gustavo Petro.

The leftist coalition Pacto Histórico, led by Gustavo Petro and with Afro environmental activist Francia Márquez as the vice-presidential candidate, received the support of the "Afro-descendant based" political party Colombia Renaciente for the runoff elections in Colombia to be held on June 19.

The political party Colombia Renaciente is led by Luis Gilberto Murillo, who accompanied candidate Sergio Fajardo of the Centro Esperanza coalition, fourth place in the first round on May 29.
Colombia Renaciente is grounded in the African Ubuntu philosophy of pursuing the community's welfare. The party actively works to promote the representation of Afro-Colombians in the spaces of power and to defend projects of social justice and equal opportunities.
"Faithful to our principle of inclusion and the common good, we will be inviting all Colombians to vote for Gustavo Petro next June 19 in the second round," a statement from the sector said.


Luis Gilberto Murillo, former governor of Choco, former Minister of Environment and candidate for the Vice Presidency of Sergio Fajardo, join Petro and France together with his party Colombia Renaciente.

The support of Colombia Renaciente strengthens the chances of victory for Petro, who gathered 40.32 percent of the vote in the first round. Meanwhile, right-wing populist candidate Rodolfo Hernandez came in second place with 28.15 percent.

The vice-presidential candidate, Francia Márquez, already has the support of women, racialized people, peasants and indigenous people in recognition of her social activism and her claims against the government of Iván Duque's policies and repression, mainly within the framework of the 2021 protests.



Afro-Colombians Support Petro for Colombia’s Structural Change

 

[Yehuda]

“Black youth will be fundamental in the fight against the extreme right”, says MNU founder

Milton Barbosa turned 74 during the 19th Congress of the MNU (Movimento Negro Unificado; Unified Black Movement) in Recife, Pernambuco; the organization defined as a priority defeating Bolsonaro and electing Lula as president

Wednesday, May 18, 2022 07:58
Text: Pedro Borges | Editing: Nadine Nascimento | Image: Pedro Borges

Milton Barbosa during MNU Congress

On July 7, 1978, during the military regime, Milton Barbosa participated in the founding of the Unified Black Movement (Movimento Negro Unificado; MNU). 44 years later, Miltão, as he is known, participated in the 19th congress of said movement, which is now nationwide, with chapters in every state of the country.

At the end of the meeting, the MNU defined the defeat of Bolsonaro and the election of Lula in the presidential race as priorities for the year 2022. In an interview with Alma Preta Jornalismo, the founder of the movement warned of the danger experienced in the country with the presidency of the Republic under the direction of Jair Bolsonaro.

“We are under the rule of the extreme right, and the extreme right is no joke, because Hitler, a fascist and a Nazi, set up a whole strategy of death. It is the same thing with Bolsonaro, who is part of the extreme right, who eases gun laws and increases the genocide against black and poor people”, he said.

Barbosa explains that, in order to overcome this scenario, he believes that black youth will have a prominent role during the electoral campaign. “Black youth will be fundamental in the fight against the extreme right. We are going to set up important forums in the areas of education and communication and restructure important sectors for black youth”.

At the end of the MNU's 19th Congress, Iêda Leal, current National Coordinator, was reelected. Her tendency received 133 votes against Marta Almeida's 119 and Leny Claudino's 31. The coordinator announced that she will join the other forces of the MNU for the National Coordination, composed of 15 seats. The expectation is that the board will have seven seats for Iêda's group, supported by the tendency called Segura e Lança; six seats for Marta Almeida, defended by the tendency Aquilombar, Raça e Revolução and the state of Pernambuco; and two for Anlu, another MNU tendency represented by Leny Claudino.

The participants of the meeting were the delegates chosen in the states to defend the local demands in the national congress. 850 delegates were elected across the country, but due to lack of resources, only 325 were selected to attend the meeting. The number respected the proportionality of delegates nominated from each state.

The reach and proportions of the MNU Congress motivated Milton Barbosa. He believes that the meeting was important to strengthen connections between different sections of the movement in the fight against racism and inequalities.

He pointed out that “this Congress defined actions to rearticulate the black struggle in Brazil, educating a new youth with a spetacular organizational capacity. It was therefore an important moment for the advancement of the black struggle, both in terms of the restructuring of the MNU and for the notes of action at the national level, for relations with the countries of the Americas, Europe and Africa”.

On the 12th of May, the date of the beginning of the Congress and the day before the abolition of slavery, Milton Barbosa turned 74 years old. At the opening of the meeting, he was honored with the projection of a photograph. He was the first guest to sit at the starting table and inaugurated the activity's speeches. On the 14th, Saturday, he also received a public declaration of love from his partner, Regina Lúcia dos Santos.

“It's nice to receive this affection. I'm happy to see the youth making an effort to participate in the process and politick with the ‘oldheads' present. It was very interesting and exciting”, he said.

“Black youth will be fundamental in the fight against the extreme right”, says MNU founder

 

[Yehuda]

Deputies and traditional peoples create bill providing for reparations for slavery

The Legal Framework for Traditional Peoples and Communities of African Origin (PL 1279/2022) was signed by 20 federal deputies and alters the Statute of Racial Equality as well as the City Statute in order to guarantee more rights

Friday, May 20, 2022 14:43
Text: Thaís Rodrigues | Editing: Nadine Nascimento | Image: Rafael Barroso / Chamber of Deputies

Peoples of African origin in Brazil — together with 20 federal deputies — filed the Legal Framework for Traditional Peoples and Communities of African Origin (PL 1279/2022). In its 20 pages, the bill requires the State to establish public policies and adopt affirmative actions for the survival and maintenance of this population's culture.

The bill recognizes the contribution of peoples of African origin in the founding of Brazil, provides for the promotion of the ancestry that establishes links with the African continent and requires the public power to make reparations for the crime against humanity that was slavery. “For the violations of civil, social, political, cultural and economic rights resulting from it [the process of enslavement] committed by the Brazilian State, by individuals and by institutions of society”, the text expresses.

Filed on May 17, the bill complements legislation that guarantees individual and collective rights to the Brazilian black community and that combats racial discrimination and religious intolerance. It requires the State to draw up a National Plan for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities, in addition to training public servants, defenders, law enforcement officers and public security in the defense of the rights of this population.

According to the bill, the powers must carry out campaigns to promote African ancestry and guarantee food security and sovereignty for each peoples. It also deals with combating intolerance and endorses the need for public health that takes diversity into consideration.

Regina Nogueira, known as Kota Mulanji, states that this is a milestone that should have been made on May 14, 1888, the day after the so-called proclamation of (unfinished) abolition of slavery. “The slaves came from a continent, had their customs, their traditions, their ancestrality and now we are going to repair them; we did not liberate them, we reparate them by formally recognizing them as a people. This acknowledgement took 134 years to happen and we still have to fight, here in the Chamber, for its approval”, said the National Coordinator of the National Forum on Food and Nutrition Security of Traditional Peoples of African Origin (Fórum Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional dos Povos Tradicionais de Matriz Africana; FONSANPOTMA).

Daniel Kibuko, a member of the movement of Traditional Peoples of African Origin of the Federal District (DF) said that this bill is much more than a denunciation against religious racism; it is a fundamental step in the fight for recognition as traditional peoples.

“Far beyond the simple defense of freedom of worship, we demand that the Brazilian State recognize us in the complexity and integrality of what we are in fact: heirs and continuators of the traditions of our African ancestors. Peoples in their full meaning: bearers of their own languages, food culture, specific forms of organization and social reproduction. I have no doubt that this is a fundamental debate in the fight to overcome structural racism”, said the coordinator of the Workers' Party's Antirracism Cell in the Federal District.

The bill was authored by Federal Deputy Erika Kokay (Workers' Party/Federal District) and signed by nineteen other congressmen and women: Fernanda Melchionna (Socialism and Liberty Party/Rio Grande do Sul); Talíria Petrone (Socialism and Liberty Party/Rio de Janeiro); Vivi Reis (Socialism and Liberty Party/Pará); Professora Rosa Neide (Workers' Party/Mato Grosso); Luiza Erundina (Socialism and Liberty Party/São Paulo); Áurea Carolina (Socialism and Liberty Party/Minas Gerais); Sâmia Bomfim (Socialism and Liberty Party/São Paulo); Ivan Valente (Socialism and Liberty Party/São Paulo); Frei Anastacio Ribeiro (Workers' Party/Paraíba); Valmir Assunção (Workers' Party/Bahia); Marcon (Workers' Party/Rio Grande do Sul): Natália Bonavides (Workers' Party/Rio Grande do Norte): David Miranda (Democratic Labour Party/Rio de Janeiro): Paulo Ramos (Democratic Labour Party/Rio de Janeiro): Heitor Schuch (Brazilian Socialist Party/Rio Grande do Sul): Reginaldo Lopes (Workers' Party/Minas Gerais): Tadeu Alencar (Brazilian Socialist Party/Pernambuco); Jandira Feghali (Communist Party of Brazil/Rio de Janeiro): Alencar Santana (Workers' Party/São Paulo).

Deputies and traditional peoples create bill providing for reparations for slavery

 

[Yehuda]

Black movement seeks greater representation in politics

Greater visibility of organizations, effects of the pandemic and impacts of the socioeconomic crisis drive black candidacies in this year's elections

DEUTSCHE WELLE
07 May, 2022 (Saturday) - 5h55

Antirracist vote could undermine Bolsonaro's re-election

The expansion of antirracist movements and organizations in recent years has encouraged black women and men to run as candidates in this year's electoral contest. The harmful effects of the covid-19 pandemic and the impacts of the socioeconomic crisis that hit especially the black population and residents of the periphery are also other factors of the current situation in Brazil that encourage black leaders to run as candidates in October.

Representatives of different tendencies of the Brazilian black movement are more optimistic about the prospects for the election of black candidates in the National Congress, Legislative Assemblies and state governments. These leaders recognize, however, that the advancement of this representation will hardly mirror the share of the black population in Brazil: 56.2% of Brazilians (the percentage of people who declared themselves black in Brazil in the 2019 IBGE Household Sampling Survey, out of almost 210 million inhabitants).

“This is a strategy already combined with the black movement: organizing the occupation of positions of power. We cannot want to fight racism if we are not in strategic positions. We've decided that no one will speak for us anymore. And whoever speaks on our behalf has to speak from what we have accumulated as far as responses to society, about how we understand a society free of racism, how to fight racism, how institutions, the media, health and education policies can answer to expectations from 56% of the Brazilian population”, says Iêda Leal de Souza, national coordinator of the Unified Black Movement (MNU).

More space and support for black candidates

Two recent rulings, one by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in 2020 and another by the Senate, this year, are seen as levers for the candidacies of black women and men in these elections.

The Supreme Federal Court decided that both resources from the Party Fund and the Special Fund for Campaign Financing (FEFC) must be transferred proportionately to black candidates; that is, the resources destined for these candidacies must be equivalent to the proportion of black men and women in each party.

The Senate has already approved the constitutional amendment (EC 111/21), which will be applied for the first time in these October elections. By rule, from this election, until 2030, the votes given to women candidates or black candidates will be considered twice for the purpose of distributing the resources of the party fund and the electoral fund. This makes it advantageous for the party to elect a black politician.

“All antirracist groups are very determined to build strong and competitive candidacies. This agenda grew in society. The parties, institutions whose foundation is to represent sectors of society, are under pressure for black candidates to have more space and support”, explains Douglas Belchior, black activist and representative of the Black Coalition for Rights.

At the end of last year, Belchior joined the Workers' Party and is expected to run for federal deputy in October. While the proportionality of resources for black candidates and the Senate amendment are a crucial step forward, he says, it will not solve the obstacles: “We have no guarantees that the parties will use these resources that they receive more [from party funds] with black candidates.”

A “Symbolic Quilombo” in the National Congress

Both the MNU and the Black Coalition for Rights avoid working with milestones for the election of black candidates. “We want to elect candidates representative of the black movement, and that is different from electing black candidates at random. We are not working with numbers. We want to elect dozens, perhaps hundreds. We will have competitive candidacies in all states of the country for state legislatures, and also for the Federal Chamber. Our intention is to build a symbolic quilombo in Congress”, says Belchior.

In the opinion of the president of the Unified Favelas' Central (Central Única das Favelas; CUFA), Preto Zezé, political parties in Brazil do not place the racial issue as a central issue, and that is an obstacle for those who are protagonists in this struggle. “Party bureaucracies will do everything to ensure that black candidacies take place, but they will do so without any real impetus for blacks to be elected”, he laments. For him, the most important strategy of the antirracist movements would be to privilege the vote for black women candidates. “They are very powerful”, he says, emphasizing the role of black women in Brazilian society.

Emergence of several new leaders

The antirracist agenda, according to Preto Zezé, needs to have a nationwide focus and reach all party spectrums, from right to left. He also notes that most blacks on the periphery are linked to conservative Pentecostal religious movements, which increases the likelihood of black candidates in the right-wing camp. One of the most important spokespersons for the favelas, Zezé says he is optimistic about the emergence of several new leaders, especially women. He cites, for example, activist Tamires Sampaio, from the National Antiracist Front (Frente Nacional Antirracista; FNA).

The FNA, which was founded two years ago, brings together more than 600 black movement entities with the aim of organizing militancy against structural and institutional racism, denouncing the exclusion of blacks in decision-making positions of power. “It is important to elect black people who are committed to the racial struggle and the construction of a more egalitarian country. We have seen our agenda of combating racism and the genocide of youth and the black population gain strength. The murder of Marielle Franco [councilwoman, from the Socialism and Liberty Party] in 2018 was a message to black women and since then a series of black leaders have been projected and elected. I think that this will now be consolidated even more in the Assemblies and in Congress”, says Tamires, who has a law degree and specializes in public security.

For the leader of the FNA, the candidacies of black men and women should find greater space in left-wing parties, which have historically been committed to this agenda, she says. In addition, Tamires Sampaio, also a member of the Workers' Party and likely candidate for federal deputy, points out that the antirracism agenda is closely linked to democracy, which today unifies the center-left camp.

Bolsonaro and the antirracist vote

For Douglas Belchior, it is the antirracist vote that is going to defeat Jair Bolsonaro in October. He cites the election of Joe Biden in the United States as an example: “It was the black vote that mobilized Trump's defeat”.

Some entities, such as UNEAFRO, have recently lauched campaigns that openly call for voting against the current president. The campaign encourages the creation of antirracist committees across Brazil and points out that the current Bolsonaro government has propagated and increased “violence against women, hatred towards the LGBTQIA+ community, racism against black people, quilombolas and indigenous peoples, the destruction of forests and the environment, the destruction of social policies and the growth of poverty and hunger”. A website was created to encourage black people to vote for black candidates committed to the antirracist struggle and to create several committees across the country.

A survey carried out in 2018 by the Thoughts and Actions for the Defense of Democracy Institute (Instituto Pensamentos e Ações para a Defesa da Democracia; IPAD), coordinated by researcher Marta Costta, revealed black underrepresentation: in Congress, of the 513, only 24 were black. Of the 81 senators, only 3 were black. In the Bolsonaro government, there is no black minister; there is also no black minister in the Supreme Federal Court, although the Court has had Joaquim Barbosa as president in the past.

In the states, with the disagreements that took place in April for the October disputes, there are currently three black female governors: Fátima Bezerra (Rio Grande do Norte), Luciana Santos (Pernambuco) and Regina Souza (Piauí). Of the 1,060 state deputies in the country, only 25 are black. Among the 5,570 mayors, 1,604 declared themselves to be black. In municipal legislatures, of the 57,838 councilors, 24,282 are black.

Black movement seeks greater representation in politics

 

[Yehuda]

Peru is also Afro-Peruvian

“We cannot limit ourselves to celebrating Afro-Peruvian (...) and at the same time ignoring that Afro-Peruvians still suffer from the consequences of strucutral inequalities”.

Ana Lucía Mosquera Rosado
04 June, 2022 05h32 — Updated 04 June, 2022 05h32

Today, June 4, is the Day of Afro-Peruvian culture, a date that, in many cases, goes unnoticed or whose celebration is limited to entertainment and not to a deeper analysis of the problems that affect Afro-Peruvian people in this country.

Having a specific date to commemorate the contributions of Afro-Peruvians responds to the need to have recognition policies that value the identity, culture and history of a sector of the population that is commonly made invisible; but that, in addition, put in the public discussion the problems that affect them and the need to work as a nation to reduce the gaps that impede their development.

Hence the need to have specific public policies that focus on meeting the specific needs of Afro-Peruvians and that guarantee the exercise of their rights. This work has been carried out for several decades and has had, a few days ago, one of its most important milestones: the approval of the National Policy for Afro-Peruvian People, a public management instrument projected towards 2030 whose main objective is to improve the living conditions and citizen participation of the more than 800,000 people who identify as Afro-Peruvian.

The National Policy for Afro-Peruvian People indicates, in its introduction, that “Afro-Peruvian people are an indispensable part of Peruvian society”. This statement, which may sound obvious and at times even logical, is powerful insofar as it represents what is taken for granted, but which for Afro-Peruvians continues to be a request even today: the possibility of being seen, recognized and cared for. On the contrary, Afro-Peruvians represent the maximum expression of structural racism: the systematic denial of their very existence.

On a date like this we have to recognize Afro-Peruvian identity as an essential component in what we know as Peru, but also understand that we cannot limit ourselves to celebrating Afro-Peruvian culture and the expressions of Afro-Peruvian cultural heritage that we share today as a nation while at the same time forgetting that Afro-Peruvians still suffer from the consequences of structural inequalities caused by racism, which until this day impacts their possibilities for development and the exercise of full citizenship.

Ana Lucía Mosquera Rosado Journalist, researcher and activist

Peru is also Afro-Peruvian

 

[Yehuda]

Minister of Culture: the National Policy for Afro-Peruvian People will improve quality of life and exercise of their rights

Press Note

Alejandro Salas officially issued the rule that benefits more than 800 thousand citizens and stressed that this is the first sectoral policy approved by the government.

Photos: Communications and Institutional Image Office

Communications and Institutional Image Office
June 4, 2022 — 12:13 p.m.

The Minister of Culture, Alejandro Salas Zegarra, highlighted the enactment of the National Policy for Afro-Peruvian People by 2030, after noting that this rule establishes actions to improve the lives of these citizens, also promoting the exercise of their economic, social, political and cultural rights.

“Today, more than celebrating, we reclaim what is ours, because we must all feel identified in a multicultural country, where Afro-Peruvians have contributed a lot. This is a way of saying to the Afro-Peruvian people: thank you very much for all your contribution to this country and to ask for historical apologies”, he indicated during the launch ceremony of the Supreme Decree, which will benefit more than 800,000 Afro-Peruvians.

Within the context of the campaign “We are Afro-descendants, the identity that unites us” and on the Day of Afro-Peruvian Culture, Salas Zegarra stated that it is the State's duty to protect vulnerable populations.

“This is not a plan for Afro-Peruvians, but for all Peruvians. It is a moment of joy and reflection, of telling ourselves that we need to love each other more as Peruvians. Today we celebrate the Afro-Peruvian people with the commitment to work to reduce the discrimination that we still experience in different fields”, he said.

He stressed that this is the first National Policy that this government approves through the Ministry of Culture, but that it is transversal to other ministries since we must continue working on the path to strengthen us as Peruvians. “This is the way to work for the country, uniting ourselves, realizing we are multicultural and knowing that united as Peruvians we can go forward”, he said.

The event, which took place at the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture, was attended by the Ministers of Justice and Human Rights, Félix Chero; Environment, Modesto Montoya and Women and Vulnerable Populations, Diana Miloslavich; as well as the Vice Minister of Interculturality, Rocilda Nunta, among other authorities.

At the end of the ceremony, the Minister of Culture, Alejandro Salas, together with the other ministers, participated in the “We are Afro-descendants, the identity that unites us” Festival, which was put together to commemorate the promulgation of the National Policy for Afro-Peruvian People, with the installation of stands where Afro-Peruvian organizations presented various cultural expressions of the Afro-Peruvian people, through music, handicrafts, accessories and textiles as well as their traditional dishes and desserts.

The National Policy establishes actions to improve the quality of life of Afro-Peruvians and promotes the exercise of their economic, social, political and cultural rights — through the identification of 43 public services that will be provided by 12 entities — for the benefit of the second largest ethnic group in the country.

A call for unity and consensus building

On the other hand, the head of the Culture sector made a call to Congress for unity and consensus building and to continue working together for Peru. “From the Executive Power we respect the rule of law, democracy and the independence of powers and we do not carry out any type of plan against the Congress of the Republic. On the contrary, we seek to come together to rule together. Hard times are coming where, if we are not united, we are going to suffer. The Executive Power continues to extend its hand to the Congress of the Republic, even if the Congress of the Republic, with its highest representatives, wants in one way or another to violate the rule of law”, he pointed out.

In this regard, he described the audio of the President of Congress, María del Carmen Alva, as unfortunate and said that, “when we work with those intentions for the country we all hurt ourselves”. In addition, he recalled that the Executive Power does not plan or design anything that threatens democracy.

“We are Afro-descendants, the identity that unites us” Campaign

It should be noted that, for the eighth consecutive year, the Ministry of Culture commemorates June as the month of Afro-Peruvian Culture, through various virtual and face-to-face activities, in order to raise awareness about the actions of promotion, protection of rights and development of the Afro-Peruvian people, thereby seeking to strengthen the appreciation of cultural diversity, a key objective of the National Policy on Culture by 2030.

The activities that this year will have as their motto “We are Afro-descendants, the identity that unites us” will include a posthumous tribute to the neighborhood leader of the district of Villa el Salvador, María Elena Moyano, 30 years after her death, which seeks to reclaim historical Afro-Peruvian women who, through their various struggles, have contributed to the construction of a more just and egalitarian society.

Facts

• According to Decree Law No. 28761, the “Day of Afro-Peruvian Culture” (June 4) was declared in 2006 by the Congress of the Republic, in honor of Nicomedes Santa Cruz, a renowned poet, singer, journalist, researcher and cultivator of the Afro-Peruvian intangible cultural heritage.
• María Elena Moyano was recognized in 2002 as a National Heroine by the Congress of the Republic, where even one of its rooms bears her name. Likewise, the Ministry of Culture in 2017 posthumously awarded her recognition as a Meritorious Personality of Culture.
• All events will be published on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Culture: Ministerio de Cultura del Perú
• According to the 2017 National Population and Housing Census, 29,381,884 people were registered in Peru. Of that total, 828,894 people self-identified as Afro-Peruvian, which represents 3.6% of the total population.
• Based on data from the same census, six departments stand out with the highest percentage of the population that self-identify as Afro-Peruvian: Lima with 26.6%, Piura with 15.1%, La Libertad with 12.3%, Lambayeque with 9.5%, Cajamarca with 7.2%, Ica with 4.0% and Callao with 4.6%.

Minister of Culture: the National Policy for Afro-Peruvian People will improve quality of life and exercise of their rights

 

[trap101-ETHout-Allegri-In]

The Black feminist activist who could be Colombia’s vice president​

By Samantha Schmidt and Diana Durán
May 21, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Colombia's vice-presidential candidate for the Historic Pact leftist alliance, Francia Marquez (R), gestures during a campaign rally ahead of the May general election, in Medellin, Colombia, on April 4, 2022. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images)

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — As a prominent activist, Francia Márquez faced death threats, racist tweets — even an assassination attempt. Then she was named a candidate for vice president to the front-runner in this month’s election. Within weeks, the president of Colombia’s senate accused her of links to one of the country’s most violent guerrilla groups.

But Márquez was used to defending herself. Surrounded by reporters, she responded to the attack in a firm, confident voice.
“What really makes the president uncomfortable,” she said, “is that today, a woman who could have been the woman in his house, working as a maid, could now be his vice president.”

It’s a statement Márquez has repeated proudly throughout her historic campaign, reminding supporters and critics alike of who she is: An Afro-Colombian woman. A single mother of two who gave birth to her first child when she was 16 and cleaned houses to pay the bills. An award-winning environmental activist who led a 10-day march to defend her community from illegal mining.

A lawyer who could now become Colombia’s first Black vice president.

The 40-year-old, who has never held political office, stunned Colombians in March when she won the third most votes in the country’s presidential primary. She’s now one of the most visible candidates in the election, packing plazas and electrifying crowds as she runs alongside leftist senator Gustavo Petro. If they win, she would be one of only two Black female vice presidents in Latin America.

Of the six presidential tickets in the May 29 election, four have an Afro-Colombian vice-presidential candidate — a remarkable shift in a country historically led by men from a small group of elite families.

But it’s Márquez whose message has broken through. Her straight talk and her life story are forcing Colombia to confront its racist, classist and sexist past and present.

“I’m part of a community that has historically been excluded and marginalized, a community that was enslaved,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s more than just about the color of our skin. It’s about the elite who believe they are superior, that the rest are inferior and that it doesn’t matter.”

Márquez is a kind of leader who has rarely reached the highest levels of power in the hemisphere, and not only because she is a Black feminist activist from a working-class background. She’s forcing people to question their privilege in ways few other Black politicians have.

“She’s disputing the legitimacy of a government run by the elite,” said Mara Viveros Vigolla, a professor of gender studies and anthropology at Colombia’s National University. “She’s telling them, ‘You’re speaking on behalf of a community you do not know.’ ”

Supporters of Márquez and presidential candidate Gustavo Petro at the Cali rally. (Paola Mafla/AFP/Getty Images)

Colombia has one of the largest populations of descendants of Africans in Latin America. Census data indicates Afro-Colombians make up more than 6.2 percent of the population, but analysts say the true count may be much larger.

Márquez’s talk about race is disruptive in a country that for generations identified its people as sharing a single mixed race, called Mestizo. In its 1991 constitution, Colombia formally recognized itself as multicultural, distinguishing among Indigenous and Black ethnic groups with specific territorial and cultural rights.

But Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty, violence and displacement. About 31 percent of the Afro-Colombian population are living in poverty, 11 points higher than the national population, according to government figures.

“We are not happily diverse, we’re conflictingly different,” said Johana Herrera, director of the Observatory of Ethnic Territories at Javeriana University.

As much as 90 percent of the population along the Pacific Coast is Afro-Colombian, most of them descended from people enslaved by the Spanish to work in gold mines in the region before the legal abolition of slavery in 1851. But there’s a long-held belief among Colombians that Black people live only in the remote forests of the Pacific region, Herrera says. This false narrative — along with an undercount by the census — allows local officials in some parts of the country to deny that Afro-Colombian people live in their jurisdictions, limiting the resources and land titles granted to these communities.

Unlike in the United States, race and racism has rarely been discussed on a national stage.

“The racism that exists in the United States has been one of institutional explicitness,” said Colombian anthropologist Eduardo Restrepo. “Since there have never been segregation laws here, like in the United States or South Africa, people take that to mean there’s no racism here.”

Márquez did not graduate from a prestigious university, nor did she rise through traditional political jobs. She was educated as an agricultural technician and in 2020 earned a law degree from a university in Cali, near her home.

This is also what distinguishes her from the other Black candidates running for vice president. Luis Gilberto Murillo, the running mate for centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo, is a former environmental minister and governor who was educated abroad. Murillo “speaks in the language of the elites,” Viveros said.

Murillo, asked if Colombia is racist, responded: “I’m not the one saying it; the constitutional court has said it, many times. If I say it is, then people will call me resentful.”

Murillo always wears a suit and tie, he told The Post. “If you dress down, as an Afro-descendent man, you can be sure you’ll be stopped.”

Márquez, meanwhile, wears colorful Afro-Colombian prints and big jewelry. When she stands beside Petro, she often raises a fist — while smiling.

“The problem people have with Francia is that she is a Black woman who does not behave well, who knows she is Black, and knows what that means in historical terms,” Restrepo said. “And she doesn’t shut up.”

It wasn’t always so. As a child growing up in a predominantly Afro-Colombian community in Cauca, Márquez said, she didn’t want to be Black. She associated her roots with images of Africa she saw on television, “showing us malnourished children with flies in their mouths.”

As a teenager, she thought that dating a White man would help her move up in society. But when she became pregnant at 16, he abandoned her.

She began to connect with her Black identity as she listened to stories from her grandmother, who never learned to read and whose great-grandmother was enslaved. “She told me about our people’s struggle to protect our land,” Márquez said.

Márquez, center, speaks to supporters in Medellín. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images)

Márquez spoke out against illegal gold mining. Death threats forced her to flee her town. That same year, she led dozens of women on a 217-mile march to Bogotá to protest a mine that threatened a river on which her community depended. The Colombian government eventually responded by sending troops to push the illegal miners out.

In 2018, Márquez won the Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded to one activist from each of six regions around the world. A year later, she survived an assassination attempt.

“She forces people to wake up,” said Axel Rojas, an anthropology professor at the University of Cauca, “despite all of the real risks that means.”

On the campaign trail, she has been the target of racist attacks on social media. A Colombian singer compared her to “King Kong.” A member of her own party shared an image depicting Márquez as a gorilla, and claimed he was trying to defend her.

Some rivals say she isn’t being singled out. Rodrigo Lara Sánchez, running mate to conservative Federico Gutiérrez, is the son of a justice minister who was killed by Pablo Escobar’s hit men in 1984.

When asked about racist attacks against Márquez, Lara argued they were no different from the threats and comments he faces as a politician.

“To me, there’s no difference between what I’ve suffered and lived and what she’s lived,” said Lara.

Márquez says racism in Colombia has long been “covered up.”

“It’s more difficult to demonstrate racism here,” she said. “But now, it’s not as difficult. And if there’s one thing that makes me happy, it’s that. That people don’t need to tell us we’re resentful for talking about racism anymore. That they’ve realized it exists, right?”

The Black feminist activist who could be Colombia’s vice president

I fux wit Marquez.... I was loving when she called Tino Asprilla a hosue negro a few months ago.... that woman is unapologetic and strong. I hope they win the run off

 

[Yehuda]

I fux wit Marquez.... I was loving when she called Tino Asprilla a hosue negro a few months ago

Lmaooooo what happened, though?

 

[trap101-ETHout-Allegri-In]

Lmaooooo what happened, though?

‘Tino’ Asprilla a Francia Márquez: “látigo el que me dan quienes piensan que no tengo derecho a pensar con mi propia cabeza” - 45 Segundos

El polémico ex futbolista, Faustino ‘Tino’ Asprilla, revolucionó las redes sociales, luego de colgar un trino en apoyo al expresidente Álvaro Uribe y la indagatoria que se adelantara en su contra el pasado 8 de octubre, hecho que desató opiniones encontradas en Twitter, entre ellas la de la...

45segundos.com

The first tweet.... she did it in the educative way....

 

[loyola llothta]