Brazil celebrates Black Consciousness Day every November 20th in commemoration of the 1695 death of Zumbi leader of the settlement Quilombo dos Palmares, that some regard as the first independent Black state in the so-called “new world,” pre-dating Haiti. (1) Given the events that have impacted the community so far this year, the Black Consciousness Day season has given Afrikans in Brazil much to reflect on.
It’s been more than six months since the brutal murder of popular Rio de Janeiro politician Sis. Marielle Franco grabbed international headlines. (2) Sis. Marielle was a staunch advocate on behalf of her community and against its increasing brutalisation from local and national state agencies and their “carte blanche to systematically kill children” to the extent that a black person in Brazil is murdered every twenty three minutes.(3)
On March 10th of this year she tweeted:
“What is happening now in Acari is absurd! And it has been happening forever! The 41st MP battalion is known as the Death Battalion. STOP abusing the population! STOP killing our youth! We are all Acari: Stop killing us! #LivesInTheFavelasMatter.” (4)
A day later she was quoted in the O Dia newspaper:
“We need to shout so that everyone knows what is happening in Acari at that moment. The 41st Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police is terrorizing and abusing the residents of Acari. This week two young men were killed and thrown into a sewage ditch. Today the police walked the streets threatening the residents. It has always happened and with the intervention it has gotten even worse.” (5)
Two days after this, the 38 year-old council woman from the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) and her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes were shot dead when two unknown attackers fired an estimated nine shots into their car. It had all the hallmarks of a targeted assassination. (6)
It was truly noteworthy that the case attracted so much international coverage. Because although for many Brazil conjures up images of beaches, carnival and football, but what it excels at these days is homicide. According the most recent figures, Brazil has a homicide count of 59,080, the highest in the world and almost 20,000 more than its nearest rival (India). (7)
For a country that prides itself as the world’s first “racial democracy,” (8) further analyses the above and other data reveals that that more than half of these homicide victims were aged between 15 and 29, while over three quarters (77%) were Black. (9) A yet more sinister aspect to this situation is that, depending on the neighbourhood the police are responsible for between 30 percent and 60 percent of the killings. (10)
Yet the speculation of a planned assassination gained more weight when investigators traced bullet casings found at the crime scene to a purchase made by the Federal Police in 2006. Bullets from the same batch were used in the deadliest massacre in São Paulo’s history in 2015. Two police officers and a municipal guard were convicted of murdering 17 and the attempted murder of seven more. The connection to the police bullets led a top federal criminal prosecutor in Rio to quickly go on the record to say the details of Franco’s murder “denote a certain degree of planning that leads me to consider police officers as suspects in this crime, but that other hypotheses should also be considered.” (11)
The intrigue deepened when Bro. Carlos Alexandre Pereira Maria, also known as Cabeça, a community activist who worked for one of the potential witnesses in the case (councilman Marcello Siciliano) was shot dead in early-April by gunmen allegedly shouting “We have to shut him up!” (12) In a further twist Siciliano himself has been named as the lead suspect along, who along with former military police officer Orlando Oliveira de Araújo, is accused of planning the execution of Sis. Marielle. (13) The accuser, who served in the who served a militia in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro told police he had witnessed at least four conversations between Siciliano and Araújo, in which the duo discussed the murder of Marielle since June last year but it wasn’t until February of this year that the hit was ordered. He added that two subsequent murders Cabeça and retired military policeman Anderson Claudio da Silva were carried out as a “file burning” exercise. (14).
Since May, the trail seems to have gone cold and recent political developments in the country do not necessarily auger well for justice to be served.
As of October 28 Brazil has a new president elect, the right-wing populist promoted as “The Brazilian (Donald) Trump, Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party (PSL). (15) According to Rio de Janeiro based journalist Kiratiana Freelon, Bolsonaro “is obsessed with machine guns and white supremacy.” She continued:
“Bolsonaro campaigned on an anti-black and hard-right agenda that included impunity for police killings, rolling back affirmative action and eroding land protection laws for Quilombos and indigenous reserves. An economic recession and spiraling homicide rates have undermined confidence in mainstream politicians, so exasperated Brazilians voted for radical change.” (16)
In his own words Bolsonaro has made no secret of his right-wing authoritarianism since his entry into politics almost thirty years ago:
“I am in favor of a dictatorship, a regime of exception.” (1993)
“The pau-de-arara [a torture technique] works. I’m in favor of torture, you know that. And the people are in favor as well.” (1999) (17)
And these nuggets from the campaign trail in 2017:
“Beyond Brazil above all, since we are a Christian country, God above everyone! It is not this story, this little story of secular state. It is a Christian state, and if a minority is against it, then move! Let’s make a Brazil for the majorities. Minorities have to bow to the majorities! The law must exist to defend the majorities. Minorities must fit in or simply disappear!”
“If I [become president], there won’t be any money for NGOs. These worthless [people] will have to work. If I get there, as far as I’m concerned, every citizen will have a firearm in their home. You will not have a centimeter demarcated for indigenous reserves or quilombolas [settlements of the descendants of escaped and freed slaves that have protected status].”
“I’ll give carte blanche for the police to kill.” (18)
It seems that some of Bolsonaro’s supporters took his sentiments to heart amid reports that in the run up to the election a “wave of violence spreads throughout Brazil as at least 50 physical assaults by supporters of presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, lead to at least two deaths. ” (19) In the wake of Bolsonaro’s victory his supporters went on social media to post comments like: “Do you see that negraiada (group of blacks)? They will die!” and “I loved that Bolsonaro won, it’s only in this way he will order to kill these negros fedidos (stinking blacks).” (20)
Since his victory the president elect has announced a merging of the ministries of agriculture and the environment — the latter of which was supposed regulate the former — into a new “super ministry” to oversee his agenda. The new ministry will be headed by lawmakers who have historically opposed indigenous land conservation, supported agricultural expansion, and attempted to relax slave labour laws. (21)
Thus, Bolsonaro not only “openly threatens genocide of indigenous amazonians” environmentally. More than 20 land rights activists have been killed in Brazil so far this year, with most deaths linked to conflicts over logging and agribusiness, in addition to the fifty killed last year. (22) Similarly, there have been a string of assassinations over the last year most likely connected to quilombo land rights such as that of 36-year old quilombola community leader Flávio “Binho” Gabriel Pacífico in Bahia. (23)
So against this backdrop reports that Jair Bolsonaro managed to attract almost half the Black vote has left some puzzled. Football superstars like Ronaldinho and Rivaldo openly supported Bolsonaro with likes of Neymar and Gabriel Jesús offering tacit approval. Rivaldo further emphasised the notion that a president cannot teach values but govern, reasoning “Voting is for choosing a president, not a father.” (24)
The PSL leader also used the constant presence of fellow PSL politician Hélio Fernando Barbosa Lopes, better known as “Hélio Negão” (“big black man” or “straight up black man”) while campaigning to deflect accusations of racism. For his part Negão, who, if his t-shirts are any indication, appears to have a fondness for Margaret Thatcher, assumed his proscribed role endorsing the idea of Brazil as “racial democracy”, declaring: “Let’s end this division of class! Somos todos iguais! (We are all equal! My color is Brazil! The strength of Brazil is the unity of its people!” (25)
In recent years the political sphere that mired the losing Workers Party (PT) in corruption scandals, imprisonments and economic hardship has disenchanted many, not least in the Afrikan community – the previous anti-poverty and affirmative action policies ostensibly a distant memory. The consensus among many now is: “Folks are basically willing to give up some up their freedoms for the sake of security and some promise of economic stability.” (26)
The large irony is that within the last decade, Afrikans in Brazil have officially become the majority in the county at 53% of the majority population. (27) However, this occurrence is not as straightforward as it might appear. It has long been argued that Afrikans in Brazil have been the majority for some time (28) but the sheer number of racial classifications – a dizzying 136 at its height (29) meant that the group was less consolidated. In comparative terms, the 106 million Afrikan Brazilians makes them is the world’s largest black population outside Africa and the second largest after Nigeria. (30)
But in light of the stated objectives of the president (and his supporters) Afrikans in Brazil could now face an existential threat. This was something highlighted back in the 1970s by Abdias do Nascimento, considered Brazil’s foremost black thought leader. In his book ‘The Genocide of the Black Brazilian: Process of a Masked Racism’ (1977), he described how Brazil, over the course of 100 years, has attempted to erase the black population by suppressing their numbers in the census, encouraging miscegenation and limiting social assistance to poor, favela neighbourhoods. (31) Those that view this with incredulity might want to ponder the historical experience of Afrikans in neighbouring Argentina. (32)
The murder of Sis. Marielle Franco is consistent with this worrying trend and reports of death threats received by her fellow Councilwoman Talíria Petrone, since she took office in 2016 will be a concern to all of those that strive to advocate on behalf of Afrikan people in Brazil. (33)
(1) Mildred Europa Taylor (20/11/18) Zumbi dos Palmares, Brazil’s greatest warrior figure who led a massive slave resistance in the 1600s. https://face2faceafrica.com/article/zumbi-dos-palmares-brazils-greatest-warrior-figure-who-led-a-massive-slave-resistance-in-the-1600s; Charlie Hankin (15/08/18) Communal Echoes: The State of Haiti and Palmares. https://plas.princeton.edu/sites/plas/files/media/charlie_hankin_3.15.pdf
(2) Travis Waldron (23/03/19) A Long List Of Celebrities Just Joined The Fight To Bring Marielle Franco’s Killer To Justice. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/marielle-franco-independent-investigation_us_5ab40d2ce4b054d118e0fb31?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_cs=HgWIC0LhECI5fqmXA1ivNg
(3) Evan Williams (14/05/09) Death to undesirables: Brazil’s murder capital. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/death-to-undesirables-brazils-murder-capital-1685214.html; Kiratiana Freelon (26/04/18) Genocide of Black People’: The Killing of Afro-Brazilians by Police Is an Injustice Marielle Franco Was Fighting to End. https://www.theroot.com/genocide-of-black-people-the-killing-of-afro-brazili-1825500610
(4) Flávia Marreiro (16/03/18) Marielle Franco, councilor of the PSOL party, is murdered in downtown Rio after an event with black activists. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/2018/03/16/rio-councilwoman-marielle-franco-assassinated-with-four-shots-to-the-head-in-execution-style-murder-assailants-also-killed-the-driver-of-the-vehicle/
(5) Ibid.
(6) Black Women of Brazil (16/03/18) Rio councilwoman Marielle Franco assassinated with four shots to the head; in execution style murder, assailants also killed the driver of the vehicle. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/2018/03/16/rio-councilwoman-marielle-franco-assassinated-with-four-shots-to-the-head-in-execution-style-murder-assailants-also-killed-the-driver-of-the-vehicle/
(7) Metrocosm.com (12/09/19) Brazil has nearly 60,000 murders a year — here’s a map to put that number in perspective. http://metrocosm.com/homicides-brazil-vs-world/
(8) Rebecca Pattillo (2013) Combating the Myth of Racial Democracy in Brazil. http://www.indiana.edu/~psource/PDF/Archive%20Articles/Fall2013/2013%20-%20Fall%20-%204%20-%20Pattillo,%20Rebecca.pdf
(9)Telesur (13/10/15) UN Body Accuses Brazil’s Military Police of Killing Kids to ‘Clean Streets’ for Olympics, World Cup’. http://wp.telesurtv.net/english/news/UN-Brazils-Police-Kill-Kids-to-Clean-Streets-for-Olympics-20151013-0044.html
(10) Williams. Op. cit.
(11) Leandro Demori, Carolina Moura, Juliana Gonçalves, Yuri Eiras and Bruna de Lara (21/03/18) Who Killed Eduardo, Matheus and Reginaldo? https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/marielle-franco-death-brazil-violence-police/
(12) Nelson Belen (10/04/18) Advisor to Potential Witness in Marielle Franco Murder Case Found Dead. https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/potential-witness-in-marielle-franco-murder-case-found-dead/
(13) Agência Estado (09/05/18) Testemunha liga vereador e ex-PM à morte de Marielle, diz jornal. https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/politica/2018/05/09/interna_politica,679415/testemunha-liga-vereador-e-ex-pm-a-morte-de-marielle-diz-jornal.shtml
(14) Ibid.
(15) Marques Travae (15/10/18) Wave of violence spreads throughout Brazil as at least 50 physical assaults by supporters of presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, lead to at least two deaths. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/wave-of-violence-spreads-throughout-brazil/
(16) Kiratiana Freelon (30/10/18) Many Afro-Brazilians Are Bracing for the Worst After the Election of a Far-Right, Racist Candidate for President. https://www.theroot.com/many-afro-brazilians-are-bracing-for-the-worst-after-th-1830096971
(17) Andrew Fishman (28/10/18) Jair Bolsonaro Is Elected President Of Brazil. Read His Extremist, Far-Right Positions In His Own Words. https://theintercept.com/2018/10/28/jair-bolsonaro-elected-president-brazil/
(18) Ibid.
(19) Travae (15/10/18) . Op. Cit.
(20) Marques Travae (05/11/18) “Bolsonaro will order to kill these stinking blacks” – With election of extreme right presidential candidate, many supporters call for death of black Brazilians: Is it time to wake up?. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/bolsonaro-will-order-to-kill-these-stinking-blacks-with-election-of-extreme-right-presidential-candidate-many-supporters-call-for-death-of-black-brazilians-is-it-time-to-wake-up/
(21) Return To Now (06/11/18) Brazil’s New President Openly Threatens Genocide of Indigenous Amazonians. https://returntonow.net/2018/11/06/brazils-new-president-openly-threatens-genocide-of-indigenous-amazonians/
(22) Ibid.
(23) Black Women of Brazil (03/10/17) Another quilombola community leader murdered in Bahia: 36-year old Binho latest in string of assassinations most likely connected to land rights. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/another-quilombola-community-leader-murdered/
(24) Marques Travae (19/10/18) Leading presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has more support among back Brazilians; candidate supports death squads that are known for murdering thousands of young blacks in Bahia. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/candidate-supports-death-squads/
(25) Ibid.
(26) Kiratiana Freelon (30/10/18) It’s Complicated: Why Some Afro-Brazilians Are Willing to Vote for a Racist Presidential Candidate Who’s Calling for More Police Violence. https://www.theroot.com/its-complicated-why-some-afro-brazilians-are-willing-t-1829976462
(27) Dom Phillips (17/11/11) Brazil census shows African-Brazilians in the majority for the first time. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/17/brazil-census-african-brazilians-majority
(28) Minority Rights Group International (19/06/15) World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples: Brazil – Afro-Brazilians. http://minorityrights.org/minorities/afro-brazilians/
(29) Cleuci De Oliveira (05/04/2017) Brazil’s New Problem With Blackness
As the proudly mixed-race country grapples with its legacy of slavery, affirmative-action race tribunals are measuring skull shape and nose width to determine who counts as disadvantaged. http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/05/brazils-new-problem-with-blackness-affirmative-action/
(30) Vanessa Barbara (23/03/15) In Denial Over Racism in Brazil.
(31) Freelon (26/04/18) Op cit.
(32) Ifayomi Grant (2015) The State of Afrikan Disorganisation’ in the UK. The Navig8or Newsletter
(33) Marques Travae (22/03/18) LCouncilwoman Talíria Petrone of Niterói has received numerous death threats by phone; armed man invaded her party’s headquarters threatening to kill her https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/candidate-supports-death-squads/. https://blackwomenofbrazil.co/taliria-petrone-of-niteroi-has-received-numerous-death-threats/
we ask the question:
Bolsonaro: What are the prospects for Black Brazil?
1) Are there any updates on the Marielle Franco murder?
2) Are other outspoken advocates now in danger?
3 Why did so many Afrikans in Brazil vote for Bolsonaro?
4) Why couldn’t Afrikans in Brazil use their numerical advantage in the elections?
5) Is genocide now of the objective of the new government?
Our very special guest:
Sis. Tamiris Pereira Rizzo: began her activism at a young age as a student. In 2012 elections she stood as a candidate for councilor for the PSTU in Santos. She was the organiser of the 2013 and 2014 Marches Against Black People’s Genocide and is currently a doctoral student at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro where she is an organiser for NEABI (Núcleo de Estudos Afrobrasileiro e Indígena da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro).