Slavery Is Past. It's Time Brazil and Africa Unite in Mutual Understanding
Written by Dirce Carrion
Monday, 27 November 2006
Olhares Cruzados, an Africa-Brazil exchange program"Without Angola, there is no Brazil," said the polemical Friar Antonio Vieira at the beginning of the 17th Century. Now we, being the largest black nation second only to Nigeria, ask the question, "Without Africa, what is Brazil?"
During 350 years of black slavery in Brazil, millions of Africans were pulled out of their natural and social environments, condemned to years of dispersion and miscegenation, marketed and sold in the most perverse, harsh and lucrative business of the New World.
Brazil and Africa were united in a tragic form through the trafficking of slaves. But we could say poetically that it was the waves and the winds of the Atlantic Ocean that united us in historic resistance to slavery and social exclusion. Perhaps the oldest and most effective form of resistance can be found in our rituals and the various manifestations of our Afro-Brazilian cultures.
The terrible journey across the Atlantic did not deprive the African people of the memories of their gods, nor the ability to recognize foreign gods, and certainly not their ability to identify with others in their state of slavery. It was through this constant interchange that gave birth to Afro-Brazilian culture.
Africa still suffers from the effects of the immense exodus of workers. It suffers from colonialism's arbitrary division of its territories which grouped together ethnic rivals and separated groups that were friendly to each other, generating incessant internal strife. But the strength of its ancient culture continues to be a unique and fundamental reference for the world.
In the last decades, economic interests have destroyed the lives of millions around the world. The peoples of Africa, still wrapped up in the long process of de-colonizing themselves, have paid dearly in this contemporary Holocaust. It is very serious that the world stands by as this happens.
But now, hoping to understand this context better and to change it, we are proposing new steps which may engender a different Brazil-Africa exchange, with a new basis for relationships, without personal agendas and certainly not neo-colonial motives.
Now that political dependency on the colonizers has been cut off, the ex-colonies have begun to talk more about friendship and cooperation among themselves. We believe that now is the time to diversify and increase the quality of our relations through increased mutual understanding.
Yet the greater part of our information about Africa comes through the media, which only highlights the negative: wars, epidemics, hunger, misery. We envision changing the way we see Africa; and to do this, we need to highlight the positive: the strength of its cultures and its history of resistance.
This is the line we are taking in our project, Olhares Cruzados. The project promotes the identification of common, cultural roots through the exchange of photographs, cards, drawings, videos, toys, musical instruments and crafts produced by children of Brazil, Africa and the Caribbean while participating in creative, imaginative workshops.
Using artistic methods which permit the children to use their own language, our intention is to help children make these methods of expression their own so that they can see themselves in their work, through their own way of looking, not through a "colonialist" or vertical reading in which the context is not accessible to the agents.
Taking into account the local reality and respecting the traditional culture of each country, we facilitate exchanges between children from Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Senegal and Haiti, the latter being the first independent country of the Americas and the first free black nation of the world.
In 2007, together with Revista Viração, project Olhares Cruzados plans to host an exchange between children of a MST (Movement of Rural Workers Without Land) encampment and children of a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The plan is to send a team of Brazilians to conduct workshops in the Congo, and then in the spirit of reciprocity, we will invite African educators and artists to come and do the same here in Brazil.
Whether they be from Africa, Brazil or the Caribbean, the children always want to deal with themes that are most dear to them: family, friends, television, toys, food, the parts of home life that are the "prettiest." We have noticed that even in regions where the reality is very difficult, the children's letters, drawings and artwork are permeated with happiness and a hope for a better future.
Believing that self-esteem is essential in overcoming prejudices and the barriers that are placed in front of them, we always try to have them look through an optimistic lens so that they will have a better chance of inserting themselves in the world.
In Brazil, where many do not believe that racism exists (but the society continues to practice it), it is up to us Brazilians and Africans to show that the waters that brought slavery and different cultures also created a solid bridge, which many still refuse to recognize.
Believing in the possibilities that it offers, as a form of expression and communication, a way to promote peace, a fight against social exclusion and racial intolerance, we hope that Olhares Cruzados project be one more step in the long journey of making right the cultural relations among peoples.
Dirce Carrion is director of Olhares Cruzados, a project that encourages the exchange of letter, pictures and art between African and Brazilian children. This article appeared originally in Portuguese in Revista Sem Terra.
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Racism?
written by A brazilian, 2006-11-27 04:27:40
The writer writes this:
"condemned to years of dispersion and miscegenation"
I take personal offense on that. I am brazilian and of mixed origins. That's not BAD! Why do some people lately seem so eager to replicate some racially segregated society in here!? With so many good things to copy from Europe or the US why do some choose RACISM? What so special about racial purity? Why do some blacks behave like Nazis?
First, no, this country is not racist. You want to know what is racist? Then go to Europe and see how "well treated" you will be, look around and try to see if you find any people of mixed origins.
Second, this country is formed by peoples of all around the world. I don't think the african influence should be considered better than any others.
Third, I can't help but think that this "African Nazism" follow the same pattern of the neo nazis in lots of other places. Hate groups recruiting young people in the lower classes, people that think they were forgotten or are being treated unfairly, that are told that none of that is their fault because there's an "evil conspiracy" of jews, hispanics, whites, blacks, gipsies, gays, etc (or whatever other group is convenient), for keeping them down. Alienated kids being lied to and used as pawns in some power game.
Denying miscigenation is denying the very thing Brazil is. Slowly this nonsense of race is being exterminated in here, something very different from the binary black/white of the United States and Europe, and now some people want to destroy it! I simply don't get it! What do those people in their minds for Christ's sake!?
Sickening
written by A brazilian, 2006-11-27 08:20:35
"largest black nation"
Wow, now we are a "black nation". I am starting to get disgusted by such racists recently, pretending to speak on behalf of Brazil and of brazilians. This a offense to the brazilian culture, a complete disregard to all other peoples that came here to build a better life, and to the ones that were here already.
Strong Reactions
written by An America who has lived in Brazil, 2006-11-27 09:33:35
The hierarchy of race in the Americas and in Europe is the problem. The result of colonialism, slavery and indigenous exploitation as well as theories of superiority created a world that is already skewedWhy is European heritage so strongly valued, why is white or light skin so cherished? Why is it not strange to have entire NOVELAS about the Italian heritage or Portuguese heritage of Brazil and anything Black or African is seen as Nazi or Racist or portrayed in a negative light? Brazil and many other countries continue to ignore the roots which come from Africa - why? Because deep inside people are embarrassed of their blackness (not their white ancestry). It is just time for a change in point of view. Not putting one race ahead of another but learning to appreciate and accept the contribution of African peoples to a wonderful country like Brazil. And yes it would be good if more research on the African and indigenous peoples' contributions were made known because it is racist to see these groups as just dancing, slavery, costumes and caciques and not as intellectual or skilled people who made Brazil what it is today. Since when have Germans, Italians, Portuguese (even the British) been ignored in Brazilian history? Have Syrian or Lebanese peoples been ignored? Even the Japanese people (though not treated as well in the past) have strong representation in Sao Paulo. One day some friends and I passed the Syrian/Lebanese Hospital in Sao Paulo. I asked if there was an Angolan Hospital and they all started laughing - saying that was ridiculous. Why is that so strange? There are Spanish and Portuguese Hospitals... I dont understand why some things are acceptable and others are not. Until this changes, not just in Brazil but all over the Americas and Europe, we will never reach out full potential as multi-cultural nations. Have a really good day.
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written by An African American, 2006-11-27 11:47:50
I am in complete agreement with the author. I am speaking as an American however I have done significant research on the African Diaspora and the impact of slavery on the Americas. When you look at the sheer numbers, more Africans were sold into slavery in Brazil than all the countries combined and it was the last country to abolish slavery.
At the core of what Mr. Dirce Carrion is arguing is that lack of education has taught Brazilians of African descent that all things European are good, but those things that symbolize African culture is not worthy of respect. Starting with the racism people experience because of the complexion of their skin or the privilege they experience because their heritage is mixed and skin is lighter – at the core of those values is that white is good and black is bad. This overt system of white superiority has set up deeply rooted beliefs in Africans throughout the Diaspora to embrace everything other than their African heritage hence why black women straiten their hair, use creams to lighten their skin and the icons of black beauty continue to be women who look the least African. Plain and simple to deny your ancestry is a form of self hatred.
I commend the project for wanting to help build a positive self image for children – the global future for descendants of people of Africa. To know your heritage and respect it gives you a sense of pride about your origins. In doing so it enables one to not only love who they are but respect other cultures.
Do your schools teach the history of slavery and profound impact African culture has made on cultures around the world in a way that you respect it?
There is a worldwide movement to tell the history and it must begin with the children. We salute your efforts to help educate the children so that future generations will embrace their heritage giving them the confidence and the courage to achieve.
May the peace be with you always
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